Telecommuting | Home Office Warrior

Telecommuting

Web-based services help cut costs without cutting effectiveness

Sep 03, 2009

Guest post from Luc Vezina

Read any book or blog (including this one) that offers advice about working from home and you’ll find one of the first recommendations is the importance of controlling your costs. Whether you’re starting up your own home-based business or working out of your home for someone else, the less you spend on up-front on technology, the more money (and sanity) you have left for yourself.

One cost-effective strategy that can help you in that area is moving away from buying technology that requires software and/or hardware, and instead signing on for Web-based services. These services offer a “pay-as-you-go” model that eliminates the need for huge up-front capital expenditures, high maintenance costs, and ongoing support costs. All while assuring the technology you’re using has all the latest features and upgrades.

Here are three ways Web-based services can help you work better for less:

No IT costs - When you buy a business application you have to install it onto a computer or server – either by yourself (if you’re tech-savvy) or more likely by bringing in an expert. Once the application is up and running, you’ll probably need an IT person to keep it running at peak efficiency. If there is a significant software upgrade there is another cost, and you again have to call on a technology expert. If you’re using a server and it goes bad there’s an additional cost to replace the hardware. Moving to the Web-based model greatly reduces your overall expenses. That big up-front cost for hardware and software is replaced by a small monthly fee. In most cases you can easily get the service running yourself.
Free maintenance- The maintenance happens behind the scenes, saving time and money while assuring you’re benefiting from the software’s latest features. Should a technical issue arise, one call to the supplier’s tech support group generally solves the problem at no cost to you.
Use them for nearly everything - This move to Web-based services isn’t just for “outlier” applications anymore. Core applications such as your office productivity suite are now moving away from the traditional hardware/software model to being Web-based. The reason is simple: since keeping applications running is the service provider’s primary business, they dedicate considerably more time and resources to that function than you can on your own, resulting in greater uptime. You can focus on your own business, and leave the tech stuff to the experts.

While home workers choose to go that route for a variety of reasons, no one does it so they can spend more time trying to keep their computers running. Web-based services give you a way to avoid all the geeky stuff – and save money in the bargain.

Luc Vezina is product marketing manager for MyFax, a provider of Internet faxing services for individual home users, small businesses, and large corporations. MyFax has won a number of awards in head-to-head competitions for ease of use, reliability, and best overall value. He can be reached at lvezina@protus.com.

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Telecommuting

How Exactly is This Different Again?

Feb 12, 2009

Welcome to the fantastic secret universe of the home office worker. Check your former ways of working, living, and thinking at the door.

If you’re like me, you’ve come to this new world of freedom from a 9-5 (okay, 8-7) corporate job. In my former career there were things I saw that made me want to hurl my laptop out the window. Office politics, blundering management, new policies that were too broad to be effective for everyone but enforced nonetheless… the list goes on.

Not one to point all ten fingers at The Man – I was guilty myself of some poor practices when I worked in an office. Complacency (sometimes), e-mail avoidance (often), procrastination (daily) were my main corporate vices.

Now that I find myself sans boss, in my home office (studio) environment, I’m starting to get a handle on what it means to be in charge of my every day.

The advantages of being independent are obvious:

No boss hovering around or scheduling impromptu unnecessary meetings
I can plan my day around personal errands, meals, time with family
My studio/office is my own to set up according to my comfort and convenience
I decide what projects I take on, my rates, and how to approach clients

Just about everyone dreams of this world. It sounds like heaven to most people headed toward Independent Land.

While these things are all happy little pieces of this home office universe, I struggled at first, trying to understand how this was different from what I used to do. The only tangible changes were lack of a regular paycheck, no commute, and no co-workers.

Over the course of my first year at home I realized that this couldn’t be simply a shift in location, it was a complete mindset overhaul. I wasn’t just trading in my ties for a t-shirt and wool hat.

I realized that:

Complacency kills, but when you’re on your own it hurts more
I have to find my own “co-workers.” Networking, networking, networking.
Sometimes I have to take on projects that aren’t my ultimate dream.
My family comes first, but they also respect my need to work (it’s our nuts and berries)
My bosses were good at challenging me. I have to find other people to do that now.

I no longer have the luxury of a large company’s sales force to fall back on. If I procrastinate or slack off in my marketing, I will feel the stress a month later.

The reality is that the Deep Pockets Corporation doesn’t exist. People are experiencing layoffs and belt-tightening because of the myth that large corporations have bottomless wells of cash. They act accordingly in their day-to-day “just get me to the weekend” mindset and at some point the bill comes due.

Those corporations are just like my small business, only the scale is different. Which reminds me of another realization:

The reality is, there is no weekend. That’s not a Zen koan, it’s just the truth.

Does that scare you? No weekend? No holidays? No paid vacation?

If you want to be a member of the super secret society of home office professionals, you’re going to have to realize that you cannot shut off your brain at 5:30 PM. You can’t “forget about the office” for the Superbowl.

If you’re going to really make a go of this independence thing, you’re going to have to do more than switch your location and your clothes.

That’s why I say “welcome to a different universe.” It really is.

David Billings is an illustrator, animator, and writer. He currently runs two businesses from his home studio near beautiful Mount Hood, Oregon.

Sparky Firepants Images is focused on building kids’ brains to ginormous sizes while they have a crazy time. David creates fantastic, colorful images that complement books and educational media for preschool and elementary-level kids. A unique perspective on children’s publishing and the business of illustration can be found on his blog.

He also uses his technical expertise in creating corporate graphics and presentations to consult with and assist presenters of all types, keeping their audiences rapt with attention. Prepared Graphics focuses on helping individuals and small business owners with great content who don’t want to mess around with that PowerPoint stuff.

David lives with his wife and children on an alpaca farm. No, they don’t really smell that bad.

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Telecommuting

Telecommuting is good for your company

Nov 04, 2008

ITworld had a post recently near and dear to my heart. Why telecommunting is good for your company gives a company some considerations to be thinking about if they are looking at giving telecommuting privileges to their staff. (There words not mine)

If it was up to me, I would say, reasons you should give your company the advantages of promoting telecommuting to your employees. Companies need to come to realize and realize quickly the huge advantages of telecommuting or teleworking. Here is the list:

Telecommuting assures business continuity

Telecommuting reduces company overhead

Telecommuting promotes productivity by reducing stress

Telecommuting means no excuses for making deadlines

Telecommuting does not necessarily reduce data security

Telecommuting does not require expensive equipment

Telecommuting keeps the family together

Just one more list of reasons companies should be seriously looking at telecommuting as an option.

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Telecommuting

Are those who work from home more productive?

Oct 07, 2008

In a word, yes. A recent survey released by CompTIA Reseach indicates that when companies give workers the option of telecommuting, they are seeing greater productivity, lower costs, improved employee health and greater employee retention. And this was also talked about today in a great post on ZDNet called “Trying to increase productivity? Send your employees home.”

Like Sam Diaz who wrote the post on ZDNet, I am sitting at my desk in my home office with my MacBook and extra display. Printer and even my own 20″ flat screen TV with the music channel on. Polo shirt, shorts and flip flops are my office attire too. I could not imagine having to get up, getting dressed and commuting to an office job ever again.

While I am my own boss unlike those who telework for a company, I too appreciate that I am working as soon as I pour my own cup of coffee and sit down in my chair. My commute is down 11 steps and across the basement to my office. And that is a huge upside for me and for those bosses who have employees working out of a home office.

Among the findings of the survey:

67 percent of the companies polled said employees were more productive, largely because they spent less time getting to and from work.

59 percent reported seeing cost savings from reduced use of office-related materials and resources.

39 percent said they have access to a more qualified staff, expanding their options to people who are located in - and not willing to relocate from - other regions. Likewise, 37 percent said telecommuting improved employee retention.

25 percent said employee health was improved, largely by reducing stress levels associated with the commute.

Other benefits included promotion of safety through reduced highway use (18 percent) and environmental benefits (17 percent).

As Sam Diaz also mentions,

Today’s tech tools - things like VPNs, WiFi hotspots, faster broadband connections and online and video conferencing services - have made telecommuting easier. My favorite tool: a virtual phone number from Google’s Grand Central service allows me to give my business contacts one phone number that simultaneously rings my home phone, office phone and cell phone so I never miss a call.

I could not do what I do without the same tools. And I would venture to guess, everyone who works from a home office has the same list of items they would not live without.

ZDNet in their post provided a really sharp graph which takes the numbers above and puts them side by side. Improved productivity is clearly at the top.

Trying to increase productivity? Send your employees home. | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com.jpg

If you are trying to convince your employer to give you the chance to work at home, show them the above survey results and sell them on it. They will be happy and so will you.

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Telecommuting

FTTH - Fiber to the Home Conference

Sep 20, 2008

This is where I am heading for a couple of day, the 2008 FTTH Conference & Expo. The conference is being held in Nashville at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.

I will be giving a talk on Monday concerning technology and the end user. Mainly from the perspective of someone who works out of a home office in a rural area. How such technology makes that possible and how without it, we can not be competitive with those in the city. Then I will be doing some one on one visit with some providers and will be on a focus panel too. Should be interesting to say the least.

The one point I plan to hammer home is the fact we have to have such technology, mainly high speed Internet services in the rural area for there to be continued economic growth. It has to be reliable and priced right. And it has to work.

If any of you have anything you would like me to bring up or look for, please leave a comment to this post. This should be a fun and educational time for me and I do plan to tweet and blog about it too.

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