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  • Include telecommuting in options for October's Sandton shutdown, says Cloudware Technologies

Include telecommuting in options for October's Sandton shutdown, says Cloudware Technologies

Several major roads in Sandton are going to be car-free for the month of October as part of the Ecomobility World Festival and Exhibition, says Jonathan Young, head of product at Cloudware Technologies.


Johannesburg, 14 May 2015

The month-long street closures scheduled for Sandton later this year will provide the perfect opportunity for businesses to test the benefits of telecommuting, says Jonathan Young, head of product at Cloudware Technologies.

"Several major roads in Sandton are going to be car-free for the entire month of October as part of the Ecomobility World Festival and Exhibition," says Young. "There's no doubt it will be disruptive - but as with all disruptions, it can also be an impetus for innovation. With traffic into the CBD increasing by over 3% per annum, we will lose more and more productive hours to congestion. We hope companies will experiment with allowing some of their staff to work from home, at least some of the time."

Young says allowing team members to work from home just one day a week could reduce traffic into the Sandton CBD by up to 20% if everyone takes up the opportunity. "South African companies have traditionally been wary of home working because they're worried people will be less productive, but how productive can people be when they're stuck in traffic? Telecommuting can rescue one to two hours per employee per day."

Data security needn't be a concern, adds Young. "Desktop virtualisation technology like Cloudware can deliver any user's personalised desktop to any device, anywhere, while ensuring that no data leaves the secured corporate environment. So a user could open any application on their desktop on Monday, continue working at home on Tuesday in exactly the same application using their phone, a tablet, a Cloudgate device or even a home desktop, and then pick up again seamlessly at the office on Wednesday."

Users don't have to have super-fast Internet connections at home, he says. "Cloudware was developed specifically for South Africa's low-bandwidth conditions and can deliver applications successfully even using a cellular EDGE connection."

"If you don't want to open the doors completely to home working, but would like to experiment, October is the perfect opportunity," concludes Young. "If it doesn't work out, the experiment ends after the month and things can revert to the old pattern. But, I'm betting there will be longer term benefits."

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Mariaan Christian
DUO Marketing + Communications
(010) 594 4700
mariaan@duomarketing.co.za