Building Block 3

Product Aplication
Boffins Building Blocks to a 21st Century Business – Block 3

Having established a first class link into the Internet and protected our network with a comprehensive firewall, you can now start to provide remote services to your Customers, suppliers, managers and staff, in the office, on the road, at home, and abroad.

Outlook Web Access and Outlook Mobile Access

Just as you might use Microsoft Outlook on your desktop to connect to your Exchange Server for email, calendar, scheduling, and collaboration tasks, so now you can do exactly the same wherever you can connect to the Internet. Outlook Web Access is a secure method of performing the same tasks from outside the office. Just launch Internet Explorer on any internet connected computer and browse to your firewall address. Your connection will be forwarded to your Exchange Server which will connect you to your mailbox through a web style interface.

The data you see is live and you can use the connection as if you were in the office. You can read, forward, and reply to your emails in real time without the need for a secondary address.

In fact, the ease of use and performance in most cases is so good that many users prefer the OWA interface to Outlook itself!

Many of these normal outlook functions are also available on your mobile phone using Outlook Mobile Access, however on phones that support Activesync such as Iphones or those running Windows Mobile operating systems most users prefer to use the native email client and be ‘online’ all the time. Once configured, your mobile phone is sent your email, contacts, tasks, and calendar items in real time so that you are always ‘in touch’. Talk to Boffins before you purchase your next mobile phone.

 Strategic Business Data and Key Operational Applications

Strategic Business Data must be kept secure but the 21st century business will want to provide remote access to this data so that executives can work with it when out of the office. Folder synchronisation has potential to allow this data off site but at a huge risk. Think of the laptop and data stick thefts in the public sector that hit the headlines recently! The second problem with synchronisation is exactly that. It is not a trivial matter to make sure that the most current data is that which is being used.

The best solution is to serve this data to remote users as needed across the wide area network. Whether as files, or web pages, or as SharePoint data this data can be properly secured and delivered over encrypted links (Virtual Private Networking). Even then, many businesses prefer to keep their data safe on site. File sharing is not always an option as many data types are unsuitable for sharing over a comparatively slow connection.

Most Key Operational Applications such as order processing, call tracking, accounting, and CRM rely upon databases for their operation and especially where transaction integrity is important both the data and application need to stay at the centre. The answer is to use remote computing techniques such as Microsoft Remote Desktop Services. 

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services allows remote users to utilise computing resources operating entirely at the centre of the network.

Utilising a thin client (or any computer able to run a browser) the user performs their tasks within a virtual computer environment running on a PC or Server located at the office. A single PC on the local network can be configured as a ‘remote desktop’ for the remote user to connect to. A server can be configured to support many such clients simultaneously depending upon the performance of its hardware and licences purchased. By employing Microsoft Remote Desktop Services the 21st century business can provide high performance access to its strategic data and key operation systems without compromising its data or business security.

Conclusion

Remote access tools such as Outlook Web Access and Microsoft Remote Desktop Services allow users to make secure connections to their key systems across a wide area network without compromising performance or the security of strategic business data. 21st century businesses utilise these tools today to enhance flexibility and speed of response to customers and suppliers.

Links to previous articles:
21st Century Business
http://news.boffins.co.uk/product-information/21st-century-business/

Boffins Broadband
http://news.boffins.co.uk/product-information/boffins-broadband/

Securing your Network
http://news.boffins.co.uk/product-information/safeoffice-network-security/