Take Your Office With You
Author: Scott Davidson
October 2007
You may be away from your desk, but you needn’t be away from your data. In fact, you can work with just about any information that’s stored in your company from the desktop computer in your living room, from a kiosk or even a public library in another city or another country, or from the cell phone you hang on your belt.
Mobility is no longer a luxury for small business, it is critical to survival. If a customer can’t reach you with an urgent issue because you’re at lunch or traveling between appointments, you’ve lost potential business today and repeat business in the future. Those customers will most likely then work with your competitors who, wherever they may be, can immediately access their files, e-mail and calendars to resolve a customer problem or collaborate with a partner.
The mobile workforce has become a powerful force in recent years, with average workers today spending nearly 40 percent of their time away from the desk. The number of mobile professionals who spent at least 20 percent of their time away in 2006 encompassed two-thirds of all workers. And, on a global scale, by 2009, a quarter of the world’s workforce is projected to be mobile.
Clearly, if you can’t work on the go, your business is less likely to grow. Fortunately, mobility today is highly affordable for smaller companies as a result of the proliferation of mobile devices and the development of software tools designed specifically to help small businesses gain the benefits of mobility that once only larger companies could access and afford.
To support small businesses, Microsoft created the Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 (SBS, for short), to bring together in one integrated software offering all the principal advanced functions that a high-technology office needs—and to make them available from anywhere.
Companies gain mobility through SBS in three ways. First, SBS synchronizes with a tremendous variety of mobile phones that are equipped with the Windows Mobile platform. All of the major cellular carriers today offer phones that incorporate the Windows Mobile 5 or Mobile 6 operating platform. Combined with SBS (which includes Exchange Server 2003 technology), mobile devices automatically display e-mails as they are received, and the employee can view the message, reply to it, and even open attachments, all with the mobile device. Contact lists that are kept on the server automatically are available on the phone. Users also can explore the entire global e-mail address list for the company, so that they can reach someone who may they might not normally e-mail but whose address has been placed on the list by someone else.
Secondly, SBS connects workers’ home computers directly to the information in their office via the Remote Web Workplace. Doing so allows the user to securely work remotely, while retaining the same functionality they would have if they were sitting at their desk. E-mail, shared applications, and even your computer’s desktop, are accessible through the connection. And the Remote Web Workplace is safe and secure, so users don’t have to worry about other parties reconnecting to their workplace once they log off.
Finally, companies can use Outlook Web Access (OWA) to go to a password-protected Web site, where they can have their desktop at their fingertips to read and send e-mail, send attachments, view calendars, send and respond to meeting requests and view contacts. OWA offers as much as 90 percent of the functionality that any individual would have sitting at an office desk with Microsoft Outlook, but it’s available from any location with an Internet connection.
A recent study suggests that, every day, workers with wireless e-mail spend 63 additional minutes being productive. That’s a spectacular productivity gain by any measure. Moreover, because these wireless workers can respond more quickly to customers, co-workers and business partners, they provide a sizeable competitive advantage to the company.
Beyond e-mail, the mobile device serves as a platform for other applications, as well. Employees with a mobile device can spell-check Word documents, make format changes, edit an article or carry out any of the other basic Word functions available on a desk. Similarly, they can edit spreadsheets or modify charts in Excel, then synchronize their files when they connect back at the office. Presenters can even rehearse PowerPoint presentations with their mobile phone or capture notes using Microsoft’s OneNote software. Since Windows Mobile is an operating system, special applications can be written for it and store on a mobile device to meet the needs of a specific employee or type of business.
Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 can provide a small business with big benefits. You can develop a newly empowered, productive and fast-moving business by reaching into your shirt pocket—and a higher standing among your customers by reaching into the marketplace with mobile computing.
For more information on Small Business Server 2003R2, visit www.microsoft.com/sbs. To find a Microsoft Small Business Specialist, see www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness.
About the Author: Scott Davidson is the Heartland Area General Manager for Microsoft’s Small and Mid-market Solutions and Partners (SMS&P) group, which consists of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
