Too often professional women give up full-time jobs to look after their children or elderly parents. And returning to the workforce can be difficult especially if the women have left employment for many years.
To encourage these women to continue working, software company TransparentBusiness has developed collaborative tools that can monitor, manage, collaborate, rate and pay remote workers transparently by using cloud technology, computer learning and data analytics.
TransparentBusiness board member Ken Arredondo explained that the company’s software allows managers, for example, to capture time stamped screen shots of ongoing work, see detailed contact information, monitor progress and attend to problem areas in real time.
Once users log on to the software, whatever they do on screen is recorded. Remote users can record the number of hours spent on working on a project so that overtime is accounted for. They can also add comments to the work history for further elaboration.
The TransparentBusiness initiative called SheWorks! launched in 2017 focused on women. But this is a programme that is applicable to everyone, including the handicapped and freelancers who can be located in any part of the world, said Arredondo.
“The software gives the women as well as the handicapped opportunities to work while giving confidence to employers that their work is being done,” he added.
SheWorks! is an extension of TransparentBusiness’ operations which were started in 2008 by KMGi Group, a private holding of Internet companies. Initially for internal use, it has found a market in the United States, Columbia and Mexico.
Arredondo said the company will be opening its Asian office in Singapore in the next few months.
Business operations are complex today, he said, adding that they often span different geographies and time zones with freelancers and consultants working alongside full-time and part-time staff.
He sees good business vibrancy in Asia despite the economic slowdown in China. Many companies are moving to Southeast Asia because of the large markets in Indonesia and Philippines, he noted.
He added: “I believe that many companies will ramp up their activities in Southeast Asia, so we need to be here too.”
Businesses in Singapore are also growing rapidly. However, talent is expensive, with companies resorting to outsourcing work to other countries.
“I’ve been talking to companies here and interest is here. We are also discussing with a couple of partners to launch TransparentBusiness here,” said Arredondo, who was based here between 2014 and 2016 when he was CA’s president and general manager for Asia-Pacific and Japan.
