The problem with business travel, frankly, is that you're not in your office. If you're a manager or project leader, your need to stay in touch with your team and what's happening at all times is crucial. This need seems to contradict the idea of business travel. But with modern technology and a little coordination on your part, you can maintain a reasonable level of contact with your important projects and team activities even while driving in the rental car or waiting for a flight at the airport.
The actual technology you use to stay connected may change over time. While in the past we could only use paid phones at airports, we have developed technologically so you can travel and access your network via your cell phone, wireless computer or a variety of other devices. So the first step is to identify the type of technology that meets your need for connectivity as well as enable you to work productively in locations as diverse as airport, airplane seat or hotel room.
While conducting a technical review of the available technology, be sure to look for the durability of the equipment you take on the road. You may be able to afford the most advanced equipment on the market today. But if this equipment can't survive the rigors of travel including being beaten in your luggage, exposed to heat, cold, humidity, or any other harsh condition you might throw it in, this won't be the kind of equipment you want next to you on a long business trip.
Once you have settled on the device, you must configure or configure it to access the Internet as well as the ability to take advantage of your company's intranet and network. It's critical that you can communicate with your team and access company profiles so you can stay informed about what's going on in your projects at home. For example, if you have project team file status reports every Friday morning, you should be able to review them and give directions to the elements of actions to take that come from those reports quickly and efficiently, even if you're on a ten-hour trip from Europe.
To manage your phone's contacts, the idea of putting an auto-reply "out of the office" on your office messaging service is the last decade. Alternatively, you can forward your office phone to your cell phone and receive your phone calls remotely so you can conduct your work as if you were on site throughout your trip.
There is enough technology currently available to be able to access your desktop computer and turn it back on your desk in the office even while traveling. One of these services is gotomypc.com. But there are many of these services or your IT department may have a methodology to enable this access that you can use if you involve them in planning your trip. By accessing your computer daily or several times a day, you can activate your instance of Microsoft Outlook or whatever your e-mail program is and read and respond to business-critical emails while relaxing in your hotel room after business meetings outside the city.
These are just a few of the technologies that make it possible to perform almost any function of the remote control that you could only do in the office in the past. So do not accept road restrictions. Check out how to be fully connected during your business travel and the result will be that you can keep all your important business projects moving forward simultaneously.
Comments
Post a Comment