Virtual private network
However, there are a number of issues that companies encounter when allowing employees access to office applications, such as email or sales management systems. Top of the list is security.
While there are many security applications out there, IT managers are hesitant to allow people unfettered access to company networks. The reason for that is if you allow employees access, you also leave holes open for less honest people to exploit that access and cause all manner of mayhem.
The solution is the virtual private network. Previously, major companies used to create their own network, linking branches in a data network that only they could use. With the advent of the Internet it was possible to use the massive public network to do the same thing – but issues concerning security were again raised.
What a VPN does is provide the illusion of a private service while using the same services as everyone else. If a company has its head office in Johannesburg and a branch in Cape Town, then instead of buying a direct connection between the two cities it would go to a service provider that already had that link in place. The company would then share that link with other companies, making it much cheaper to run. The company then just buys a local link to the service provider at both ends.
For remote workers the same principle applies – except that the connection is the Internet and typically the company runs the system itself. All you'd do is run a special program on your PC that would connect you to the company network.
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