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Telework
will be Key Driver of Mainstream Broadband Conversion
Large and Growing Remote Workforce Will Be Powerful Catalyst for
In-Home Adoption
by Andreas von Blottnitz,
President and Chief Executive Officer, Expertcity, Inc.
The broadband story wasn't supposed to turn
out this way. Two years ago, the meteoric growth of in-home broadband
seemed boundless. Online entertainment, sports, music and games
were projected to be the levers for conversion. Yet, fast-forward
to today, and it's evident that the brisk adoption rate was not
sustainable, and did not meet industry expectations. However, there
is a bright spot on the horizon. The trend towards telework or remote
working is a dominant force that will drive tremendous broadband
growth in the coming years.
In Search of the Killer Broadband Application
If broadband is so accessible, why has it failed to gain widespread
adoption? Although many factors have combined to limit broadband
growth, one of the primary reasons is the lack of defining consumer
applications and content. That is now changing according to findings
in Broadband Audience: Maximizing Revenue from the New Mainstream,
a new study released by Jupiter Research. The study indicates that,
for the first time in years, dial-up users are planning to switch
to broadband for a persistent always-on Internet connection. And
their main motivator for converting to broadband is not for the
purposes of online entertainment, but rather to increase utility.
Why the change? An always-on Internet connection enables professionals
to use their computing solutions at optimal speeds, and though high-speed
connectivity in the corporate workplace is typically a given, dial-up
is still the predominant choice for Internet connectivity in the
home. The latency that is inherent in dial-up connectivity is no
longer acceptable for professionals who need to work after hours
or on the weekends. Broadband becomes a requirement rather than
an option for those who need to get work done after hours or away
from the corporate setting in the convenience of their home offices.
Therefore the conversion to broadband is necessitated and reinforced
by the value of professional utility.
Enter Teleworking
For two decades, telecommuting, or telework, has been an unrealized
dream of employers and workers. At last, remote work is on the verge
of tremendous growth. Businesses have discovered the savings advantages
and productivity increases that telework provides. Employees are
demanding teleworking programs to improve work satisfaction and
meet lifestyle demands. There were 28.8 million teleworking employees
in the United States in 2001, up 17% from the previous year.1
Moreover, recent trends have forced us to expand the definition
of the typical teleworker. Millions of remote and mobile workers
no longer fit the narrow profile of a teleworker who works at home
several days a week. Rather, today's teleworkers include 78 million
mobile users who access corporate resources from a variety of locations.
2 In fact, "work extenders," or
employees working remotely after hours, on the weekend and during
business trips now represent the largest and fastest growing segment
of the teleworking population.
This broader definition of what constitutes a teleworker reveals
that there is a huge, untapped market segment with the potential
for becoming a powerful catalyst for the in-home adoption of broadband
services. Broadband companies must begin providing Web-based applications
and services to support teleworking if they want to expand their
markets. And it's starting to happen. EarthLink, one of the country's
leading broadband providers and a strategic partner of Expertcity,
recently began offering our GoToMyPC™ Web-based remote-access
service to its customers - recognizing the enormous potential of
the teleworking community to drive broadband adoption in the home.
New Market Opportunities for Telework and Broadband
With Web-based applications for teleworkers being delivered via
broadband, a new wave of innovation and investment is at hand. The
convergence of broadband and teleworking will create a wealth of
opportunities and derivative services. Industries that provide infrastructure
and Web-based applications to the burgeoning teleworking market
will reap the benefits.
Technological change throughout history provides numerous examples
of industries reaching their potential only after the right application
evolved. For example, the phonograph, which was originally marketed
for business dictation, took a decade to find a profitable niche
in music playback. Just as the synergy between the phonograph and
recorded music spawned a new industry, so has the coupling of broadband
and teleworking created new opportunities. The accelerating pace
of technology today makes it even easier to rapidly create entirely
new industries and reinvigorate many others.
Web-based applications for teleworkers have several unique advantages
when delivered via broadband:
- Network
performance: Broadband Internet connections provide what teleworkers
have lacked in the past - network performance similar to that
experienced while being in the office.
- Minimal
infrastructure: Broadband now provides a fast, easy and secure
method for providing teleworking technologies that have minimal
infrastructure requirements, such as remote network access.
- Low
cost: Companies that implement teleworking programs are more
likely to subsidize the cost of broadband connections for their
workers, thus offsetting one of the prohibitive factors of broadband
adoption.
Remote Access to be Critical Broadband Application
Our customer research suggests that frequently used broadband applications
are more likely to improve broadband retention rates. Once they
begin to use our GoToMyPC remote access service, many of our customers
(or their employers) are more likely to continue paying for broadband
service. In fact, in a customer survey, 88 percent of respondents
cited high-speed Internet access as "essential" to their
success when working remotely. 3 Our studies
and observations also confirm that the initial purchase of broadband
can be tied directly to the use of a teleworking application. For
example, many of our users who previously relied on dial-up Internet
connections migrated to broadband after they had begun using GoToMyPC
so that they could obtain the full benefits of working from home.
With
the tremendous growth and redefinition of teleworking, broadband
is no longer a great technology in search of an application. A Web-based
teleworking solution will prove to be the strategic application
that makes broadband indispensable. The convergence of broadband
and telework is just beginning, and the results will be significant
for companies that provide applications and services to this growing
market.
EndNotes:
1
International Telework Association and Council (ITAC).
2 Cahners In-Stat, "Working the
Wide Area: Perceptions of Internet & Wireless Accessible Applications
Between Mobile and Remote Workers," January 2002.
3
GoToMyPC Teleworking Survey, April 2002.
About the Author:
Andreas von
Blottnitz is President and Chief Executive Officer of Expertcity,
Inc., the leading provider of Web-based remote-access and customer-support
technologies. He has ten years of leadership experience launching,
growing and managing online media and Internet companies. In 1995
he launched AOL Germany and propelled it to a $150 million dollar
corporation while serving as the company's president and chief executive
officer.
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