home2office employs decades of research into every function of our software. Our world-class research team informed the original concept of H2O.share and they work closely with our software development team to make sure that we are addressing the market’s needs and delivering best practices to our users.

There is a lot of research that has been conducted that illustrates that the trend of workers doing their work virtually continues to grow. The number of Americans who worked from home or remotely at least one day per month for their employer increased from approximately 12.4 million in 2006 to 17.2 million in 2008, according to a random digit dialed telephone survey. The rise in the number of telecommuters represents a two-year increase of 39 percent, and an increase of 74 percent since 2005. In 2005, the number of employees allowed to work from home or remotely at least one day per month by their employer was approximately 9.9 million.

Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates, the percentage of Americans who telecommute or work remotely at least once per month also has increased between 2006 and 2008. In 2006, approximately 8 percent of Americans telecommuted at least one day per month; in 2008, that figure rose to just over 11 percent. This trend toward more telecommuting likely is due to a combination of factors, including:

• The proliferation of high-speed and wireless Internet access (which has made it both less expensive and more productive to work remotely)

• Rising fuel and commuting costs, and

• The trend by employers to embrace work-life balance concepts.

Extensive research has been done by the federal government to further understand the trends and benefits of teleworking. Below are some key findings that help H2O determine the drivers of its customer base:

• Over half of 1,635 Federal teleworkers surveyed had responsibilities for dependents and, of those, 91% indicated that telework helped them with their dependent care responsibilities.

• Sample business case analyses show that the benefits of investing in telework technology can far outweigh the costs, yielding 200% to 1500% Return-on-Investment (ROI) in the first year.

• An average Federal employee currently spends about $138 a month in gasoline, but teleworking two days a week would save workers an average of $55.52 per month.

• The annual delay per peak period (rush hour) traveler has grown from 16 hours to 47 hours since 1982.

• Studies show that people tend to drive less on the days they telework, which reduces both road congestion and air pollution.

An additional environmental impact of using collaboration technologies such as H2O.share™ is reducing our dependency on paper. According to John F. Mancini, President of AIIM, “If the United States cut its office paper use by roughly 10 percent, or 540,000 tons, greenhouse gas emissions would fall by 1.6 million tons – equivalent to taking 280,000 cars off the road for a year.” There are nearly 3.7 million tons of copy paper used annually in the United States alone. That’s over 700 trillion pieces of paper.

H2O’s research team is not only seeking to understand the trends and benefits of virtual teaming, but it is also looking ahead at what workers are looking for in the future to help them become even more efficient and productive. For example, Nemertes Research, a research-advisory firm that specializes in analyzing and quantifying the business value of emerging technologies, reports, “Shared workspaces and wikis are two emerging collaboration tools that are ideally suited to the needs of the small-medium market. Shared workspaces and wikis allow groups of all sizes to collaborate on projects, client deliverables, and internal processes and procedures using applications or Web-based services custom designed to foster collaboration”.

The pilots that H2O conducts over the next 4-6 months will further inform future releases of H20.share™.