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L.N. Revathy

When people go on leave suddenly, should work suffer? Citrix says its tools can help.

Say, you've postponed some work for the morrow, but later, because of some unforeseen development on the home front, realise that you will not be able to report for work the next couple of days.

Though no one is indispensable in an organisation, such issues can affect business continuity.

Companies, typically, rely on the telephone at such times. They may not, however, be able to reach people at all times. This is where technology can help: automated systems that can send customised messages simultaneously to a large number of recipients and to multiple devices can help ensure business continuity even when people cannot report for work. According to the Gartner Group, IT administrators should include `remote access' in their response plans to enable a large number of employees to perform their duties from home for an extended period. Today, many companies in the US offer telecommuting or `telework' options for employees. The compelling benefit is `workplace resilience'.

Citrix offerings

GoToMyPC from the Citrix Systems stable, for instance, is remote-access software. The company recently introduced an additional feature whereby the software gets activated in an emergency.

"With this service, companies pay the usual installation fee, but are charged usage fee only when the software is activated in an emergency. A typical user who doesn't activate the software can expect to pay only about 30 per cent of the cost of full subscription," says H.R. Shiever, Managing Director, Citrix Online Asia Pacific.

However, in putting a plan of action together, an organisation will need to -

Identify the employees who will need access to resources from home

Formulate a plan as to how these employees will work in the event they cannot drive to office

What resources will they need to access from home

Ensure that they get up to speed with the remote access solution

Check for regulatory compliance, special considerations for data security and above all, reliability of the remote-access solution itself.

Experts agree that remote access can be the key to a successful business continuity plan, but how does a business manage the trade-offs between enabling every employee with remote access and the potentially high cost of traditional solutions?

"GoToMyPC and GoToAssist are user-friendly products. We've been using them for over a year now to train people in the US, to share files and collaborate, make power point presentation and to work with our business partners," says Tanmay Ray Chaudhury, who heads a small BPO outfit - `Your Back Office' in Delhi.

He recalls how he had helped his team to work at ease from home or even a cyber café with the GoToMyPC product. "They could get hooked to the office PC with the login name and password from anywhere in the world."

Incidentally Your Back Office has a set-up in Allahabad as well. Chaudhury says he has been able to save money and time, which would otherwise have been spent on airfare and travel, by interacting and guiding his team in Allahabad with the Citrix GoToAssist and GoToMeeting products.

Did he use any other similar product?

"Of course. Initially, we tried Webex, but found it to be very expensive. There were certain features such as video conferencing, which we did not consider essential. With the Citirx GoToMeeting, which we probably use for 3-4 hours everyday for a flat fee of Rs 1,400 per month, we've recovered our cost in half-a-day. We use it to scan documents, review the work, conduct online meetings, train people and the like," he says.

Chaudhury, however, concedes to removing GoToMyPC from the systems at work for security reasons. "Employees who need to access the resource from home or elsewhere, invariably have a laptop," he says.

Citrix cites crisis situations where its software helped. For instance, workers from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services used Citrix GoToMyPC Corporate to access their computers back at office to enter data and research information for victims of hurricane Katrina.

Kate Chrisman, executive director of the Women's Business Council Gulf Coast, was miles away from her office computer as the hurricane approached New Orleans.

"Fortunately, I was able to use GoToMyPC and easily download our organisation's financial records and membership database to my laptop computer the night before the storm struck. With that data, I began tracking the whereabouts of our Gulf Coast chapter's 275 members and started helping them put their businesses and lives back together," the company's case study on the Internet quotes her as saying.

lnr@thehindu.co.in

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