First came the home. Then came the office. For the last two centuries or so, humans have been griping about the commute in between.
In the last few years, however, a small but growing number of business people have been working to keep that commute to a minimum-sometimes as a short as a walk down the hall of their homes.
Thanks to the advent of the personal computer, the fax (short for facimile) machine, the modem, desktop publishing systems and numerous other electronic devices, the home office market has been exploding in the last decade.
According to an Electronic Industries Association study from last year, 36 percent of all U.S. homes now have a home office or a dedicated work space. That home office market accounted to electronic product sales of almost $9 billion in 1991-about one-fourth of all consumer electronic sales, according to the EIA.
According to Link Resources Corp., a New York-based market research firm, there were about 38.4 million home office workers in the U.S. last year, up nearly 13 percent from two years earlier.
That`s a tremendous jump from just over a decade ago, when only a handful of people worked in their homes with a rotary dial phone and a typewriter, said market experts.
”Things started to change in the early 1980s, when the personal computer brought the power of computing from the office into the home,” said Alan Haber, a staff director with the Electronic Industry Association. ”This growth was accelerated with the addition of other products such as modems and fax machines, which allowed people and their computers to communicate with each other.”
The market is continually growing, said Paul Allan, vice president of sales and marketing at the New Jersey-based Sharp Electronics Corp., which manufacturers several home office products.
”The recession has actually affected the home office market in a positive way,” said Allan, a member of the EIA. ”As more people are being let go by companies that are downsizing, those employees are becoming consultants, agents and sales representatives and working out of their homes. And they`re automating.”
Not every member of the home office arena is self-employed, said Haber.
”There are now several distinct groups within the home office market,”
he explained. ”For example, there is the entrepreneur who is running an independent business out of his home. And then there is the telecommuter who works full time for a firm but may work two or three days out of their home instead of their downtown office.
”Then there is the employee who may be spending time at home to raise a child but is still working full- or part-time for their firm,” added Haber.
”And then there`s the employee who works 40 hours at the office but has work to do during evenings and on weekends.”
The largest of those groups, according to Link Resources, are the full-and part-time self-employed home workers, who in 1991 totalled more than 22 million people.
Because of that proliferation, the home office product market has also been expanding.
For example, one growing area is actually outside of the home office:
Portable business electronics for workers, home- or company-based, who often find themselves traveling.
”There is now such a thing as a mobile home office,” said Allan pointing to the introduction of such products as cellular phones, electronic pagers and laptop and palmtop computers.
”The key with those products is connectivity,” said Allan, ”because all of these mobile tools are able to communicate back to the PC on your desk, many from a remote location via phone line.”
”As a result of business travel among home office workers, we`re seeing the growth of fax machines and answering machines for the car,” said Haber.
”And if you travel on an airplane, it`s common to see one or two people typing away on a laptop, which can later be used to make presentations to a client.”
The mobility of the home officer worker is also spurring sales of electronic pocket organizers, known as palmtop computers. ”What`s key with those products is they are highly portable, easy to use, and they interface with other equipment, such as PCs,” said Allan.
According to Tom Miller, vice president of home office research for Link Resources, sales of pocket organizers are booming. Nearly 29 percent of all home office workers use them.
”These products are basically electronic Filofaxes that take a lot of the information off your desk top and place it in your pocket,” he said.
”Our research shows that the most common tasks of pocket organizers are the diary/schedulers and telephone directories. But they can do everything from beep you to remind you of an appointment to play games.”
Overall, the personal computer and the fax machine are still the hottest devices with home officer workers, said the industry officials.
”You almost can`t be in business today without a fax,” said Allan.
”The first question people ask you is `What`s your phone number?` Then they ask, `What`s your fax number?` ”
As a result, fax machines account for about 38 percent of all home office product sales for Sharp Electronics, said Allan.
”This has been spurred by such recent gains as more fax features including paper cutting, speed dialing and document feeding, smaller footprints (space they take up on a desk) and lower prices,” he added. ”In other words, more fax for less money.”
Personal computers remain popular with home office workers as manufacturers offer more power, memory and speed for less money, said the officials. EIA studies show that nearly half of all home office equipment dollars are spent on personal computers.
”Less than a decade ago, PCs were the catalyst for the home office market,” said Haber. ”Now they`ve come into the mainstream marketplace and you can buy them at department stores. As a result, you can now get a 386 personal computer for under $900 if you comparison shop.”
The amount of computer software-from word processors to spreadsheets-is also proliferating, as are online databases and computer services that streamline research and business communications for home office workers, said Haber.
Also popular is a wide range of peripherals, from modems-which allow computers to communicate via telephone line with those online services, with company computers or with other PC`s-to laser printers that outfit home offices with professional printing capability.
The latest peripheral development is CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) drives, which borrow the technology found in compact audio discs to greatly enhance the memory of a personal computer. One CD-ROM disc can hold tens of thousands of pages of information, from encyclopedias to databases to computer games.
In addition, many manufacturers are incorporating devices such as fax machines and copiers into circuitry boards found inside the personal computer. ”The PC can almost be its own small self-contained home office,” said Haber. ”One benefit to that is you can incorporate information from a fax into a computer file and vice-versa. And you`re also removing the footprint of that other equipment off of your desk.”
What is also proving popular with home office workers, said Allan, are upgraded calculators that feature larger, easier to read displays; as well as calculators that can store information such as phone numbers or appointments; or can handle complex scientific equations.
”The personal copier also continues to do well, as prices drop and home officer workers realize the value of having a copier within their reach,” he said.
With the advent of fax machines and modems, corded and cordless two-line telephones are also in vogue with home office workers, said Haber. ”Two-line phones are also important for those home office workers trying to keep their personal and business phone lines separate,” he said.
Two-line answering machines and digital answering machines are also beginning to appeal to home office workers.
With the continued proliferation of electronic devices geared toward home office workers, further dramatic growth is expected in the home office market. For example, Miller expects the next big product for home office workers will be a device that marries that technology of electronic pocket organizers to cellular phones.
”That way, you can upload or download information from your pocket organizer to any computer in the world,” he said. ”You can also access local databases from your car, your hotel room or from a street corner.”
”Electronics have opened up many new ways for people to be more efficient and effective,” said Haber. ”And many people are discovering that working from their homes offers a wonderful lifestyle.”
”New technological gains will allow even more people to consider the option of working from home,” said Allan. ”And with costs of the equipment constantly decreasing, conditions will remain right for constant growth.”
