This week’s tube strike is affecting millions of workers. But for those who have the correct technology in place, they have the luxury of working from home rather than having to brave the streets of the capital.
"Just 10 years ago a transport strike like the one taking place in London this week would have a drastic impact on business in the capital," said Jesper Frederiksen, DocuSign VP.
"Millions of pounds in lost revenue would be unavoidable, workers would struggle to get in to offices and any skeleton services would be likely to be overcrowded and dangerous. Nowadays, physical location is no longer such an issue for businesses who have adopted advanced technology and new ways to work."
"Cloud hosting means data is accessible anywhere, video conferencing means you can talk to a team around the world, and the growing popularity of services like DocuSign’s eSignature solution gives you anywhere, anytime access for signing, sending, and storing documents securely," he said.
However, Jes Breslaw, director of cloud solutions at Accellion, warns that IT managers need to ensure that the right applications are in place to enable remote working.
He said: "With the BYOD phenomena some companies are at least a little protected from business workflow coming to a standing stop when transport does. But failing to provide employees with the right applications across a range of devices increases employees’ inability to access to the tools and services they need on days when they cannot get to work.
"Organisations need to provide employees with enterprise mobile platforms designed to let them work remotely. So whilst employers can’t prevent avoid major travel disruptions, they can at least stay connected and keep the ball rolling."
