The VPN has always been available, but I have only used it extensively in recent years. It probably helps that teams are now spread further around the world, because it has forced people to restructure their work to deal with large gaps in communication. We'd already been sending messages and waiting hours for a reply, so people no longer expect to be in constant contact. So I didn't really have to convince anyone, I just reminded key people that I do work at home a lot, and to call me by cell when necessary.

Though, I've seen certain managers have a real problem with people working at home, and they even managed to fire people based apparently on that. Fortunately, those managers are no longer here, because that same intolerance made them ineffective managers.