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The Internet Innovation Alliance is a broad-based coalition of business and non-profit organizations that aim to ensure every American, regardless of race, income or geography, has access to the critical tool that is broadband Internet. The IIA seeks to promote public policies that support equal opportunity for universal broadband availability and adoption so that everyone, everywhere can seize the benefits of the Internet - from education to health care, employment to community building, civic engagement and beyond.
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Broadband Fact Book
Here you'll find convenient research items culled from the best broadband data sources. If you need to find bite-sized talking points on a tight deadline, you're in the right place. We've already done the hard part for you!
Research Area Environment
A traditional call center in the United States costs are around $31 per employee hour, including overhead and training, whereas home based agents can decrease cost by up to $10 an hour.
Home-based retention rates are around 85%, whereas conventional call centers have a retention rate of between 10% and 20%. (p. 22)
As previously noted, around 10% of workers telecommute full time, approximately one-tenth of these economic and environmental costs are already being saved, which approximates an annual reduction of 45 million tons of greenhouse gases. (p. 24)
A doubling of the current level of telecommuting, to say 20%, would mean that one-fifth of the environmental cost of commuting could be eliminated. (p. 24)
The presence of broadband infrastructure in rural communities can serve to develop a pool of online workers, which may attract information-based businesses, such as IT development, software and IT service businesses, as well as back-office telecommunications centers. (p. 22)
If 10% more of the workforce could telecommute fulltime, emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere would be reduced by an additional 42.4 million tons of carbon dioxide, as well as 2.6 million tons of other pollutants, which results in 45.0 million fewer tons of greenhouse gases each year. (p. 24)
Energy consumption is significantly reduced in a home office versus a commercial office, with one estimate finding that “home offices use less energy than a commercial office – a difference between 3000 to 4400 kWh per year.”
An estimated $25 million can be saved in real estate and energy costs by working from home offices rather than commercial offices. (p. 20)
Litan found that broadband deployment and use lowered medical costs and institutionalized living, while increasing labor force participation for seniors and individuals with disabilities.
All told, Litan estimated the cumulative benefit to be at least $927 billion over a 25-year period (with future benefits discounted in 2005 dollars). (p. 21)
Since telecommuting increases the pool of applicants and thus the quality of employees it can give a firm a competitive advantage by being the employer of choice. (p. 19)
In one study, AT&T found that employee productivity improved by $65 million, increased labor retention saved $15 million, and teleworkers avoided commuting 100 million miles, which reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 45,000 tons less of CO2 emissions, or around 1.8 tons per teleworker.
In that study, broadband access to the Internet was found to be a critical success factor. (p. 20)
As a result of telecommuting, firms will need less equipment, office space, parking spaces, office equipment, supplies and other amenities.
IBM claims it saves almost $1 billion a year in avoided real estate costs, thanks to telecommuting.67 Sun Microsystems estimated that it saved $69 million in real estate cost in 2005, as a result of its telecommuting program, and it was able to decrease office space use by 30% after implementing its “iWork” program. Nortel and AT&T estimate telecommuting saves $20 million and $25 million in real-estate costs, respectively, while Unisys cut office space 90%.” (p. 19-20)
