Last week, the Federation of Small Businesses estimated that 10 per cent of the UK’s 30-million strong workforce failed to make it in to the office. Other sources pitched their figures even higher. Such as the poll of 213 companies, conducted by Peninsula and published in the Manchester Evening News, which revealed a staggering 44 per cent of employees in the North-West had stayed at home on Tuesday 5th January.

So what were these workers doing besides emptying their local supermarket shelves of bread and sledging around the local park with their children? Not very much, would appear to be the answer, with some business groups predicting that the cost of this absenteeism could reach £2 billion.

As the perennial debate rumbled on over salt and grit reserves and airport runways were closed, the wintry conditions demonstrated to UK businesses the important role that can be played by remote working solutions - not simply in terms of promoting more flexible and efficient daily working practices but also in the vital area of business continuity planning.

Remote working solutions: a crucial part of your business continuity planning

Today more and more businesses are embracing remote working as a means of increasing efficiency and reducing costs. Whilst secure access for your mobile workforce to emails and other important company data can improve customer service levels, allowing workers to “telecommute” from home has also been shown to raise staff morale. More importantly, the ability to work remotely can form a crucial part of your business continuity planning.

Snowfall causing disruption of the order witnessed this month may be thankfully rare but climate change experts warn there is more to come. Also within a week of the initial interruptions caused by last February’s snow, many UK firms were caught in the grip of severe flood warnings. In fact, when motorway congestion, train cancellations and terrorist threats are factored into the equation, remote working solutions begin to look like the must-have contingency plan for businesses of any size.

Why not speak with your account manager today for a review of the remote working options available to your business.