One of the benefits of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services is the ability to collaborate and have a telepresence, which have created new trends like teleworking or telecommuting.
Telecommuting helps businesses save travel costs and improve productivity and allow employees are able to spend more time productively at work. However, a few major IT firms have decided to say “no” to telecommuting – the latest among them being Yahoo.
VoIP founder and telecom analyst Calum MacKinnon, however, thinks Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision to ban telecommuting is not going to have an impact on VoIP service providers and telecommuting trend. According to MacKinnon, “Mayer's proclamation is an isolated one, and the era of pajama-based workers is here to stay."
"Mayer's decision is based on a misconception about teleworking, VoIP, and other telepresence technologies," said MacKinnon. "The first and second waves of technologies that enabled telecommuting were limited, and Yahoo's criticism of the practice would be valid if compared to telecommuting tech even just a few years ago.”
Meaningful telecommuting requires more than the ability to logging onto a computer from home and sending files, according to MacKinnon. What those first generation telecommuters missed was a social experience, which led to isolation. As a result, they were kept out of loop.
MacKinnon says, "They got the job done, but they were left out of the water cooler discussions and the social interaction that really make an employee a part of the company culture. The most recent generation of VoIP, telepresence, private social media, and other telecommute-enabling technologies brings those workers back into the corporate family."
MacKinnon believes modern technologies erase those brick-and-mortar boundaries, allowing for a richer, more complete and more interactive experience for the remote worker.
VoIP and related technologies have brought telecommuters back into the social aspect of the workplace. The lean business model that emerged during the recession has solidified remote working as a mainstream, essential, and highly effective part of the workplace, according to MacKinnon. The trend will continue to gain momentum as more companies take advantage of new innovations that continue to re-invent the workplace.
Edited by Ashley Caputo