Increasing Remote Operations in Offshore Operations

What has probably existed for few years in the US based operations of OEM majors who are also service providers, is now catching up at offshore locations of these and other offshore players. Increasingly administrators are working from home - thanks to the improved network services which are also cheaper along with the reducing costs of a laptop and a mobile phone, not to mention the pervasiveness of chat and video conferencing.

Till 2-3 years back, such were just privileges which some of the senior folks in the offshore operations could enjoy as not everyone yet has a laptop in most offshore operations' teams which work on customer projects. Secondly, the efficiency of home networks (cost and quality) has improved several times. My home broadband has more than 99.99% uptime for the last few years I have been using it in India.

Another advantage of the home worker is the saving in office space along with reduced commute time (and cost) for the worker which motivates them to work well from home. Of course they need to ensure that they have a decent "home office" with no interruptions which is something that many struggle with as most homes are not big enough to have a study.

Other issue that many report is the inconsistent power supply in some of the cities/areas. However these days the power outages are mostly couple of hours in a stretch (as a maximum limit) which is better than the situation few years back and an air card with a laptop ensures that the worker is active even when there is no electricity for few hours at home.

So it is a win-win for the employer and employee but what about the customer? While many companies may not explicitly disclose to their clients the number of work from home workers on the account, most often the quality of service is at par with the workers working from a regular office. And most who work from home still come to the regular office once or twice a week to meet up with their supervisor and some of the face to face team meetings.

Another important "constituent" set are female employees who find it very useful to work from home in a predominantly patriarch society of most offshore countries where the woman of the house is still responsible for cooking and cleaning though it is gradually changing. Many are also able to afford domestic help with the new salaries they enjoy.

So it does  sound like a win-win-win for employer, employee and the client. Talking to some such workers - most enjoy the flexibility to handle home and work but yes they do miss the water cooler moments which technology still can't help with!