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A A V A Y A

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White Paper

Teleworking: Real Valuefor Virtual Workers


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Contents

The Teleworker Landscape 1

Why Arent Companies Realizing theFull Bene ts of Teleworking? 3

The Telework Solution 4

Conclusion

Teleworking is on the rise

transforming the way companies

do business and delivering

benefits that can lead to

competitive differentiation.

Teleworking is on the risetransforming the way companiesdo business and deliveringbenefits that can lead tocompetitive differentiation. Butare organizations making asmuch of their telework initiatives

as they could be?

This is a critical question as thenumber of teleworkers continuesto grow. By 2011, more than122 million employees worldwidewill be doing at least some workfrom home, according to GartnerDataquest. In the United States,almost 40 million individuals willtelework from their homes at leastone day a month by this time. 1

With a telework strategy in place,organizations realize a number ofkey business benefits:

Decreased expenses on officespace, labor, communications,and administration

Greater ability to attract thebest employees by usingtelework as an enticement

Enhanced business continuityplanning

Improved productivity, thanksto increased employeesatisfaction

Extended geographical reachof hiring

Easier compliance with greeninitiatives and regulationsaimed at reducing commuting

Improved customer satisfactionand retention

Unfortunately, many companiesare unable to fully realizethese benefits. Thats becauseteleworking initiatives tend to be apatchwork or ad hoc arrangementinvolving multiple devices, contactpoints, and communicationslinkswhich introducesinefficiencies and negates theadvantages companies areseeking.

Whats needed is a way to ensurethe ability of teleworkers tocommunicate quickly, reliably,and accurately at all times. Acomprehensive, unified approachcomprising products, services,and partners can answer this

needhelping organizationsmaximize the business benefitsof teleworking while reducing ITmanagement complexity.

Executive Summary

1 Gartner Dataquest, Dataquest Insight:Teleworking, The Quiet Revolution, May 2007


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The Teleworker Landscape

Teleworking has taken root across countries andcompanies of all sizes, as organizations andemployees become better accustomed to tapping intothe corporate network from their homes. Accordingto a study by Dimension Data, 55 percent of U.S.

businesses now have some form of remote workprogram in place; France and Switzerland are evenfarther ahead, at 75% and 73% respectively. 2 GartnerDataquest estimates that teleworking penetration inthe U.S. reached 26% of the employed populationin 2007, with these employees teleworking fromhome at least one day a week. 3 Japan, meanwhile,is outpacing the rest of the world in projectedgrowth, according to Gartner Dataquest; withJapans government seeking rapid implementation ofteleworking, penetration is expected to grow to 26.2%by 2011, up from 20.7% in 2007. 4

The trend also cuts across various levels of theorganization. Everyone from top-level executives tomid-level managers to salespeople, consultants, andengineers is becoming a teleworker. Further, eventhose employees who typically need to be face-to-face are working remotely when weather events,commuting conditions, or other situations keep themfrom getting into the office.

Whats behind the boom? Advances in IP telephony,broadband adoption, and laptop penetration thatenable full-function business communications fromanywhere at anytime. But technology is only part ofthe explanation. The undeniable business benefitsthat teleworking delivers are also driving its expandedimplementation. Heres how teleworking is helpingtodays organizations achieve their goals.

Improved Business Agility

Responding to todays competitive challengesrequires much greater business agility. Companiesthat can reliably reduce costs, recruit and retain thebest employees, and ensure business continuity arein a better position to extend their edge over thecompetition.

Teleworking is emerging as a key driver of businessperformance. For example, its a sure-fire way tocut the expenses associated with office space. TheTelework Coalition says that office space for theaverage worker costs $10,000 per yearbut thatteleworking can cut those expenses by 25% or evenmore. 5 According to The Telework Coalition, Dow

Chemical has reduced administrative costs by 50%annually with teleworking15% of which is directlyattributed to savings on commercial real estate costs. 6

In addition, teleworking reduces communicationscosts. Using a broadband IP connection freescompanies from having to pay the monthly expenseof a second phone line at an employees home. Thesame connection also provides employee accessto the more cost-effective corporate long-distancenetwork, so theres no need to reimburse workersfor calls made at the higher residential rate. Further,since all calls are made and tracked via the corporate

telephony server, costly paper-based expensingprocesses can be eliminated.

2 Dimension Data study, 20073 Gartner Dataquest, Dataquest Insight: Teleworking,

The Quiet Revolution, May 20074 Gartner Dataquest, Dataquest Insight: Teleworking,

The Quiet Revolution, May 20075 Telework Coalition study, 20066 Dow Chemical Study, as reported by The Telework Coalition

Companies that can

reliably reduce costs,

recruit and retain

the best employees,

and ensure business

continuity are in a

better position to

extend their edge

over the competition.


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Companies have also found that teleworking canhelp in cutting labor costs. Since employees whoparticipate in a telework program can reduce oreliminate expenses associated with commuting andpurchasing office-appropriate attire, companies areable to offer slightly lower salaries as a trade-off.Businesses can also attract employees in more cost-

effective regions, without having a physical presencein that area.

Teleworking is proving useful in enticing and retainingthe most qualified workers. Simply put, employeeslike teleworking, since it offers them a better work-life balance. In one survey of job-seekers criteria,the option to telework was second only to salary indeciding in whether to take a job. 7 And AT&T foundtwo-thirds of workers offered jobs by competitorsremained with the company, citing telework as amajor factor in their decision. 8

Finally, companies with a telework program inplace essentially also have a business continuityplan in place. When employees have completecommunications capabilities at their homes, theyreready and able to work in the event of an emergencyor disaster.

Greater Productivity

Of course, when employees are more satisfied, theytend to be more productive. And statistics on therelationship of teleworking to productivity bear thatout.

The Colorado Telework Coalition, for example, reportsthat American Express teleworkers produce 43%more business than their office counterparts. 9 BritishTelecom found that productivity rose 31 percentamong its 9,000 employees who telework, thanks toreduced disruption, stress, and commuting time. 10

In fact, reduction of commuting time by itself canhave a direct impact on how productive employeesare. Assuming a workforce of 100 employees whoseaverage daily commute is cut by 50 minutes a dayequates to more than 22,000 hours of time that couldbe used productively. Even if just half that time isapplied to business, it represents a significant gain in

productivity.

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that teleworkersstart their days earlier, end them later, or both.Absenteeism and emergency time off are alsoreduced. The bottom line: The flexibility and betterwork/life balance that teleworking enables helps makeemployees more productivewith direct benefits tothe business.

Extended Geographical Reach ofHiring

In the traditional workplace, finding new employeesfollows a simple script: Advertise in the region, hirein the region, and make sure that person lives closeenough to make it into the office every day.

But teleworking does away with the physicalconstraints of recruiting and hiring. Teleworkers canliveand workliterally anywhere. With a muchwider net to cast, companies dont have to confinetheir search for skilled workers to geographic region;that the office is in Philadelphia is no obstacle tohiring the talented candidate in North Carolina whoprefers to stay there.

Extending the reach of hiring delivers a couple ofcorollary benefits as well. It eliminates the expensesassociated with physical relocation, and it givesorganizations an opportunity to save on labor costs byhiring from areas where salaries and cost-of-living arenot as high.

7 Study by Robert Half International, as reported byThe Telework Coalition

8 AT&T Study, as reported by The Telework Coalition9 British Telecom study, as reported by The Telework Coalition10 Colorado Telework Coalition study


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Easier Compliance WithEnvironmental and Reduced-Commute Initiatives

Governments around the world, at every level,are taking up the challenges of reducing carbonemissions and cutting congestion. What does thatmean for corporations? The likelihood that moreregulations will be imposed.

But teleworking programs offer companies a clear-cutpath to regulatory compliance. And those that actnow can get a jump on their effortswhile enhancingtheir image among partners, customers, and thegeneral public.

The numbers paint a compelling case forimplementing a telework program. Assuming acarbon dioxide emission rate of 1.1 pounds permile11 , a daily 32-mile round-trip commute to workresults in 4.4 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Usingour example of 100 teleworkers, over the course of ayear they will avoid driving 800,000 miles and reducecarbon dioxide emissions by 440 tons.

Improved Customer Satisfaction

In a competitive marketplace, companies need tofocus even more on forging better relationshipswith their customers. Ensuring their satisfaction isessentialand teleworking can help.

Teleworking allows organizations to hire and place

employees closer to the customers they serve.That proximity makes for faster and more directcommunication between staff and customers. And foremployees who work at customer sites, the presenceapplications enabled by teleworking keep themclosely linked to their counterparts at headquartersallowing real-time collaboration and easy access tothe resources and information they need to servetheir customers even better.

Why Arent CompaniesRealizing the Full Benefits of

Teleworking?Teleworking delivers undeniable benefits, but manycompanies are still unable to take advantage ofthem. As enterprise employees increasingly workfrom home, organizations are struggling to address anumber of issuesfrom communications complexityand information security to management objectionsand employee concerns. These concerns usuallyarise out of the ad hoc approach to telework at manyorganizations, where multiple devices, contact points,and communications links pose obstacles.

11 Climatecrisis.net study, 2006

The numbers paint a compelling case forimplementing a telework program. Assuming acarbon dioxide emission rate of 1.1 pounds per mile,

a daily 32-mile round-trip commute to work resultsin 4.4 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Using ourexample of 100 teleworkers, over the course of a yearthey will avoid driving 800,000 miles and reducecarbon dioxide emissions by 440 tons.


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Communications Complexity

From the standpoint of CFOs and CIOs,teleworking may simply seem too unwieldy interms of management. They believe teleworkingis insufficiently scalable and inherently inefficient,because of the need to manage and monitor multiple

devices and technologies. They find that it can alsobe expensive, since teleworkers using residentiallandlines cant be connected through the corporatelong-distance dialing plan. And they feel that trackingemployee phone records is burdensome, whilereimbursing residential landline, cell, and Internetservice expenses is time-consuming, not to mentioncostly.

Additionally, they note the difficulty in providingteleworkers with a true workplace experience. Missingfrom most telework arrangements is the secure,seamless environment that really makes a teleworker

feel she is in the office, among colleagues, workingsmoothly and productively without encountering anyissues in terms of connections, communications, orcompromised data.

Management-Driven Objections

Many executives are accustomed to a traditionalworkplace environment, where each employee comesto the same physical location at more or less thesame time, is physically present (and easy to find) fora full day, and leaves at more or less the same time.Breaking from this traditional view of the workplace

(and the work day) consequently presents challengesfor managers who may not be as familiar with itandwho thus raise understandable objections.

Among the most common: That its too difficultto manage employees when you cant see them,and that staff morale suffers from lack of face-to-face contact. In short, many top managers feel thetraditional workplace is simply betterwhich mightvery well be the case in organizations that haventimplemented a comprehensive, unified telework plan.

Employee Concerns

Its not just senior managers who may have difficultyadjusting to the world of telework. The employeeswho telework can empower also raise concernsagain, understandable ones, given the fundamentalchanges that telework brings about.

Many, for example, cite the difficulty in collaboratingwhen working from home, which they also fear couldmake them less productive than their counterpartsat the office. Theyre also impeded when it comesto smooth communications; teleworkers typicallylack standard functions and tools, like voice mail,conferencing, call transfer, and directories. Onthe other hand, they often have too many phonenumbersfrom landline to cell phone to homephonewhich makes them hard to reach and makesphone tag a regular (and frustrating) part of the workday.

Employees also share with management a dislike ofthe expense reporting process. Not only does it meantaking time from the work day to deal with paperwork;it also means having to wait to be reimbursed forthe money theyve paid to their voice and Internetproviders.

The Telework Solution

Clearly, companies need to cut complexity andreduce inefficiencies if they want to realize the fullbenefits of teleworking. They need a better way

to manage geographically dispersed teleworkers,through greater end-user visibility and monitoring,better implementation of corporate security standards,and streamlined handling of call records. Theyneed to eliminate the costly and complex processesassociated with multiple phone lines, service andsupport vendors, and expense reports. And, ofcourse, they need to provide a communicationsexperience for teleworkers similar to that ofemployees in the office.

Addressing these goalsand realizing the fullbusiness benefits of teleworking means selectinga communications partner that not only providestechnology expertise, but that also understands thenuances of your business operations and that canprovide a communications roadmap to fit your needsand goals.

The Avaya Unified Communications for Teleworkerssolution can help companies fully realize thebusiness benefits of teleworking. Comprising a fullrange of software, hardware, services and eco-system partners, it enables enterprises to meet theirteleworking program goalsand gives them theflexibility to choose the capabilities that best meetemployees needs.

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CASE STUDYCompanies that have put the AvayaUnified Communications for Teleworkers

solution to use are reaping the benefits.Consider LifeNet, the nations largestnonprofit organ donation agency andtissue-banking system, whose worktruly is mission-critical. Matching organ-and tissue-donors with designatedrecipients demands anytime, anywhereconnectivity for the teams handlingthese urgent transactionsand rock-solid reliability to ensure consistentcommunications service.

LifeNets Donor Center is on callaround the clock, handling 250 to 300calls every day of the year and linkingdonor families, doctors, and transplantteams. Speed is clearly essential to the

job, but so is easing the stress of the

workers who take these calls. AndAvayas Unified Communications for

Teleworkers solution meets both ofthese requirements.

The ability to communicate effectivelyat the office, on the road, or from homeprovides our people with tools to do the

jobs that we feel are so important whileoffering the opportunity for well-neededmental downtime, says Kevin McPhee,manager of Telecommunication and ISHelp Desk Services, LifeNet. The rapidpace of the healthcare world meanswe really benefit from these types ofadvancements.

Deploying the Avaya solution has alsohelped LifeNet achieve a number ofmeasurable business benefits, including:

Increased effectiveness. LifeNet saw a 10 percent increase in the number of livessaved and the number of tissue grafts supplied to hospitals and physicians in thelast year, thanks to more reliable, effective communications.

Improved staff utilization. Mobility features and functionality have made it easierfor LifeNet to redeploy its workers to different offices and different states, while

retaining business continuity. Improved responsiveness to donor calls. The reliability of LifeNets communications

infrastructure means that the company is able to efficiently field each and everydonor call that comes in.

In short, according to McPhee, LifeNet got exactly what it was looking for. The five9s reliability of our Avaya Unified Communications solution gives us the peaceof mind that well have dial toneno matter what, he points out. Well alwaysknow when an organ offer is being made to us. This lets our supervisors and staffmembers sleep at night.


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Conclusion

Competing in todays marketplace means confrontinga number of challenges, and for many companies,teleworking is emerging as a strategic tool for meetingtheir goals. But even as organizations seek to takeadvantage of the teleworking benefitsfrom reducedoperating costs and extended reach of hiring togreater employee productivity and compliance withgreen initiativestheyre encountering obstacles.Management concerns, IT complexity, corporatecultures, and even employee reluctance are keepingthem from realizing the full benefits of teleworking.

The Avaya Unified Communications for Teleworkerssolution provides at-home employees the tools thathelp them stay connected, productive, and satisfiedand IT staff the technology to minimize managementcomplexity. Comprising a comprehensive suite of

software, hardware, and servicesand supportedby a network of industry leading partnersitenables organizations to harness all the benefits ofteleworking, and to leverage their teleworker initiativeas a competitive differentiator.

2008 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. Avaya and the Avaya Logo are trademarks of Avaya Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All trademarksidentified by , TM or SM are registered marks, trademarks, and service marks, respectively, of Avaya Inc., with the exception of FORTUNE 500 which is aregistered trademark of Time Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

AVAYA INTELLIGENT COMMUNICATIONS

As the leader in IP telephony, Avaya sees the manifest destiny ofintelligent communications as inevitable: the expansion across theenterprise of communications technologies and applications deliveringsingular and compound value.

Avaya has and will continue to invest heavily in software research anddevelopment to continue to further expand the frontiers of intelligentcommunications. Nowhere is the trust in Avayas technology moreapparent than in the independent software development community:4,000 software vendors are currently writing to the Avaya platform,

comprised of more than 16,000 developers. In addition, Avayassupport for multi-vendor solutions, such as its rich integrations withMicrosoft and IBM, enable organizations to leverage investmentsalready made and have a choice in the business applications theymost need to prosper.

Reliability, scalability, security are the bedrock attributes that Avaya willnever compromise. In addition, Avayas adherence to open standardsmeans that enterprises can adopt other technologies crucial to itsoperations that work in concert with Avayas complete and innovativesolutions. Simplicity is built-in, whether at the infrastructure or thedesktop, within the network or for the individual user, making certainAvayas innovations are equally available, manageable and usable.

Avaya is helping customers realize their vision of a reinventedworkplace by delivering on the promise of intelligent communications.The newest communications revolution has begun and Avaya istransforming business and changing lives.

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