During economic uncertainty, operational expenses are often the first items on the CFO’s chopping block. These “keep the lights on” expenses have no clear return on investment and cannot be traced to revenue-generating activity like marketing or research and development. However, many organizations lack a clear view of their true operational costs – a problem only magnified by the rapid rise of the mobile workforce.

Telecommuting introduces a host of new and obvious considerations to the cost equation: increased bandwidth demands, greater network access, and the need for wireless devices. Yet there are a set of hidden costs as well, particularly arising from the scarcity – or glut – of workspace available for mobile workers upon their return to the office.

When mobile workers return to the home office, they expect to find a workspace available to them. Seems simple enough. But companies now have hundreds, if not thousands, of mobile workers. As companies are quickly realizing, addressing this seemingly basic request – providing a workstation to in-office telecommuters – can become unwieldy.

Which brings us back to the increasing difficultly of identifying operational costs. Without scheduling software to provide a cross-business view into, for example, hardware needs for in-office telecommuters, businesses cannot make intelligent resource allocation decisions. Without a window into which telecommuters will be in-office and on what date, companies are susceptible to cost overlaps and redundancies. Throw into the mix other necessities like workspaces, furniture, and lighting, and the confusion only grows.

So while telecommuting brings with it great potential, companies must not only be aware of its evident costs, but the hidden expenses associated with the mismanagement of in-office mobile workers – expenses that can be minimized with intelligent workforce scheduling software.