Smart working in IT consulting: the numbers nobody wants to look at

6:47 AM on an ordinary Tuesday. I’m at the park near my house, running gear on. The air is fresh, the sun is barely rising. I’ve already done four kilometers. I feel alive.

By 7:00 I’m in the shower. By 7:20 I’m having a calm breakfast. By 7:45 I’m at my desk — fresh, focused, ready to work.

At that same hour, a colleague of mine is still stuck on the Pontina highway. Or on Rome’s ring road, somewhere between the Casilina and Tuscolana exits. Phone in hand — not to work, but to send the usual message: “Sorry, running late, there’s been an accident.”

Two people. Same job. Same contract.
One is already productive. The other is burning his best energy in a car.

This isn’t an opinion. These are facts.
And facts have numbers.

🚗 The invisible cost of commuting in Rome #

Let’s be honest: Rome is not a city. It’s a chaotic organism that moves in fits and starts.

For anyone working in IT consulting who lives outside the city center — and in Rome, “outside the center” means practically everywhere — the daily commute is an ordeal.

Let’s run the numbers on a real scenario:

Nearly 90 hours per month in the worst case. That’s more than two full working weeks spent in a car. Not working. Not thinking. Cursing at traffic.

And I haven’t counted the stress. The frustration. The mental energy burned before you even turn on the computer.

🏃 The other side of the coin: the morning of a remote worker #

Here’s my typical day:

I arrive at my desk after exercising, after breathing fresh air, after having time to think. I don’t arrive after fighting a war.

The difference isn’t just physical. It’s cognitive.

An IT consultant works with their mind. They analyze systems, write code, design architectures, solve complex problems. If that mind arrives at the office already drained, already frustrated, already tired — how much is that workday really worth?

I’ve worked with teams distributed across three time zones. I’ve managed critical databases connecting from home at 3 AM for an emergency. I’ve never needed an office to do my job. I’ve needed a stable connection, a quiet environment, and a clear mind.

📊 The numbers for the company: what CFOs don’t want to see #

IT consulting companies in Rome have a structural problem they pretend doesn’t exist.

Take a company with 50 consultants. Let’s do the math:

Cost of corporate commuting #

One million seven hundred thousand euros. Every year. To keep fifty people sitting in the same place.

Smart working scenario (80% remote) #

Annual savings: over €1,400,000.
And these are conservative estimates.

But the most important number isn’t the financial one.
The most important number is those 26,400 hours returned to productivity.
Hours where people work clear-headed, rested, focused.
Not hours staring at a bumper on the Cristoforo Colombo highway.

🧠 The argument nobody has the courage to make #

I’ll say it clearly: office presenteeism in IT consulting is a cultural relic, not an operational necessity.

An IT consultant doesn’t work on an assembly line. They don’t need to be physically present next to a machine. They need:

• a fast internet connection
• a quiet environment
• adequate digital tools
• clear communication with the team
• measurable objectives

All of this works better from home than in a noisy open space where the phone rings every five minutes and someone interrupts you to ask “got a minute?” (which is never actually a minute).

The real problem is control. Some companies don’t know how to manage work by objectives. They only know how to manage attendance. And they confuse the two.

If a consultant closes 20 tickets in a week working from home in shorts, they’re more productive than one who closes 8 wearing a suit in the office from 9 to 6.

Numbers don’t lie. Office chairs do.

🏢 “But what about company culture? Team spirit?” #

I hear this often. I understand it. I don’t agree with it, but I understand it.

Company culture isn’t built by seating people close together. It’s built through:

• shared objectives that everyone understands
• transparent communication that nobody endures
• meaningful meetings — not the weekly catch-up where everyone stares at their phone under the table
• mutual trust — which is exactly what’s missing when you enforce attendance

A team that works well remotely is a team that has learned to truly communicate. Not through physical proximity, but through clarity.

I’ve seen office teams that didn’t talk to each other. And distributed teams across three countries that ran like Swiss watches.

The difference isn’t the place. It’s the method.

🎯 A concrete proposal #

If you run an IT consulting firm in Rome — or any major city with mobility problems — here’s what I’d suggest:

1. Adopt an 80/20 model
80% remote, 20% in person. Office days are for workshops, project reviews, real team building — not chair warming.

2. Invest in the home workstation
€1,000 one-time per employee: monitor, ergonomic chair, headset with microphone. It’s an investment that pays for itself in two weeks of saved rent.

3. Measure results, not hours
Define clear KPIs: tickets closed, code shipped, SLAs met, clients satisfied. Those who produce, produce — regardless of where they are.

4. Downsize physical spaces
Go from 50 fixed desks to 15 hot desks. Use the saved space for a proper meeting room and a real break area.

5. Trust your people
If you hired professionals, treat them as professionals. If you don’t trust them without seeing them, the problem isn’t smart working. It’s your hiring process.

💬 To those who recognize themselves in this story #

If every morning you wake up an hour earlier than necessary to “beat the traffic” — and still arrive late.
If you spend €500 a month for the privilege of sitting in a queue.
If you get to your desk already tired, already stressed, already with a compromised day.

Know that it doesn’t have to be this way.

There’s a different way to work. Smarter. More human. More productive.

And the numbers prove it.

No revolutions needed. Just the courage to look at those numbers.
And to act accordingly.

Meanwhile, tomorrow morning I’ll wake up at 6, go for a run, and by 7:45 I’ll be operational.
With a smile. No traffic. No stress.
And my mind already on the first problem to solve.

Glossary #

Smart Working — Flexible work model combining remote work and office presence, based on measurable objectives instead of schedules and physical presence.

Commuting — Daily home-to-work travel and back, which in large cities can absorb 2-4 hours per day and hundreds of euros per month in direct costs.

Presenteeism — Organizational culture that equates physical office presence with productivity, regardless of results actually produced.

KPI — Key Performance Indicator — measurable metric that evaluates the effectiveness of an activity against a defined objective, used to measure concrete results instead of hours of presence.

Hot Desk — Office space model where workstations are unassigned: whoever comes to the office takes an available desk.