Have you ever dreamed of being able to work remotely from your office? It's a great idea but there are some hurdles.
Firstly you must decide what internet connection is going to be the one best suited to your specific needs.
Will you always be in an accessible area, i.
e.
close to a major city or town, or will you be in a regional area? Note: Service providers claim to cover 95% of Australians, which maybe so.
However, that does not mean 95% of AUSTRALIA.
Therefore as most Australians live in the dense coastal areas, that leaves a large geographical area without coverage.
You will need to ascertain exactly what coverage applies to your location, if any.
If you will always be working from your home chances are that you will be able to have a high speed broadband connection - no problems.
If you will be travelling then you are going to need a wireless connection.
If like me you are travelling by boat or car touring while you work, you may need to investigate an external aerial to give you an extra boost and improve the signal.
We have had such an aerial fitted to our boat which can give us coverage up to 100kms to sea.
The signals with these booster aerials are good, however there is still a delay with the wireless connections, (I feel).
If you are working with other staff members you will also need to think of communication between work colleagues.
The telephone is the most convenient but also the most expensive.
Skype is available to relieve some of that cost.
MSN between staff is a great add on and you can have multiple users in the one conversation.
There is also a degree of security knowing that someone else is at work with MSN so you can see when people are online working.
Most remote workers will probably be using a laptop computer, so make sure that it has enough memory and power to be able to handle the type of work you are doing.
If you have a desktop computer in your office somewhere you may need to download a remote access program so that you can dial into the desktop to access files etc.
A tip - if you are working from two computers you will need to backup both.
It is easy to forget the one you are not using.
There are plenty of remote programs available and you should not dismiss the free ones on offer from the internet.
In summary, remote offices are great working environments and can save small businesses the operating costs of running an office.
Staff need to be picked very carefully as they will need to be conscientious, honest and be able to work independently.
Who would have thought 10 years ago that this would be an option for anyone?
Firstly you must decide what internet connection is going to be the one best suited to your specific needs.
Will you always be in an accessible area, i.
e.
close to a major city or town, or will you be in a regional area? Note: Service providers claim to cover 95% of Australians, which maybe so.
However, that does not mean 95% of AUSTRALIA.
Therefore as most Australians live in the dense coastal areas, that leaves a large geographical area without coverage.
You will need to ascertain exactly what coverage applies to your location, if any.
If you will always be working from your home chances are that you will be able to have a high speed broadband connection - no problems.
If you will be travelling then you are going to need a wireless connection.
If like me you are travelling by boat or car touring while you work, you may need to investigate an external aerial to give you an extra boost and improve the signal.
We have had such an aerial fitted to our boat which can give us coverage up to 100kms to sea.
The signals with these booster aerials are good, however there is still a delay with the wireless connections, (I feel).
If you are working with other staff members you will also need to think of communication between work colleagues.
The telephone is the most convenient but also the most expensive.
Skype is available to relieve some of that cost.
MSN between staff is a great add on and you can have multiple users in the one conversation.
There is also a degree of security knowing that someone else is at work with MSN so you can see when people are online working.
Most remote workers will probably be using a laptop computer, so make sure that it has enough memory and power to be able to handle the type of work you are doing.
If you have a desktop computer in your office somewhere you may need to download a remote access program so that you can dial into the desktop to access files etc.
A tip - if you are working from two computers you will need to backup both.
It is easy to forget the one you are not using.
There are plenty of remote programs available and you should not dismiss the free ones on offer from the internet.
In summary, remote offices are great working environments and can save small businesses the operating costs of running an office.
Staff need to be picked very carefully as they will need to be conscientious, honest and be able to work independently.
Who would have thought 10 years ago that this would be an option for anyone?