Our fifth post in the Telework Week 2012 series is from Seamus King, Country Leader for Australia, Citrix Online Services Division.

I was really pleased to hear that Australia has taken a major step towards embracing the benefits of a workshifting lifestyle with the Australian Federal Government finally announcing the first National Telework Week will take place in November 2012.

Senator Stephen Conroy - Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy - said that the opportunities presented by increased telework were exciting for both employers and employees. He also outlined how an increase in telework can lead to benefits across the economy and community, from big businesses to individual workers and families as well as the environment.

Increased teleworking is already one of the eight Digital Economy Goals that form part of the Australian AU20 National Digital Economy Strategy. By making telework a National Digital Economy Goal, the Australian Government has signalled its intention to bring Australia into line with international levels of telework.

Deployment of the long-awaited National Broadband Network is now underway and will enable us Australians to interact with our workplaces more easily remotely. The falling price of mobile devices and mobile broadband, in addition to the expected explosion of Android-based tablets in 2012, also means that more of us will have the tools needed to enjoy the benefits of a mobile lifestyle.

We're starting to see all the pieces fall into place. Australia is a country that is really embracing cloud technologies, and is recognized by analyst house Frost & Sullivan as the leading adopter of cloud technologies in the Asia Pacific region. While Australia went from lagging to leading the worldwide adoption of smartphones in just one year, the tablet market is also booming according to new research from tech analysts at Telsyte, which revealed more than 1.4 million devices were sold in 2011. This figure represents an annual growth of 330 percent over 2010 figures.

Telsyte expects the Australian tablet market to exceed 2 million units in 2012, with predictions to hit 5 million by 2016. If current trends continue, Telsyte forecasts that half the Australian population will be using media tablets by 2016. These forecasts tell a very compelling story and will mean that real-time collaboration services, such as video, audio, data and apps, are far more accessible and can help Australian workers stay in touch and work from wherever they are, hence driving higher and higher levels of productivity.

Senator Conroy has announced that Australia will be celebrating National Telework week during November 12-16, actively encouraging businesses to allow employees to work from home. One of the main reasons why teleworking has really taken off in the U.S. is the government has shown its support and actively promoted the benefits of working remotely.

With Australia now following suit, we're sure to see more businesses take this movement seriously and adopt their own form of flexible working. I for one am really looking forward to seeing more of us embrace some form of mobile work style, and we will continue to see the nature of work change - from no longer being a place we go, but a thing we do.

Photo credit: mugley

Two recent surveys by the Small Business Authority make for interesting reading. Perhaps not surprisingly, uncertainty about the U.S. economy has been identified as one of the top three challenges facing small businesses, fueled by ongoing concerns about the growing U.S. debt and deficit (46%) and over-regulation (35%). Economic uncertainty is once again seen as the greatest obstacle to hiring more employees (55%).

Contrast this with another finding which revealed that 71% of small business owners had never heard of cloud computing. It went on to show that of the 29% of those questioned who had heard of cloud computing, 74% could not describe just what cloud computing is. Not surprisingly, many small and mid-size businesses are apparently still struggling to understand its relevance to them.

How are these two situations related? Well, with business confidence wavering, shrewd executives should be looking for ways of running their operations more efficiently. Taking advantage of new cloud-based computing solutions might well prove to be highly beneficial, enabling organizations to free up capital, with more predictable associated operating costs, enabling organizations to just pay for what they use.

Cloud computing can be very simply viewed as on-demand computing services delivered by third parties over the Internet. Historically, in order to do tasks such as word processing, a business needed to buy a computer and license the relevant application that was installed on the device, often known as a server. The application was invoked through another computer (or client) and the user created the necessary files, which in turn were stored either on the client or on another computer on the office (local area) network. Backups of files, particularly data files, had to be made, so that if the computer storage failed, the user did not lose all their data - those precious digital letters, presentations, models and other documents upon which they, and their business, depended. All of this required upfront capital outlay - the business had to pay for these assets before they could use them - only to witness them depreciate over time. For larger businesses, it often became necessary to hire people with expertise in these systems just to fix things when they went wrong and to help keep everything running efficiently.

With cloud computing, organizations no longer have to own the servers, the storage, the networks and the applications that they once had to purchase in order to be able to undertake business. All that is now required is browser-based access to the Internet from any preferred device (desktop, laptop, smartphone, or tablet). A wide range of both free and subscription-based services are then immediately available on-demand to the user. No additional hardware or software needs to be purchased upfront, and the business essentially pays for the services it uses. Files can be stored locally or in the cloud on the service providers' computers where they are professionally managed. Furthermore, there is no need for the business to require dedicated IT support staff to help maintain these systems.

So all your stuff can now live in the cloud. Instead of having to go to work in your office, (whether it be a home, remote or official location), where most of your stuff still physically resides, you can now go to work in the cloud - your own office but now residing in the Internet. It's cheaper, arguably more secure, and typically accessible 24x7; best of all, it allows you to focus on your business and not on the technology needed to run it. Instead of owning computers on which to work, you simply have a device from which you can access your own personal cloud. All the stuff you need to digitally work or play is always at your disposal on your preferred devices, enabling you to do what you want, as you need. With your office in the cloud, you may not even need all that physical office space that was once so necessary and you can save on commuting related costs. So, welcome to your new office in the cloud - the place to be as the economic climate becomes increasingly stormy!

Photo Credit: dannykboyd