It has been easy to see the signs of an increasingly mobile workforce over the years. Business men and women travel regularly to meet with clients, collaborate with teams and work on projects. Though Marissa Meyer made headlines recently for recalling remote workers to the office and banning the telecommute, the trend in the business world is typically the opposite. More employees than ever are permitted to work on flex schedules and complete tasks from home. Sometimes this means one or two days a week, but other employees do their work entirely from a home office or other remote location.

According to research recently published by independent survey and data organization Forrester, 26 percent of employees work from their home office at least one day per week. This figure is an eight percent increase from the statistics in 2010, which showed that 18 percent of employees worked from home regularly. In addition, there is a trend toward working from coffee shops and other public places, as 12 percent do so now compared to six percent three years ago. Overcrowded coffee shops aside, this telecommuting trend would not be possible without the evolution of digital technology.

Faster networks and wi-fi connections mean that employees can work from virtually anywhere. Cloud computing allows teams to collaborate online and access documents related to projects, proposals, contacts, financial information, performance reports and more. By accessing data remotely, whether by a public or private cloud model, employees can spend less time traveling to work or to business meetings and more time being productive. Unified communications have also provided major breakthroughs in the ability to complete work from anywhere. Employees and business owners can access all their communications, including email, voicemail, instant message, video chat, fax, and more from any enabled device such as a smartphone, laptop or tablet.