We’d like to start off by wishing everyone a Happy New Year and we hope the holiday season was enjoyed by all.
We will close off part 2 of how technology and the Internet can transform your business operations.
More and more, companies today are working towards allowing their staff to work from home or remote locations. This can help save overhead costs for office space and allow staff to eliminate stressful elements like long commutes.
One way to accomplish this is through Virtual Private Networking (VPN). A VPN is essentially a secure, tunneled connection between the remote user and the office resources. All data between the two parties is encrypted through the tunnel. Users will come across many terms such as PPTP, L2TP, IPSec, SSL/TLS, generally you will need to know which of these is used by the VPN you are connecting to but there is no real need for the user to know the differences between these protocols.
Common tasks that can be done remotely:
- Access to office workstation, use apps only installed on that computer
- Access to server files and storage
- Print to office MFP
- Scan from office MFP
Apps are required to connect to a VPN. Your employer may mandate a specific VPN client to use or may have a list of approved clients. Unless otherwise stated as long as the connection settings are given you may choose your app of choice.
Data and applications might not be the only resource you want staff to be able to access. What about phones and communication?
VOIP Phone services enable your small business to have a dedicated number with a custom phone tree system. A low cost solution to allow your small office to have a big office phone system, set the hours of operation for your business. Powerful voicemail, and with Apps for both Apple and Android to take it on the go.
The reason that VOIP is important for this topic is because it gives companies the power to not only allow staff to use company resources involving computers, data, applications; it also allows staff to use phone services to conduct business as if they were centrally located.
For example, Joe in accounting could pick up a call from his home and easily transfer the call to his boss Frank who happens to be sitting on the beach in a tropical climate. Using the resort’s WiFi Frank is able to answer the call as if he were in the office.
Contact us today to find out how VPNs and VoIP can benefit your business!