Is Your Home Ready For Work?

Many people are switching to a telecommuting lifestyle. Work from home is viable for traditional contracting, traditional 9-5 Monday-Friday work, and the growing crowdsourcing economy as long as your business is okay with remote access arrangements. That said, many businesses have specific requirements or at least certain expectations, when working from home. As you consider the option, here are a few internet and telephone requirements that come up with the more stable work from home arrangements.

Consistent, Secure Internet Connectivity

When connecting to work, are you dealing with sensitive data? Financial information for the business and its clientele needs to be shielded from prying eyes, and a work from home professional who doesn't secure their network is an easy place for a business rival or savvy data thief to steal valuable information.

Healthcare information runs the same risks, but with sometimes more severe punishments for violation. Losing data might be a moderate annoyance to some business, but leaking patient health information is a violation of some state and federal laws. It's best to keep a secure connection, but what does that mean?

At the basic level, it means making sure that only you can access your work data easily. Wireless internet is usually not allowed for work, since the data is technically "in the air" and available to be decrypted (unlocked) by anyone standing around--which can mean across the street with the right equipment. A hardwired, cable-based connection such as an Ethernet cable or fiber optic cable is necessary here.

Higher levels of security involve connecting your computer to a VPN (virtual private network); this is an internet shield of sorts that creates an additional tunnel of information between you and your company's network, with information dumping into a virtual box that can only be seen by people looking at the screen--or very sophisticated hackers who could hack you at your business just the same.

Telephone Verification And Security

Many businesses ask for a landline telephone connection for security purposes. This may sound like an odd request for many people raised in the age of early cellphones and current smartphones, but it has its merits.

A local phone number with a personalized account can verify that you are who you say you are. Businesses often want to avoid anonymous applicants who could be spies, general troublemakers, or foreign workers who could pose tax problems if their status is ever discovered by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).

Telephones also deliver a (usually) more consistent speaking connection than internet-based phones, which is important for customer support or any job requiring handling calls. Some who protest the use of landline telephones mistakenly assume that this is an error in supporting old technology when new technology can work much better.

It's true that many telecom systems are actually Internet Protocol (IP) based, and any existing copper systems used for legacy purposes still connect to an IP switch at some point. The issue is that not all employees are technical experts, and their specific Voice over IP (VOIP) setup can't be confirmed as high quality at all times yet. Landline is just more consistent for the average users.

Contact a telephone services and internet connectivity professional, such as those found at Dalton Utilities, to discuss the features available for your future telecommuting home office.


Share