One Telecommuter's Opinion

by Staff Writers on Jan 1, 1900

Graeme Martin, who runs his own software development company, Delphi Systems Pty. Ltd, has been telecommuting in one form or another since 1982. Back in the eighties, modems were rather primitive, at

Graeme Martin, who runs his own software development company, Delphi Systems Pty. Ltd, has been telecommuting in one form or another since 1982. Back in the eighties, modems were rather primitive, at least by today's standards, with a top speed of only 300 baud. Living in Tasmania, his early telecommuting jobs involved supporting computer sites based in Hobart, as well as ones in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide.

And although modern-day modems are considerably faster, Martin points out that the principle is still basically the same, though the modem is now connected to a PC utilising some very sophisticated communications software.

'I have been using a program from Symantec called pcAnywhere for about three to four years,' says Martin. 'This allows me to access computers pretty well anywhere, alter software, run tests or transfer files at a tolerable speed. This kind of software has revolutionised supporting PC based computers wherever they might be and has, I think, made telecommuting a reasonably practical course of action for many kinds
of projects involving technical work.

Besides this of course, there are various applications around now for things like
video conferencing over the Internet, and of course, email. Although video conferencing is still a bit beyond the average telecommuter, email is easy to use and its ability to transfer documents makes telecommuting a practical proposition for people who work with transferable documents and files. All they need is a modern computer, modem and an ISP account. Email software is the foremost enabler of practical telecommuting that has yet appeared. It is so easy to use and so cheap and fast.'

As regards to benefits, Martin believes the most tangible one is the time saved in not having to travel to different places. There's also the flexibility issue. He has a friend with a young baby who works at home two days a week, but goes in to her employer's office the other three days. She benefits by having more time available for her baby because she can schedule some of her tasks when she wants to do them, not just between 9AM and 5PM.

This article appeared in the April, 2000 issue of PC Authority.