John DiLullo
President,
Avaya Asia Pacific

OVER the last part of the 20th century, the relationship between work, family and leisure has altered significantly. Also, technological advancements in the field of communications have made the physical presence of an individual within the four walls of an office redundant on many occasions.

As work has become central to people's lives, vying for time with family and leisure, many have become concerned with what is termed the 'work-life balance'. Coupled with concerns of productivity, energy saving and pollution from commuting to and from the workplace etc, we have seen the emergence of the invisible office truly aided by technology and Unified Communications.

Ten years ago, flexible working was nothing but an illusion - the dream of employees desiring more freedom and the nightmare of managers struggling to handle emerging forms of communication. The technologies to make this dream a reality weren't readily available, affordable or easy to use, so there was no pressure to change how business was done.

This is no longer the case. The communications and technology explosion is happening - we are all doubly, triply connected. Gone are the days of desks, landlines, 9-to-5 office hours - business today can happen anywhere, the office fits in your pocket and employees can work from home, on trains, or in coffee-shops around the world. The workforce is global and mobile, and from Singapore to Zaire, PDA in hand, it's delivering round-the-clock service to equally connected, increasingly demanding customers.

The traditional office has disappeared and flexible working is ready to stand in its place, or at least augment the business of today and tomorrow. It is easy to deploy and manage at a relatively low cost. And yet there is something holding it back.

The dream of flexible working

Flexible working is what employees dream of and more often than not creates a nightmare for the managers. Not just in terms of having less control over the employees but also in the handling of myriad forms of communication technologies that will finally enable this dream. Today, solutions are available that can simplify the technology element.

Flexible working helps tackle the twin issues of productivity as well as work-life balance. A survey commissioned by Avaya last year showed a dramatic increase in positive attitudes towards telecommuting in the Asia Pacific. About 80 per cent of managers agreed that telecommuting improves productivity compared to 60 per cent in 2005. Also, 70 per cent of the managers favoured flexible working as a means of improving work-life balance.

It was also heartening that Singapore, along with China, had one of the highest numbers of managers with a positive attitude towards telecommuting as a means of improving work-life balance. Increasingly, employees are also saying that they would consider changing jobs in favour of a company that offered flexible working, all else remaining equal.

Optimum customer service

Employees are not the only ones who can take advantage of flexible working. Today, more and more customers state that they would prefer a vendor that makes its staff available around the clock, and are even prepared to pay a premium for these increased service hours. Business mobility driven by Unified Communications enables companies to offer optimum customer service 24/7. In a survey conducted by CallCentres.Net for Avaya last year, 69 per cent of respondents in Singapore favoured doing business with an organisation that was able to offer them this level of responsiveness.

Many decision-makers have viewed the technologies that enable flexible working as expensive and difficult to deploy. However, technology advancements like Unified Communications ease the burden on managers and improve their ability to keep track of remote workers and their assorted communication devices.

The cost per employee to roll out a company-wide Unified Communications service is very minimal. In addition, many companies today are offering financing schemes such as the Avaya 'Zero Barriers' programme which allows customers to obtain zero per cent interest financing for 36-48 month purchases. So deploying a flexible working infrastructure has never been easier, more cost effective or more powerful.

The business of the future

Happier, more balanced employees perform better, with the added benefit of breeding company allegiance. Customers want faster, more effective access delivered in their preferred communication method and flexible working can solve this challenge too, by truly leveraging a specialised, round the clock, global workforce and implementing technologies capable of delivering personalised results. And in most cases, the infrastructure is already in place - lacking only the added spark of management buy-in. The face of business is changing; not evolving is no longer an option.

For many years this has been an unattainable dream of employees and an added stressor to managers and decision-makers alike. But today the technology to deliver it is here, deploying and managing it is easy, and the cost is relatively low. So what is holding you back?

This article was first published in The Business Times.