Controlling communications costs
Are your teleworkers costing your firm a fortune?
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She was a business consultant with a large firm who worked from home. She said she was "properly wired," and had a cell phone, a home phone, a second phone line for business, and a third line for faxing. She had asymmetric DSL for high-speed Internet access, and cable TV for recreation, and claimed her monthly costs were only $231.75.
She'd been had.
After reviewing the charges, her company's IT department discovered that this work-from-home consultant was costing the firm $349.13 per month, including taxes, line charges, extra features and software. As a result, they restructured her multiple lines of communication, and cut the costs by more than 50%.
Multiplicity
Connectivity is the key to teleworking. Internet access, phones and faxes are your remote workers' lifeblood. By combining the right mix of features and technologies, you'll consolidate many of their needs while reducing operating and maintenance costs.In the "old" office, the busiest people had the most phones. You've seen the movie: One Type-A personality, two hands, and four phones ringing off the hook. The solution was to funnel all calls through a receptionist. Other than the technology, today is no different. Applying some systems analysis to the consultant's situation would make her life a bit less expensive.
First, identify her needs. They include e-mail, voice, mobile voice, voice messaging, faxing and recreation (cable TV). While few would consider the last one a critical business function, it's a highly affordable perk for those lucky enough to have a cable modem.
Next, identify possible solutions, particularly those that provide more than one service.
E-mail begs for the traditional approach - a workstation, an operating system, e-mail client software, Internet access and an e-mail server (corporate or ISP). Don't lock yourself into traditional solutions; instead, be creative. If your teleworkers need only simple text messaging, just upgrade their cell phones. Most teleworkers need something more substantial, however, so you're usually better off sticking with the computer for e-mail.
Landline or cell phone?
Voice is simple - use a telephone, right? Not always. If your teleworker is a homebody, he can skip the cell phone.In short, it's a lifestyle choice - get whatever option suits their needs. Our consultant had call waiting and caller ID on both phones.
Because her role required her to keep in constant contact with clients, we could skip the landline and pocket the $39.72. She could also change her wireless carrier from one where the "local area" was the entire Eastern seaboard to one that covered only her citywide requirements, saving another $40. Before doing this, however, consider the downsides. Voice quality is a must for interviews and sales pitches - most people won't put up with a poor connection for long.
Because her cable package was one step above basic service, her company threw in a cable modem for another $10 per month. Nix the $49.95 ADSL - her firm now pays $49.95 for cable TV (employee perk) and her cable modem.
She was using a $129 fax package on a dedicated line. She already used a scanner, so we convinced her to use eFax. Now she pays $9.95 per month, and 5 cents per 30-second U.S. fax transmission. No long-distance charges! Receiving faxes is free. Including the savings on software, that saves $56 more.
VoIP
Voice over IP is here (almost). Teleworkers using a VPN will soon no longer need long-distance service. With a headset, some software, a VPN and something like VTG/Intel's iPOD, you can cut your teleworker's long-distance charges in half. Since your teleworker can work freely within the corporate PBX, there's no need for a business phone line, either.The caveat is getting your ISP to support the requisite quality-of-service issues. Fortunately, Comgate's aXon softswitch system might be what your ISP needs to provide good-quality voice over IP for its customers.
Avoid unified systems
Installing a computerized voice/fax/data messaging system for your teleworkers might be tempting, particularly for those who are inclined to play with technology. But just one word of advice: don't.It's not that you can't make it work, it's that it'll cost too much for the average teleworker to support it.
One goal as a remote network manager is to provide a tenable, long-term solution.
This ensures your teleworkers are free to do their job, instead of tinkering with equipment. Besides, the phone companies and makers of high-end answering machines have found better solutions, and at lower cost, especially when you consider the labor involved in installing, troubleshooting and maintaining a computerized voice/fax center.
So consider using stand-alone machines for your fax and answering machine needs. However, always start with your teleworkers' needs. If that's what they really need, go for it.
Busy signals
If you're busy doing your work, instead of chasing wires, you're in business.Remember our teleworking consultant, who was happy paying $349.13? After implementing the suggestions we provided, she not only had less to worry about, but she saved $135.71, too.
That may not seem like a lot to most corporations, until they realize it's enough to cover the cost of leasing her computer and peripherals, complete with on-site maintenance.
Next story: To wire, or not to wire (wireless)?
Janss is the president of Jansys Information Systems, a consulting firm specializing in IS technologies for small businesses. He can be reached at bizcom@jansys.com.
