Information technology as an enabler of telecommuting

摘要

One of the most interesting changes in business practices is telecommuting, namely doing work in places other than the corporate offices. The extent of telecommuting has been on the rise during the 1990s and it is expected to rise rapidly during the next few years. A major driving force in the spread of telecommuting is the increased availability of cost-effective supportive information technologies. The tasks performed by telecommuters are expanding. While the early telecommuters performed repeated transactions (such as processing insurance claims at home), today's telecommuters can perform at home, or on the road, almost any task that they do at the office. Thus, their information needs have been changed. This paper examines the various tasks performed by telecommuters and surveys the major supporting information technologies. Special attention is given to electronic mail, accessibility to databases and networks, desk top teleconferencing, personal digital assistants (PDAs), screen sharing, workflow systems, idea generation, and distributed group decision making. Also, Lotus Notes is viewed as a major computing environment that will facilitate telecommuting. Technological developments in an integrated services digital network (ISDN), an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), wireless communication, and local area network (LAN) connectivity will have a major impact on the growth of telecommuting and so will the resolution of managerial issues such as appropriate controls and security, cost-benefit justification, training and ownership and maintenance of the necessary equipment at home.