Data Mining

Telecommuters Can Handle More Work

Telecommuters are typically willing to work more hours in a week than their office-bound counterparts before raising concerns about the impact on their personal lives. Researchers at Brigham Young University analyzed data from 24,436 IBM employees in 75 countries to identify the point at which 25 percent of employees said work interfered with their personal and family lives. The study’s lead author notes that telecommuting is most beneficial for reducing work/life conflict when it’s accompanied by flextime. Here’s what the researchers found:

• 38 hours per week: The point at which office workers said work interfered with their personal lives.
• 57 hours per week: The point at which telecommuters said work interfered with personal lives.

Source: Science Daily

Cloud and Mobile Computing Will Overtake PCs by 2020

In a recent survey, nearly three-quarters of the 895 respondents said Internet-based applications, known as cloud computing, and smart-phone applications will be more widely used than PCs by 2020. Here’s a summary of the statements they answered.

• 72 percent agreed that most people won’t do their work with PC-based software but instead will use Internet-based applications, such as Google Docs, and smart-phone apps. The most innovative work will come from developers who are creating tools for smart-phone and cloud-based platforms rather than PC software.
• 27 percent said most people will do their work with PC-based software. Cloud-based applications and smart-phone apps will have some functionality, but the most innovative applications will run on — and spring from — a PC operating system.

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project

Feds Use Unsafe Methods to Transfer Files

Many federal employees use personal e-mail accounts and other unsecure methods to transfer large files — often in violation of agency policy. Here are the results of a survey of 200 information technology and security professionals at intelligence agencies, federal civilian agencies and the Defense Department.

• 66 percent of employees use physical media such as USB drives and DVDs to transfer files.
• 60 percent use File Transfer Protocol.
• 52 percent use personal e-mail accounts to transfer files within their agencies or to other agencies.
• 58 percent are aware of secure file transfer policies.
• 80 percent said their agencies have adequate file transfer policies in place.

Source: MeriTalk for Axway. One hundred percent of respondents are involved with information assurance, cybersecurity or the handling of large file transfers for their agencies. The report has a margin of error of +/- 6.89 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.