Brian S. Pauls
Overland Park, KS
The era of the office may be over. Not just the corporate office--the home office, too, may soon become a option, rather than a necessity.
The pervasive availability of wireless access from hotel rooms, airports and public concourses, combined with wireless broadband service from all the major telecommunication carriers, can make where you work a matter of personal preference.
Business owners, CEOs and company presidents should take note--if you don't incorporate remote access into your business strategy, you will lose to competitors who do.
What are the business advantages of this new environment?
Be More Responsive to Customers Your sales people and managers don't have to reply to every email immediately--but in our connected age, customers expect you to have that ability. A few years ago, no one would have sent an email if they had a five-alarm emergency, requiring an immediate response. Today, this is not uncommon. A Customer Service manager with a Blackberry can save thousands of dollars and tons of good will--an investment well worth the monthly service charge.
Set Your People Free You may have dedicated employees who stay in the office until 7:00 at night, responding to emails, updating documents, finishing reports, and generally getting ready for the next day. I guarantee you don't have many employees who love it. Remote access allows your people to control their own lives. If they need to pick up the kids from soccer practice, get home on time, and help their husband or wife with dinner, they can do so without feeling guilty, because they know they can finish work later in the evening. If the only alternative is to drive 25 minutes back to the office at 9:00pm, they will opt to stay late after work instead--scoring brownie points, but pegging the "stress meter." This is a great way to make people hate their jobs.
Be the boss that saves the day. Give your employess the option to order their work and personal lives in a way that will let them love both, while doing the best possible job for you.
Recapture Lost Time I recently had a conversation with a business owner who realized the value of remote access when his top sales rep scheduled 10 consecutive days of vacation. The rep was heading out into the middle of the American West--a ten hour drive each way. It suddenly became clear that the cost of a wireless broadband card paled in comparison to the productivity that the rep would lose just getting to and from his destination. The owner went out, got a card, and gave it to the rep--without even suggesting that he work while on vacation. The owner was banking on the fact that the rep was no more excited about returning to a backlog of unread emails than the owner was in having him out of the loop for two weeks.
A 20 hour car drive with nothing to do immediately became a way for the rep to ensure that when he returned from vacation, he was ready to hit the ground running.
Business is about communication--with customers, vendors, employees and associates. The new connected age makes communicating easier and more effective--but you have to take advantage of it.
Don't let your competitors bypass you because they realize that business is about who you connect with, not about where your desk sits.
How Can Remote Access Help Your Business?
