Online Access Goes Anything, Anywhere, Anytime

Lou Bender is an untethered executive. When he's working from his home office, Bender's IBM ThinkPad connects to the Internet via a wireless network. When he's in the office, he can access the company network using the same laptop, which allows Bender to download files from the corporate server, receive e-mail or surf the Internet from anywhere within the building.

On the road, Bender's equally connected. His laptop's built-in wireless networking adapter – along with an account with wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) provider Broadband Oasis, lets Bender do the same tasks from two dozen South Florida restaurants. And if he wants to check e-mail from a client location, his RIM Blackberry 7510 convergent phone, personal digital assistant and Internet device receives his e-mail. Or he can just log on to Ureach.com, his unified messaging service that receives voice messages, e-mail and faxes to one online site.

"I can be on the road anywhere, and it's like I’m in the office," said Bender, managing director of Aleanda Group, a Deerfield Beach-based consultancy and incubator that works with venture capitalists and start-up companies. "These devices mean I can do as much work from a restaurant or another office as I can from my corporate office."

The business world is becoming a wireless place. Some 78 million people work outside the corporate office, notes In-Stat/MDR, a Scottsdale, AZ-based research firm. With the right strategy in place, using services like Wi-Fi, handheld Internet and e-mail devices, and software that allows a user to access computer files or e-mail from the road, the office is just another place to work.

The right wireless strategy can make working remotely as simple as working from the corporate or home office. But it requires choosing the right technology to suit the user's specific needs. For example, if you rarely need Internet access while on the road, but do need to check e-mail, a handheld PDA with e-mail service might suffice – at a much lower cost than a wi-fi enabled laptop. Or you can use GoToMyPC, which allows users to access their computer from any Internet PC in the world.

To be sure, working remotely with this technology comes at a cost. Bender spent $1,400 on his laptop and $400 on the PDA; subscriptions for his wi-fi, Ureach and wireless Blackberry and cellular services together run more than $100 more each month.

"For the enterprise, the benefits are cost avoidance and elimination of staff," Bender said. "The cost can easily be a wash."

Jeff Zbar, the ChiefHomeOfficer.com, is a speaker, writer and expert on alternative officing. He is the author of Teleworking & Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers and Their Managers (Made E-Z Products, 2002); Safe@Home: Seven Keys to Home Office Security (FirstPublish 2001) and Your Profitable Home Business (on CD-ROM from Made E-Z Products). Visit his Web site to subscribe to Home Office Success Stories, his free electronic magazine on home business and teleworking.