Working Remotely & You

With the spread of the COVID-19 virus, more and more businesses have been shut down every day. If your employer is one that can have its employees do their work remotely, those companies face an important question: commit to the work from home transition, or suspend all activity? And if you’re in the former group, there will be many unique challenges presented for a company that has no experience with working remotely. So let’s discuss those, shall we?

VPN Connection & Remote Desktop Protocol: This is (probably) the simplest of the methods of working from home we’ll discuss. Using built in Windows tools, namely VPN and RDP, you’ll create a connection to your employer’s on-premises internet network, through a ‘virtual private network’. Side note, these are great to use at home, too, as an extra layer of internet safety. For your own personal use, there are a number of reliable and safe third-party software that will handle this connection for you. Back on topic, once the VPN is established, your computer will essentially be ‘at work’ for the duration of the connection, so you’ll have access to Share drives, company files, and server connections. When you use RDP, you’ll connect to your actual computer, and be able to use it as if the computer you’re using at home was your work computer. It’s pretty nifty, but it does have limitations. Using two or more monitors is tricky, but doable, and it’s harder to transfer files from your home PC to your work PC. Still, it’s a pretty easy setup to get going, and fairly reliable.

LogMeIn, TeamViewer, RemotePC, etc: Naturally, if there is a built in Windows way to do things, there’s a third-party software way to do it as well. LogMeIn, TeamViewer, RemotePC, and other such software belong to a family of software programs known as remoting tools; basically, they let a user connect to a computer that has ‘host’ software installed on it with their ‘client’ software, or through an internet browser. The premise of all of these tools (and there are quite a few) is the same, the only difference being the features offered and the overall functionality. It’s also generally required to pay for licenses to use the full capabilities of the software. For instance, with LogMeIn you can easily get access to your work PC through a home computer, set up dual or triple monitors, and drag and drop files between the two computers. TeamViewer will let you gain access to a coworker’s PC with the free version of their software, and you don’t have to sign in to any accounts; however, the time and functions are limited. Your company will have to decide which program ultimately serves their purposes most strongly, and which service they want to pay for.

Taking work computers home physically: This is a unique challenge that won’t impact a lot of companies, but for those that have their employees work primarily from laptops, tablets, or similarly portable PCs or Macs, it could be a decision they find themselves making. What files are on the employee’s computer? Do they get to have access to the company files while in the privacy of their own homes? How will they make the connection? What are the struggles and challenges? The risks? These are the questions many companies will find themselves facing in what will be uncharted waters for most of them. Some companies already have an element of remote work as part of their infrastructure, so they have contingencies and plans in place that can be adapted for large scale work from home situations. The easiest set up with taking company computers home is using a VPN connection (virtual private network) to connect to the company network, and accessing server files and Share drives that way. If your company doesn’t have any server files or Share drives, then perhaps simply taking home the work PC will be enough. And for those companies that don’t let their employees take their work PCs home, then using a home computer to complete the work will hopefully be enough.

Most problems companies face with this unprecedented situation will fall into one of the above three categories. The real question becomes: how do we have our employees work remotely? One of the most prominent things to consider is, of course, safety and security. On company property, in their fully set up, organized, and monitored network, they have less to worry about in regards to information security and data breaches. But with the majority, if not entirety, of their workforce moving to the work from home dynamic, that control and safety quickly becomes less stable. In this regard, the best solution will be up to each individual company and their unique concerns and needs.

While the most secure method for managing a work from home workforce will vary from company to company, typically the best option will be using a service such as LogMeIn. Using this route, there’s no concern of company property – primarily, PCs or connected devices – coming to harm or getting lost. Additionally, these services provide excellent safety and security measures, as well as monitoring and observation. And since this is what these companies do, using their knowledge, expertise, and thoroughly developed service will only be to a company’s benefit in the long run, especially if this quarantine situation extends much further. Most likely, your company’s IT department will have already looked into all these options, or might even have one of them in place already. However, if your company initially suspended all activity, perhaps using one of these methods would allow for some form or productivity to resume in the meantime.