Remote Working For many of us today, remote working or “working from home” has become a fact of life. On the one hand, staff can clearly gain from a better work/life balance; whilst the company has the opportunity to cut the cost of office overheads and reduce “dead” travel time. For a small business, this is very often a solution to the expense of running a large office.
Benefits
The “Hard” benefits such as savings on reduced office space and travel time are easy to quantify. The UK Teleworking Association believes that businesses can reduce their office space by as much as 50% in some instances – yielding very considerable “hard cost” savings! Companies such as Cisco and BT for example, have reduced their property portfolios by between 20-30% simply through the implementation of remote working practices.
When you add to these “hard” benefits, the longer term “soft benefits” such as improved productivity, reduced absenteeism, and improved quality of service and reduced staff turnover, the case for remote working becomes pretty compelling.
SMALL BUSINESS SERVER - REMOTE WORKING IN ACTION
There are three ways in which you can work remotely using Small Business Server 2003.
1) Outlook Web Access
Users can access e-mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks using an Internet version of Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 from the Internet.
Secure Logon Screen
Outlook Web Interface
Many of our clients use OWA in Internet Cafes, at home and even whilst on holiday!
2) Remote Web Workplace
Remote Desktop allows users to access the desktop of their computer at work, using the Internet. It works on the same theory of PC Anywhere allowing you to connect to your actual PC screen.
Remote web workplace enables users to access their PCs and networks as if they were in the office.
To use remote web workplace you are given a unique web address which goes to a webpage which looks like the logon screen below.
Server or Desktops
Select PC to logon to
Logon Screen
Once you have logged on, you are given a choice as to whether to logon to the server or your desktop, dependent on permissions. Clicking on your PC, you will get presented with a windows logon screen for your PC.
As soon as you have entered the correct username and password for your machine, you are logged on live to your PC at the office!
3) VPN - Virtual Private Connection
WHAT IS A VPN?
A Virtual Private Network or VPN for short is relatively new technology that allows two or more private networks (or computers) to connect securely over the Internet. In business terms, one reason a company would usually look to install a VPN, is to allow managers and sales reps in the field, to safely connect to the office network / server and transfer files, send and receive their email and print etc.
With a VPN, trusted employees could avoid the rush hour traffic congestion by working from home and leaving for work later.
A VPN brings greater freedom, flexibility and convenience to employees, as well as generous cost savings for the company.
SMALL BUSINESS SERVER AND REMOTE WORKING
Windows Small Business Server supports VPNs 'virtual private networks'. A VPN can join two networks together by creating a secure virtual tunnel through the internet. VPNs enable users at both ends of the tunnel to use resources of either network.
VPNs enable workers to use e-mail and share files.
Because VPNs use the internet to create a connection between the user and the office, the bandwidth is often limited. This means that applications such as SAGE when run on file sharing are very slow.
WHO WOULD NEED A VPN?
Travelling Executives: providing there is a local Internet connection point available, the office network is just a mouse click away. You can send and receive email or faxes and even connect to and update back-end systems.
Travelling Salesmen: allows them to keep in touch with the sales office, upload orders, deal with any enquiries and receive order progress and project updates. Again you can connect from anywhere at any time.
Field Engineer: allows staff to keep head office up-to-date with service reports. Part ordering and expenses can be achieved easily from home over a VPN.
Maternity / Paternity: Expectant mothers (and fathers) often want to be active and in-touch with their work, but also need to be at home supporting their partners or newborn. A VPN will give immediate and ready access to the office network when it is convenient for them.
Rush-Hour Buster: Why suffer in silence? If traffic is heavy first thing in the morning - work from home and leave a little later. Your journey will be quicker and you will not have wasted valuable time suffering the rush-hour.
Retail Chain Network: Companies with a chain of retail outlets may derive great benefits from having these outlets connect and update the head office with up-to-date sales and stock figures over a VPN. A PC and phone line is all they need.
Company Bridge: Businesses with two or more locations may safely link-up the two office networks together, permitting users at either end to share information and resources as if they were all part of the same local network. Remote offices could be just down the road or on the other side of the world but the cost to connect them would be the same with a VPN.
Customer Portal: Tie-in customers and business partners by providing them with a secure connection to your internal order entry / tracking systems / customer service, from the comfort and convenience of their own desktop.
KEY BENEFITS OF VPN’s
Increased productivity – releasing key employees from wasted hours caught up in “rush hours” will release many productive hours for the company.
Reduced costs – a move to low-cost broadband, away from dial in RAS or ISDN services usually results in considerable cost savings with improved performance.
Convenience – Internet-based VPN’s can be accessed from anywhere in the world and connection is achieved at the simple click of a mouse.
Effectiveness - the flexibility to work away from the office when necessary helps improve personal effectiveness.
Staff Flexibility - your business is only as good as the people you employ. When staff needs flexibility to attend personal events (sick children, school concerts etc), employers can oblige, knowing many will still use the VPN to keep up with their work after hours.
If you would like to find out how Netstar can help your company’s workforce become mobile call FREE on 020 7903 5428 or click here to contact us via e-mail
