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ETD News - June 1998 Page 1 Of 2 ETD News Editorial Welcome back to ETD News after a six month gap. We had, in fact, prepared a March edition that gave extensive coverage of the third European Telework Week (ETW '97) that took place during 3-10 November 1997. In the absence of a hard-copy edition, this went online at the European Telework Online Web site at http://www.eto.org.uk/etd/news/ethos398/ where you will also find news about ISdAC (Information Society disAbilities Challenge) and the success of the ETO Web site. New material includes a summary of the European Telework Festival at Serre Chevalier, a new municipal telework initiative in Naples, the new EITO 98 yearbook and the launch of the Telework Agenda Telework is increasingly becoming an accepted part of modern organisational life. However, as enquiries to ETD personnel show, it is far from accepted practice. Many organisations do not embrace teleworking wholeheartedly and exploit it to achieve the significant business and individual benefits that it offers. The aim of ETD is to stimulate uptake of telework as an enabler of prosperity in the information society. We hope that this newsletter informs you of significant developments that could help turn this vision into a reality. We look forward to your feedback and contributions. David Skyrme Editor, ETD News. European Telework Festival Serre-Chevalier (France), April 2-4, 1998 Nicole Turbe-Suetens, ETD National Coordinator, France (Email: nturbe@ibm.net) The third European Telework and Tele-activites Festival was held in Serre-Chevalier (France) on April 2-4, 1998 and attracted more than 200 professional visitors and speakers from several European countries. Over the last years this event has become the most important on this topic in France. Due to the large involvement of non-French speakers it enlarges the breadth of perspective, enriches the experiences and creates a real interaction amongst major actors in the telework and tele-activities fields. Even if those actors are all very active on the specialized fora and discussion lists, they all recognise that it is important and of high value to have the opportunity to meet physically in a friendly place like Serre-Chevalier. The opportunity to meet in such a place where open discussion is possible with researchers, industrialists, politicians, students and real teleworkers becomes a platform for new projects. It is important to mention this because the Serre-Chevalier event is much more than just conferences with good quality speakers and interesting round-tables with high level responsible people coming from the industry and the political world. It is the ease of communication amongst all those actors involved in the creation of the information society that makes it particular and it is one of the major concern of the organisers: Systemia and the local authorities. Over the two and a half days one could participate in 15 conferences in various fields to deepen knowledge about the telework concept, virtual organisations, telework and SMEs, telework and local development and distance learning. Contributions ranged from very practical illustrations of new realities from practitioners to more theoretical and conceptual presentations from consultants and university professors. Very practical aspects were raised during the four round-tables where industrialists and politicians had to respond to quite tough questioning and show their determination to drive France into the information society. To illustrate this, one can mention the announcement made by Minister for State Modernization to develop a Telework Charter for the civil servants. All this was made very coherent and reinforced by the remarks inputs made by DG V and DG XIII from the European Commission. Technology was also present thanks to the major sponsors of the Festival who were exhibiting their latest - in some cases not yet announced - offerings for the telework segment and more generally for the implementation of the information society. Amongst them one could see France Telecom, Matra Grolier Network, Sun, Cisco, etc. Online internet coverage was organised by a startup company, 35 Mai Production, in alliance with AOL. Such a coverage is done from a car equipped with PCs and satellite communications. Traditional press representatives were also part of the Festival. The French Telework Association have put close to real time summaries of the event on their web site with some live interviews: http://www.aftt.net Telework Section in EITO 98 Yearbook Since its launch in 1993, The European Information Technology Observatory (EITO) has become established as the definitive yearbook for the information and communications technology (ICT) industry in Europe. It includes reviews of developments in various key areas and a mass of statistics about computer and telecommunications penetration. Did you know, for example, that Denmark has the highest number of PCs per head of population in Europe (33 per 100 inhabitants) or that Ireland has the highest telecommunications expenditure as a percentage of GDP (3.88 per cent)? Key developments reported in the 1998 yearbook are technology convergence, policy initiatives in electronic commerce, outcomes of the WTO (World Trade Organisation) negotiations that affect the ICT market and progress in a key European technology - GSM cellular telephony services. Whole sections are devoted to: ICT for European Homes: Devices, Services and Applications The Euro: Impact on Information Technology The Convergence of Voice and Data Communications Telework: Status, Development and Issues. The 35 pages devoted to telework outline the different dimensions of telework, including workplace setting, nature of employment contract, degree of formality and support. Different models of telework are described including homeworking, work at telecentres, and the fastest growing form of telework - mobile and location independent telework. After a review of the business rationale for telework, activity in Europe is positioned within its wider context. This is both that of global competitiveness and the emerging networked economy. The case for `networked enterprises' is strongly made: "The swift and successful adoption of networked enterprise methods by European enterprises is vital to the future economic success of the European Union. EITO 1997 showed projected world revenues generated by commercial web sites reaching nearly three billion ECU as early as 2001, but with the USA gaining 70% of this revenue and Europe less than 20%." The review contrasts telework status in various countries and outlines barriers to its more widespread adoption, of which the three most important issues concern organisational factors - lack of knowledge, perceived problems of managing teleworkers and perceived problems of communicating with teleworkers. In terms of numbers the review estimates that there are some 4 million teleworkers in Europe in 1997, a number that is expected to rise to between 8 and 15 million by 2002 and between 16 and 35 million by 2007. These wide ranges are ascribed to alternative responses to regulatory and other policy issues, which are also outlined in the review. EITO 98 can be ordered through ETD at a cost of £48 inclusive of post, packing and handling costs. For a limited period, those ordering the 1998 edition can also obtain a free copy of the 1997 edition. Details at: http://www.eto.org.uk/eito/ European Telework Development (ETD) is an initiative supported by the European Commission (DGXIII) as part of the Advanced Communications Technologies and Services (ACTS) programme. European Telework Development News Editor: David Skyrme E-mail: david@skyrme.com Tel/Fax: +44 1635 551434 Web: http://www.eto.org.uk/etd/news/index.htm Read The Next Page Return To Contents List