Let’s face facts: Today’s workforce is more mobile and remote than ever! Cultivating a mobile, remote workforce is a necessity for today’s business. Remote workers significantly reduce overhead costs. They enable organizations to conduct business worldwide, around the clock. Plus, the ability to be remote and work helps businesses capture and retain top talent, wherever that talent may be.

Gartner, Inc. has estimated the number of worldwide remote workers will pass 46 million this year (2011). A recent report by non-profit WorldatWork (Telework 2011: A Special Report From WorldatWork) states that the teleworking population in 2010 was 26.2 million people, which according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics represents nearly 20% of the U.S. adult working population. Imagine, almost 1/5^th of all U.S. adult workers work remotely! And, as of June 9, 2011, the U.S. Federal government’s Telework Enhancement Act went into effect, requiring federal agencies to draw up policies to govern and promote teleworking.

However, productivity while a user is remote or traveling outside of their corporate office continues to be an issue. The number of applications today that are “heavy” and data-laden, or that are rich media based has simply exploded. Wide area network bandwidth remains limited and can be prone to significant latency issues. Plus, protocol and application chattiness are also major impediments. These limitations impact the connection experience for remote, traveling and branch users. Their productivity while remotely accessing the network and applications can be severely affected.