Remote Access:
Remote access is a relatively new technology that's becoming more and more popular with clients in every field of business. Remotely accessing your computer at the office allows you to work from any location as though you were sitting at your desk. Double-click the shortcut, type in your password, and your office computer responds to the mouse and keyboard of the computer you're sitting at, giving you full access to your software, files, network resources, etc....just as though you were back at your office.
What you need:
The technical requirements for remote access are generally found already in place in most office environments:
- High-speed internet connection
- Configurable router
- Microsoft windows XP Professional
Once your computers are set up, you can connect from any Windows XP (or newer) computer, or even from a Macintosh (after downloading the free client software), so long as you're connected to the internet.
Security:
Remote access technology is surprisingly secure. All data is fully encrypted, and it's virtually impossible to break. Custom configurations are not a problem, if you'd like to have direct control over who has remote access to which computer.
Using remote access technology offers many other advantages in security to the mobile computer user. If you're working remotely, all your software and files stay at the office, there's never any need to transfer files back and forth from your laptop, and you don't need to worry about forgetting files back at the office. In addition, if your laptop is stolen, or damaged, all of your work is still at the office, where it's safe, presumably backed-up and secure.
Cost:
There is no cost for remote access beyond that of the original setup - all the services are managed from your office computers and there's no software to buy or subscription to pay. Of course, computers use electricity, and remote access requires that they're left on, so it's best to minimize costs by using a newer machine with properly configured power-management.
In addition, by using remote access to work on your office computers. you can save money on productivity software as you don't need to buy multiple copies for mobile computers.