Business - Mobile Working allowing business to break out

Extending the perimeter of the organisation through mobilisation, is a key requirement for many companies to stay competitive and mobile computing will inevitably be one of the top technological issues affecting your business. Studies completed by Computer Weekly indicates that remote working is able to reduce the financial impact for those companies that have enabled it, but very few small and medium businesses have the budget or technical ability to implement and manage secure virtual private networks (VPNs) with sophisticated network access control.


Remote working - how risky is it and what can small businesses do to enable it securely?

For many organisations, employees not being able to get into the workplace due to unforseen circumstances such as heavy snow, sick children or other such incidents is often translated into a business day of inactivity. Without the technology to pick up e-mail, access information, or even change face to face meetings into conference calls, many organisations will grind to a halt.

So what stops an organisation joining the 21st century? Invariably cost and lack of knowledge. To enable remote working the first step is always recognising the need. Extending the perimeter for an organisation is a bold step, and one which needs to be considered carefully. Employees may well demand the ability to pick up e-mail from anywhere, but such a move must be based on careful evaluation between risks and benefits, not solely demand.

However, a move like this is not a binary decision. There are varying degrees of remote working, ranging from webmail, to access to all files, and everything else in-between. Technology requirements will of course be dependent on the level of access required. Although the cost may be lower than initially thought. For example, many SOHO (Small Office, Home Office) firewalls have remote connectivity features enabled either by default or via licence activation. Equally, web mail is also available as a default feature in many popular mail systems.

Of course, just because it is there does not mean a tick in the box is all that is needed. Extending the perimeter does have its risks, and appropriate security controls must be applied to mitigate/reduce these risks. These decisions involve authentication considerations, access times, locking down endpoints, etc. This may be seen as a step too far for many small businesses, mBusiness Consulting can provide the necessary expertise to help plug the gap.
paul@mbusinessconsulting.com