Trends towards homeworking within businesses around the world have been boosted considerably by the continuing advance of communications technology, it has been suggested.

Many companies are now able to plan for their future with the knowledge that many of their staff will have the option of working within a corporate network, but from a remote access point or from their own homes, reports VNUnet.

Indeed, Toby Clarke, IT director at the Abbey Protection Group, told the news service that his organisation is already taking advantage of a range of technology to allow employees to work from home or on the move.

"Our facilities strategy is not to increase office capacity but to use more home and remote workers and to offer more flexible working," he explained.

"We have a number of different communities using this technology but our primary one is a dedicated group of more than 30 lawyers who provide telephone advice."

A report from onrec.com recently suggested that the UK’s contact centre industry is yet to exploit the potential of having home-based operators.