The Benefits of VPN and Remote Work

If your business is not investing in remote working capabilities, you could be losing out on valuable productivity from your employees. There are many benefits of leveraging remote work and VPN phone lines for start-ups, small business, mid-market companies and large enterprises. As you review this list, take into consideration your organization's objectives as well as what your business does today. Here are just a few of the ways your organization can benefit from leveraging a VPN phone line:

The Business Benefits of VPN and Remote Work

• Increase your hours of operation and easily expand. VPN phone lines and remote working capabilities allow you to expand your hiring pool. Hiring remote staff in other time zones can allow you to service new markets, offer around the clock support, or test out new ideas with minimal investment.
• Decrease the need for expensive leased space, commercial property, build out costs and office furniture. Offering a work from home strategy when you hit maximum capacity for some of your more independent professionals is an easy way to save overhead on office space.
• Lay the foundation of your disaster recovery plan. Disaster recovery and business continuity is a major challenge for all businesses. Investing in infrastructure that supports remote working and VPN phones can help jump start your disaster recovery plan and ensure the continuity of your business.

The Employee Benefits of VPN and Remote Work

• Better work / life balance. Remote working capabilities can turn drive time to and from the office into more productive hours spent on work functions. Professionals no longer have to spend hours stuck in traffic when they could be working and can avoid taking full or half days off for things such as doctor's visits.
• Optimize efficiency. Remote working solutions allow professionals to work remotely and optimize efficiency on days that they might have client visits or work-related functions outside of the office.
• Allows for weather challenges. Inclement weather can impact your workforce. When traffic is slow or dangerous due to snow, freezing temperatures or rain, your employees could spend hours simply trying to get to the office. With a VPN phone line, your employees can skip the 3 hour commute and still get to work on time, from the comfort and safety of their home.

These are just some of the benefits for companies that empower their work force to utilize remote technologies such as VPN phones.

What is a VPN Phone?

A VPN phone is an IP Phone that has the ability to create a virtual private network to your business' firewall and establish a secure connection. Once connected to your company's network, it acts as extension of your business, just like being in the office.

Why Use a VPN Phone versus Remote Call Forwarding or Other Mobile Integration?

For desk and office intensive users, utilizing remote call forwarding or other mobile solutions could decrease employee productivity. A VPN phone provides employees the identical phone that is sitting on their desk. All the features are the same, they simply have to login.

VPN phones are a convenient way to get connectivity outside of the office because there are no settings to play around with. As long as you have a secure internet connection, the VPN tunnel will be established to your corporate network and you are ready to work.

Integration with mobile apps is an additional solution; however, since mobile phones are personal devices with many other applications, the experience may differ from user to user and additional troubleshooting may be required.

What Are the Requirements for VPN Phones?

1. A phone system such as Avaya IP Office or Avaya Server Edition or Select Edition at the core.
2. A business class firewall based on your business size. Common firewalls include Sonicwall TZ Series, Sonicwall NSA, or Cisco ASA. For businesses with larger needs, leveraging a VPN concentrator or a router is a common practice to centralize all VPN connections while your firewall handles all standard data traffic. These devices must allow QoS (quality of service) and other IP technology required protocols for voice traffic to be prioritized over standard data traffic in order to have a good quality connection.
3. A good business-class internet connection. Every business has different requirements; thus, a "good" internet connection is based on your businesses utilization, infrastructure, number of employees and applications.

What Other Mobile Technologies Can I Leverage for My Mobile Workers?

For individuals on the road, a VPN phone may not be the right solution. Remote call forwarding doesn't allow mobile users to see who is calling, as it shows your business' main number. Mobile twinning or mobile bridging is a feature that allows cellular users to see the actual caller.

Advanced mobile users who need more call control can have an app on their tablet, iPhone, or Android. For laptop users a simple Softphone can be pushed out allowing users to make calls through their laptop. When it comes to software or applications on shared devices, there might be a bit more end user troubleshooting required if the device is also used for personal use.

Avaya IP Office, Avaya Server Edition, Avaya Select Edition:

Avaya makes it easy to connect remotely. The Avaya IP Office software allows start-ups, small businesses, mid-market companies and large enterprises to connect efficiently. Avaya has a lower cost of ownership and is agnostic to IT infrastructure; while other manufacturers force supplemental and expensive equipment to simply deploy a VPN phone. Avaya provides communication solutions such as Avaya Session Border Controller (SBC), Avaya One-X, Avaya IPOCC, Avaya Flare and more to provide easy to implement solutions to connect and enhance your business.

Ask Us About A Free Remote Working Analysis:

If you are considering remote working as a part of your business structure or are looking to improve your work-from-home setup, contact us at . Our team leverages as much existing infrastructure to help your business effectively deploy new technology. We can help provide a review on your internet connection and bandwidth, IT infrastructure, as well as your existing business phone system.