Homeworking growth set to boost VoIP demand?

Working away from the office is becoming ever more popular and may see increased demand for hosted PBX (private branch exchanges) from both large and small businesses.

According to research by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), teleworking has undergone a huge growth over the past three years.

Four years ago just one in ten companies embraced homeworking.

But now some 46 per cent of firms allow staff to work from home by accessing office systems, including hosted VoIP telephony and software PBX applications, securely over the internet.

CBI deputy director general John Cridland commented: "That teleworking has quadrupled in three years is testament to how far and fast firms have come in adopting new technologies for the benefit of staff and the business."

He added: "Others will also be using the technology to reduce their carbon footprint, as ever increasing numbers of firms seek to help combat climate change."

But a YouGov poll for Orange Business Services seemingly disputes these figures as it found some 71 per cent of workers had not been offered flexible homeworking by their employer.

However, both may be accurate if it is larger firms, who employ vast numbers of workers, rather than smaller companies that are more reluctant to switch to VoIP and let their employees work from home.