A luxury only for top executives, or a needed savings for your bottom line?

No one needs to be reminded of gas prices these days. Analysts report gas prices of $4 per gallon are here to stay, and could reach $6 per gallon if another hurricane hits the Gulf Of Mexico this hurricane season. Traffic congestion is costing the American Economy $63.1 billion per year and is getting worse. Tempers are flaring and instances of road rage are on the increase. The economy is struggling, consumer spending is down, and businesses of all kinds (except oil companies) are forced to make cuts in expenses to maintain their bottom line.

Amidst these problems, a not-so-new and previously seldom used technology is beginning to gain a foothold in all types of businesses throughout the U.S. It’s called telecommuting and both employees and employers are beginning to take advantage of the benefits of this technology.

Telecommuting is simply working within your current computer network from outside the physical office. Technologies such as VoIP soft phones run as software on a laptop,

allowing calls to be transferred directly to and from an employee’s computer desktop. VPN devices and software allow a computer outside the office to access files from within the network in a secure virtual environment. With today’s technology, any computer-related tasks an employee can do from within the office can now be performed from home, or even a hotel room. Benefits are reaped by both employer and employee.

According to a study of 1,500 technology workers, 37 percent said they would be willing to accept pay cuts of up to 10 percent in

exchange for telecommuting. The average employee who drives 20 miles to work and gets 15 m.p.g. will soon be paying $229 more per month on gasoline than he or she did one year ago. That’s an increase of $2,752 per year. Studies also show telecommuting employees are more productive and are willing to commit more hours each week to work.

When you add these benefits to others such as lowered corporate and individual carbon footprints, increased employee morale, decreased office expenses, lower employee turnover, and many more, can you afford not to?

Recommended reading: St. Paul Pioneer Press

For more information on how your company can benefit from telecommuting, call Computer Zone today at 612.340.9700.

Safe, Secure Offsite Backups
When disaster strikes, will you be ready?

Did you know the number one cause of permanent data loss isn’t employee mistakes or computer hardware failures? It’s fire. Fire and theft of computer hardware equipment

are the leading causes of permanent data loss. It is recommended a company utilize two to three layers of data redundancy. Most utilize tape or external hard drive backup as their first layer, but it often stops there. It’s all too common to store the external hard drive or backup tapes onsite with the server. So what happens if a fire breaks out in your office, or thieves break in and steal not only your server, but your tapes and external hard drives?

Offsite backup solutions are one of the fastest growing segments of computer technology today. It’s easy, quick to setup, affordable and very reliable. With offsite

backup, you need not worry about losing your data in a fire, theft or natural disaster. The backups can be monitored, and data is easily restored to your existing or new server network. Most decision makers haven’t really asked themselves, "What would I do if tomorrow, all our information and data were gone? Would I be able to continue to serve my customers?" It’s a scary thought.