Remote access is the ultimate business-flexibility tool. Instead of being confined to your office, you are free to go anywhere and still work on your office computer.
Think about some of the issues facing most working people today. Traffic. Too much time in the office. Petrol prices. Remote access addresses each of these problems by lowering people’s dependence on the office to get work done. Instead of being confined to the office, you are free to go anywhere and still work on your office computer.
And then there’s travel. Before remote access, business travel meant sacrificing days of productivity in exchange for a meeting or presentation. But with remote access, all those wasted hours around the meeting can be used working at a hotel work station, an Internet café or any computer with an Internet connection.
Remote access on the road also eliminates the need for a laptop. Loading up a laptop with critical information is a huge security risk – it can be lost, stolen or even hacked when connected to public Wi-Fi.
All this makes remote access ideal for companies which want to allow their employees to work from remote locations – often their home – without having to equip them with laptops. Obviously, this means that you could potentially avoid capital expenditure too, which could be an issue for some companies. For example, using BT Remote Access Pack costs £7.50 per person per month, which may well be a more cost-effective solution than providing a laptop.
What remote access allows you to do varies from package to package, but all will allow you to log into a remote computer – usually a PC back in your office – from any machine. You can then “share” its screen, showing on the remote PC what you’d see if you were logged in at the office.
If you’re looking for a package for remote access, there are several things you need to consider. First, it needs to be simple enough for anyone to use – anyone working on the road will have little or no access to technical support, so they’ll need to be able to use it without having much help.
Second, look for a package which includes more than just screen sharing. Premium features include things like remote printing, which lets you print documents to your local printers from the office PC, and file synchronization and transfer so all your documents are up to date.
But whatever package you choose, remote access can deliver a cost-effective and simple to administer solution to remote working, and may be a better solution for your business than a dedicated laptop.
Working from home? Find out about our home working package for small businesses.
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