Telecommuting!

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Virtual offices or Telecommuting employees can be great cost savings for a company.  Fortune 500 companies have been doing it for years and now with the advancement in software, hardware and High-Speed Internet access it is affordable and practical for the small-medium size companies as well. Planning for remote access capabilities is smart and below are 3 areas to consider:

* Communication with offsite associates: How will you communicate with your offsite associates?  Put together a plan to address all your communication issues from how will you have meetings? To how will they access databases? To how will they make phone calls?  Communication is a critical part of operating a virtual office or being a telecommuter.  Solutions such as Virtual Private Networks (VPN), Terminal Service programs, web conferencing & Voice of Internet Protocol (VoIP) can all be used to make communication efficient.   

* Hardware & Software selection: There are two (2) things to consider in this area: (1) How mobile do you need to be? (2) What information do you need access to?  The hardware and software that you choose to use in your solution depends on the environment that you wish to create.  For a less mobile environment you might choose a desktop unit, all-in-one printer, VPN router, web camera and ACT! database software to operate your business.  This would not work for the mobile associate.  They need the flexibility of wireless devices, such as a laptop, Pocket PC and portable printers.  Think through your needs before investing in expensive or unnecessary hardware & software. 

* Security & Remote capabilities: Having a virtual office environment or telecommuters working outside the office can be a great ROI if your network is properly configured, but make sure that you consider your network & data security when designing your environment.  Control who has access to certain data; ensure that all offsite equipment is securely configured to avoid virus/spyware problems and security breaches; & protect all wireless devices with security codes.