Remote Access Guide for Nonprofits, Part One

(View Remote Access Guide for Nonprofits, Part Two  of this series.)

What Are Remote Computer Services?

Remote computer services are a category of technologies that allow two or more offices, locations, or users to share computer resources electronically from geographically distant locations. The resources that are most often shared through remote computer services are e-mail, databases, schedules, and general text information; in short, any resource you would share over a LAN (local area network). To illustrate the concept a few remote computing scenarios follow:

1. Joe is the Executive Director of a rural organization with five offices distributed over five counties. He spends at least one full day a month at each of the four branch offices. While there, he needs access to his files from the main offices, and his emails and schedule at the central office. To gain access to the files, Joe carries a laptop that is equipped to "dial-in" to the central office and browse the local area network at "central." To do so, Joe uses Microsoft's implementation of RAS (Remote Access Services). With this technology Joe can dial into the central office and access the LAN remotely.
2. Mary is the Home Ownership Center Manager of a two-site organization. The two offices are a Home Ownership Center office and a central office. On a daily basis, she and her staff connect to the main office from the HOC to enter data into NWorks 2000, her customer service database, and into MortgageWare, her loan origination software. Because the main server and backup unit are at the central office, they must connect to the main office to securely store their data. To accomplish this Mary uses a WAN (wide area network) equipped with a fractional T1 line with enough bandwidth to allow her and the staff to enter data directly into the NWorks 2000 database (12 channels offering 768 Kbps).
3. Brian is responsible for managing all of his organization's databases. Brian manages three programmatic databases shared by staff in three distant offices. The organization operates in an environment where WAN connections (typically T1 or T3 lines) are prohibitively expensive. To connect his offices and share databases Brian has developed a VPN (virtual private network) that uses relatively inexpensive DSL lines at each office to set up a virtual WAN.

Why Would I Need Remote Services?

If you've ever been on the road and needed a file or folder that is on a computer at your primary office, you may already appreciate the value of remote access computing. In some cases, you may be able to ask someone at the office to find the file and fax or email it to you. But what if it's after hours, you don't have that kind of clout with your co-workers, you forgot exactly in which folder you put the file, or the information you need is sensitive and you don't want others to have access to it? With a remote computing solution you would have the ability to connect to your computer(s) at the office and get the information that you need, in many cases quickly, easily and securely, without troubling anyone else in the process.

Remote access solutions come in many shapes and sizes. They range from ingeniously simple and inexpensive to complex, budget straining options that require a lot of expensive hardware, communication lines, and extensive support to implement and maintain. The key is to obtain the right solution to meet your remote access needs. Depending on your specific needs, the solution may be expensive, but if it solves some major business need, it may be well worth the cost of implementation. In most cases, we believe that an organization can implement a good remote access solution to meet its specific needs relatively inexpensively. Just how inexpensively you ask? That really depends on what your needs are.

Does My Organization Need Remote Computer Services?

Generally you will need a remote services solution if you find yourself in one of the following situations:

1. You would benefit from the transfer of files and email between staff in geographically distant offices (not in the same building).
2. You have more than one office and these are all involved in overlapping program services that share a database or other electronic tools. For example, if you provide home ownership services from more than one office location, or you have multiple property management sites that share or should share a database.
3. You have staff that is often on the road and needs access to electronic information within the central or other offices, or they need to transfer information to the central office routinely (e.g., enter data into a central database).

Answering the following questions will help you determine if your organization could benefit from implementing a remote computing solution. Notice that we underline the word "solution." You only need concern yourself with remote access if it addresses a business need, and then, only if it does so in a way that is cost-effective and practical. It may be nice to have all of the latest and greatest technology, but the reality is that most of us are interested in revitalizing communities. If a project or expense doesn't clearly further this end, we should be leery of the time and expense involved. So, if a technology does not further our mission, it's best we steer clear.

If you answer yes to any of the following questions you will want to look deeper and explore whether a remote services solution may save you time, money or both in delivering your programs.

• Do you often find that you need to access files residing on a computer in the office when you are away from the office?
• Do you have multiple offices not located within the same building?
• Do you have staff that often works from home or a business partner's location?
• Do you share databases between offices?

If you answered yes to any of these you will want to consider remote communication solutions.

We explore these solutions in depth in Remote Access Guide for Nonprofits, Part Two of this series.