Wexford-based RWave Software has just released its RWorks teleworker management system, which is geared for large organisations and outsourcing companies with remote workers to track task and project progress. Users can sign up for a free, 15-day trial of the service.
Tony Redmond, Valerie Roche and Declan Rossiter set up RWave Software, which is based at Wexford Enterprise Centre in the southeast of Ireland, in 2010.
Its cloud-based workforce management system RWorks works by automatically tracking progress on tasks and projects, and facilitates inclusive communication in an outsourced or remote workforce. It automatically gathers progress on tasks by matching what a user is doing with the tasks assigned to them, say its founders.
“As a result, it provides an automatic view of task and project progress, time and attendance and productivity. This information is then used to create a variety of useful timesheets and project-management reports.
“The problem for most companies is that while seeing the logic, cost and efficiency benefits of remote working, visibility of progress on assigned tasks and communication is more difficult.”
Demo of the RWorks desktop app in action
Remote working and Ireland
While Ireland hasn’t had a strong teleworking culture to date, this trend is reversing. According to CSO figures, some 40,000 individuals currently engage in remote working from time to time.
Redmond says every desk that an employee occupies costs an employer €10,000 per annum.
“In the first year, an employer could expect to reap €5,000 in savings, as they need to kit out the employee’s home office, this will reach €10,000 in the second year and for every year afterwards.”
Government savings via teleworking
Redmond also says there is an opportunity for the Government to save multimillion figures per annum.
“It’s based on the amount of office space that the Government uses,” he explains. “For instance, if 10pc of public servants were to telework for two days per week, this would save the Government €120m per year. Also, with the HSE, if 50pc of its 80,000 administrative workforce were teleworking one day a week, over three years, this would save the HSE €200m.”
Global teleworking trends
Globally, teleworking is growing at a rate of 9pc per annum. In the US, for instance, it is estimated that more than 17m people work remotely on either a full-time or part-time basis. Redmond points to how the US government recently passed the Telework Enhancement Act, 2010, which allows federal employees to work from home 20pc of the time.
RWorks also allows workers to see managers’ feedback on tasks via the web and to concentrate on the tasks at hand rather than filling out timesheets and progress reports, says Redmond.
Via the RWorks cloud solution, individuals pay per use on a monthly basis.
The company is also working on Android and iPhone apps, which will be released this year.
