News
IDC Says More People Working Away From Office
- By Scott Bekker
- 09/01/1998
The number of employees working remotely is on the rise in this country, says a new survey by International Data Corp. (IDC, Framingham, Mass.,
www.idc.com). The study, Remote Access Solutions for Corporate Intranets, states that the number of employees accessing LANs remotely grew from 27.6 percent in 1997 to 32 percent in 1998.
According to IDC, the impetus behind the growing role of remote workers within the corporation is related to the increasing deployment of intranets. Intranets enable companies to deliver corporate resources to remote and mobile users. "Increased remote user activity within the corporate enterprise extends across a diverse population," says Stephen Drake, an analyst in IDC’s intranet networking architectures programming. "Day extenders, business travelers, mobile workers, telecommuters, and branch office employees make up this community. This growth has contributed to increased amount of time spent accessing LANs remotely, an increase in support personnel, the creation of the remote employees subgroup and the expansion of virtual private network solutions."
According to survey respondents, in 1999 this growth will continue to rise, and the number of remote workers will reach 32.8 percent. – Thomas Sullivan, Staff Reporter/Reviews Editor
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.