The Virtual Workplace

There is nothing new about employees working from home. It's been a growing element of the business world for years. New younger employees expect it. And it saves costs of such expensive accoutrements as office space and furniture. Some companies have gone to "hotelling" where no employees have fixed offices assigned to them, but reserve space when they need it.

Of course technology makes all this possible, especially high speed internet.

But the challenges remain and need to be addressed by companies. Since employees can't be supervised, they need to be managed by output. How is the output of employees measured? That's still a big issue for some employers. And then there is the question of security. How should the company-owned computer systems be configured to minimize risk of data leakage and hacking? Employees may be working at home or even in internet cafes on unprotected or poorly protected wireless networks. There is a need for policies and controls here. And likely encryption policies as well as Data Leakage solutions.

An excellent article on this topic, together with relevant links to helpful resources can be found on the E-Commerce Times Site.