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Page updated:
20 September 2000

European Telework Development (ETD)

What are Telework, Teletrade and Telecooperation ?

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An abundance of material has been written and spoken about these topics, using many different terms and definitions. For the purposes of the ETD Initiative we use the following general meanings.

Telework

Telework occurs when information and communications technologies (ICTs) are applied to enable work to be done at a distance from the place where the work results are needed or where the work would conventionally have been done. It includes:

Home-based telework or "telecommuting", when an employee or contractor works at home instead of travelling to an employer's or a customer's premises.
Mobile telework, when executives, professionals or service staffs using ICTs to enable them to spend more time with customers and to deliver "on the road" a range of services and capabilities that previously would have involved office based staff or visits to the company offices;
Telecentres, providing local office facilities for people who prefer not to work at home but wish to avoid the cost, time and inconvenience of commuting;
Telecottages, which provide local communities with access to skills development, high performance ICTs, and the networking and socialisation aspects of work that may be missed by a home based worker.
Functional relocation, where business functions that previously were located close to the customer are concentrated and delivered at a distance; examples include both "front office" (selling activities previously done in the High Street, now delivered by phone or computer networks) and "back office" (service and maintenance work previously done "on site", which may now be done anywhere in the world using remote access to systems).

Telework also affects some kinds of "outsourcing", in that many kinds of work can now be done from thousands of miles away and "outsourced" across national borders. Telework has also been said to include "dispersed team working", in which (for example) an engineering company uses three or more teams in different time zones to work 24 hours a day on a time-sensitive customer tender, with each team "passing the baton" to the next at the end of its working day.

As well as affecting the individual and the enterprise telework has significant economic and trade implications, for example many jobs in computer programing that might previously have been done in California or in Sweden are now done in Bangalore. Understanding telework in all its ramifications is essential to the future of work and jobs.

Go to telework pages

Teletrade

Teletrade uses the same technologies to market and sell goods and services, to enhance customer relationships, to reach distant markets without the overhead of a local "physical presence". Teletrade is already transforming the markets for some kinds of goods and services, notably software (which can be "downloaded" direct from the maker without any need for added value from intermediaries in distribution chains) and financial services (which are increasingly supplied "by wire" at much lower cost and with higher service levels than can be achieved through High Street premises or field sales forces.

As the Information Society develops, we are seeing the emergence of a "globalnetworked economy", in which competition for many goods and services (including many "tangible" goods) will increasingly come "by wire" into consumers' homes and business customers' offices. Understanding and responding to this is essential to future success in trade and enterprise.

Go to teletrade pages

Telecooperation

Telecooperation is the application of ICTs by individuals and organisations to enhance communications and access to information. Telecooperation entails new skills - just as letter writing is different from using the phone and different again from being effective in small meetings, which is different from being effective in larger meetings. Telecooperation also entails changes to organisations. In particular the barriers imposed by bureaucratic heirearchies within the organisation are undermined, and the barriers of communication across organisation boundaries are dissolved.

Individuals who learn and apply the skills of telecooperation gain new leverage, both by having a wider network of "helpful connections" and by having better access to timely information. Organisations that successfully apply telecooperation methods can enhance customer and supplier communications, dramatically reduce costs, and increase the standing in the community and their influence with policy makers.

Go to telecooperation pages

For comments or questions on this page, please use the feedback form

Development of European Telework Online has been supported by ETD, an initiative of the European Commission (DGXIII) ACTS programme
Page address: http://www.eto.org.uk/etd