Productivity tips and tools for telecommuters, freelancers and businesstravelers

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Telecommuters, freelancers and business travelers, we found some great tips from Fast Company and Work Awesome to help you maintain productivity while away from your office.

Some of the recommendations include:

• A laptop loaded with all the appropriate software for your business needs.
• Internet access using your home's internet service provider (be sure you have adequate bandwidth for up/downloading files), Wi-fi (if you are working in an airport or maybe a local Starbuck's) or an aircard/wireless modem device (some cell phones can provide this type of internet access).
• Secure your laptop and your web browser with different passwords - particularly if you are working in public places.
• A smartphone - for quick access to emails, calendars and your address book.  You can also download apps to help you track your time and productivity.
• Store documents in the "cloud" by saving to Google Docs.  Google Docs also allows for collaborative editing with co-workers/clients.
• USB drive - for sharing files directly with clients/co-workers or for those times when you don't have web access.
• For teleconferencing, you might want to consider setting up a Skype account (your company may already have a teleconferencing service provider).  You might also want to invest in a microphone and possibly a webcam.

Follow the links to read the Fast Company and Work Awesome articles in full.  Here are some other great tips we found:

• Microsoft at work - Telecommuting tools: Tips for working from home
• Microsoft Tracks Telework Trends, Ranks Top Cities for Home Workers
• 5 Productivity Tools for the Busy Freelancer
• Work from a Coworking Center for an Affordable Office Environment
• Work Smart: Must-Have Mobile Apps for the Road Warrior
• Working from Home? How to Stay Sane
• Visit the Telecommute News website for more tips, resources and suggestions on productive telecommuting.

Data theft: How to protect your company's valuable data

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Occasionally, a company may find that one or more of it's employees have stolen valuable data of some kind.  Internal security threats are much bigger than external threats because an employee has greater access and knowledge of the work environment and the company network.  Through regular use of the company's operating system and email client or accessing the network with their user ID and password, an employee may become familiar with the steps necessary to compromise the security of their company's network, particularly if that network is not secure or set up improperly.

Employees can steal data via personal flash drives and email.  If an employee needs to work from home or take documents home from the office always have them check with your IT department and their supervisor to ensure they are following corporate policy.  As an added measure of safety, have your IT department supply password protected flash drives to that employee after obtaining consent from their supervisor for the employee to use the flash drive.  This is a simple system of checks and balances designed to serve as a deterrent.  

 

How can your IT manager protect your company from internal data security threats?

• Establish clear policies for employees regarding accessing and saving documents and other files on shared network drives or flash drives and most important, internet and email usage.  
• Hold regular meetings and trainings for executives and other managers to (re)educate them on your company's network usage policies.
• For PC based networks, setup restrictions and policy setting on servers using Active Directory (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/ad-main.aspx) which will be applied on all desktops to restrict users' access to the network and what they are allowed to do on their computers. 
• Install a secure anti-virus software on each server and desktop that has virus, spam and spyware protection to block all traces of viruses, spam and spyware on the systems but most important, your network. 
• Configure router and switches to block certain access to unnecessary open ports on the network. 
• Setup email monitoring tools and software on your email server to monitor each employee’s use of incoming and outgoing emails and establish a limit and restrict to whom they are may to send external emails.
• Set-up web filtering software like Websense (http://www.websense.com/content/Products.aspx) or install a device like Cymphonix (http://www.cymphonix.com/), a web gateway, to filter each user’s internet and application use on the network and generate a monthly report on each user’s activity on network, application and internet usage. 
• Create a shared network drive and grant email access for a backup user for an employee in case of termination where that backup user will have access to that employees files and emails.   
• Create a termination policy for 30 days when an employee is terminated to delete their account from the network so they cannot use their user ID to sign into the network or access email.