• You're in a hotel 1,000 k from home and you have to get a copy of a file for a meeting in the morning. But you have no way to get that file other than hoping your assistant has stayed late, so that he or she can print it and then fax it to you.

• You'd like to go home for the evening and after spending some time with the family, work a few more hours on an important project. But once you leave the office, you're cut off from the corporate network.

• You're at home (an hour's communte) after a hectic week at work, looking forward to a bit of well-deserved R&R. Then the phone rings. It's your boss, who needs something done by Monday. He knows it's a last-minute assignment, and he's sorry, but he needs you to get this done. It's not a major project — you can knock it out in a couple of hours — but there's the drive into the office that adds a few more hours.

If these scenarios sound familiar, it's because they an increasing part of life for many workers. Work hours have gotten longer, and the flattening of the organization has led to a greater degree of responsibility and accountability for the individual worker. It's becoming mandantory that workers have access to corporate networks from off-site if they are to be effective.

Here are two other factors that come into play:

• The first is the rise of the virtual office. Many workers don't even have desks in a regular office, per se. Instead, they work from home or on the road. Or they "hot share" an cubicle or office at work with other remote workers when they come into the corporate office. These workers are part of an organization, but if they don't have some common center — in this case, access to the corporate network, with common e-mail and resources — then they are out of the company loop.

• The second issue is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). There are a lot of very capable people who lack mobility and consequently find it difficult to get around in a very mobile world. These people represent a significant chunk of brainpower, and under ADA, they're getting a chance to let that brainpower shine through.

Once managers realized that allowing people to work at home once or twice a week was good for morale and productivity, they realized that they had a powerful tool to increase worker satisfaction — which results in lower employee turnover.

The basic components of a remote access system include:

• A home or laptop computer
• A home modem or router
• Connection to a telephone central office
• Remote-access equipment at the small business

The most inexpensive remote-access solution is a home computer with a built-in modem. The user dials a phone number that is assigned to a modem pool at the company. The number of dial-in modems at the company will depend on how many remote workers will be dialing in. The company will have a device called an access server, or access router, that will receive the dial-in request.

The advantange of using a modem is that it's cheap. The major disadvantge is that this type of service is slow — not more than 56 kilobits per second.

Today there are more remote access technologies that are faster including ISDN, DSL, cable modems or wireless. ISDN can provide up to 128 kilobits per second of access, while DSL and cable modems can provide up to T1 speeds or greater.

Another alternative for remote access is to use the Internet. If organizations don't want to have their users dialing into a central modem pool because of the cost of maintaining modem pools, they can have their users login using the Internet by doing the following:

• Invest in a contract with an Internet service provider (ISP) to provide local dial-up phone numbers.
• Provide cable modems or DSL service to users who require high-speed remote access.
• Set up a server between the organizations network and the Internet to authenticate users using VPN (virtual private network) software.

The advantages of sourcing remote access to a third-party provider and then using VPN clients are as follows:

• There's only one pathway into the network (via the Internet).
• There's no need to manage many high-speed data circuits such as T1s.
• A dedicated provider, whose sole business is competently providing network access, provides the service.

The downside of using the Internet for remote access is security. This can be corrected by using virtual private networks. VPNs can provide the means by which small and medium-sized organizations can enjoy the privacy, security, quality of service, and manageability of dedicated leased-line facilities without the associated expense and overhead. A VPN creates a private network by using the public Internet, as a backbone.

In this article, you have learned what remote access is and why it is becoming so important for small businesses. It is an increasing part of life for many workers today.

The good news is that, with proper planning, small businesses can securely and safely permit their employees to telework from remote locations without sacrificing security. It is a win-win solution for both the company and the employees.