As I've been increasingly working wirelessly over the last few weeks, I was pleased to see that Byestart.co.uk, the small business portal, has this Guide to working securely with wireless on its impressive web site. The advice comes from Maria Cappella, managing director at ISP Nildram, who looks at:
> Anti-Virus software
> Encryption
> SSID (making the wireless network invisible to unauthorised users by using a service set identifier (SSID).
> Firewalls
> Updating default settings
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Working from Home on Radio 4 today - reminder
Just a quick reminder to listen in to BBC Radio 4 again today at 3.45pm to the second in Zoe Williams' five part series this week on working from home. Monday's episode - complete with trendy soundtrack from Steve Reich - was well worth 15 minutes of any homeworker's time and can be heard again on the corporation's Listen Again facility.
Turf your garden office
I've written on the site and in The Shed magazine before about having a green roof on your garden office/shed, but I'm particularly excited about these selfwatering, Korean velvet grass Green Roof Tiles from Toyota as featured in today's post on the addictably browsable inhabitat. They're light, cheap and easy to install and maintain, rather like whacking a rug on top of your roof.
Second Life as a backup virtual office
Worries about how big companies would cope in a pandemic seem to be the flavour of the week. Computerworld suggests that the increasingly popular virtual world Second Life could provide a useful backup service. In the article, writer Robert Mitchell reports that Colleen Monahan, director of development at the Center for the Advancement of Distance Education at the University of Chicago, has recently worked with a large corporation to create a virtual human resources department and a situation room for executives.
"By creating a virtual company," writes Mitchell, "employees will have a place outside of the corporate firewall where they can meet around the virtual water cooler or receive counseling. Unlike videoconferencing, in Second Life, employees meet by proxy, using avatars... Security is a big concern although you can create a private island in Second Life. On the other hand, if your other IT systems are down, a virtual company could come in handy."
"By creating a virtual company," writes Mitchell, "employees will have a place outside of the corporate firewall where they can meet around the virtual water cooler or receive counseling. Unlike videoconferencing, in Second Life, employees meet by proxy, using avatars... Security is a big concern although you can create a private island in Second Life. On the other hand, if your other IT systems are down, a virtual company could come in handy."
Enterprise Nation podcast
In what may well be a first in the homeworking arena, Enterprise Nation have launched a fortnightly podcast. Issue one can be downloaded from their front page or the link above and includes features on starting your own home business, flexible work rights and interviews with Wendy Shand, successful home business owner and MD of Tots to France and Sales Director of the One Life Live event, James Gradwell. The podcast was recorded, edited and produced from EN's home offices in Shropshire. In Episode 2 the theme is technology, with Jamie Shaw, Managing Director of Geeks-on-Wheels and Shaun Orpen, Marketing Director for Orange Business Solutions.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Working from Home on Radio 4 today
If you have 15 minutes free at 3.45pm today and at the same time all this week (though hopefully it will also be available via the BBC's Listen Again facility), tune in to BBC Radio 4 to listen to Zoe Williams talking about homeworking. The blurb goes: "Journalist Zoe Williams begins her quest to get privileged access into the often secret world of the home-worker, comparing notes on the perks and the pitfalls of working where you live and finds out what really goes on behind the net curtains during office hours without the watercooler to gather around." Wednesday's programme promises: "Swapping tips on how to cope when the divide between work and home becomes blurred", Thursday's "'Flexibility' and 'work-life balance' are buzzwords and phrases of the day, but is it really in your best interest to work from home?" and Friday's "Looking into the future. Will we all be doing it soon? Will the policy-makers look after us if we do? And will we really be able to give up the gossip at the watercooler?"
Case studies - Medical Defence Union
The Medical Defence Union (MDU) says that even doctors can work from home. The MDU employs 26 medico-legal advisers who work from home advising fellow doctors faced with ethical dilemmas or needing to respond to the GMC or an unhappy patient. Each year they take around 22,000 advice calls from doctors needing on the spot advice.
Dr Peter Schutte, Head of Advisory at the MDU, said: "The MDU originally decided to offer homeworking as a way of retaining experienced staff following the merger of its London and Manchester offices into one London HQ. We’ve since realised however that it can offer many advantages to us and to our members. All the MDU’s medico-legal advisers now work from home and, because they can be based anywhere in the UK, we are never short of high quality applicants when we are looking for new advisers.
“We have had to develop specialised computer systems because what we do is unique. We also have access to a comprehensive digital library of medico-legal information such as regulators’ guidance, relevant legislation and recent guidelines, to help us to advise members. There are great advantages to having all our files available at the click of a mouse. Recently I was able to advise a doctor who was distressed to have received notification of a GMC complaint which he thought he had resolved with the patient, with our assistance, three years earlier. Straight away I could bring up his old file on my screen and discuss how best to proceed. As he lived only a short distance from my home, I was able to meet him the next day at his surgery to discuss his response.
“There are some disadvantages of course, such as missing the face to face contact of colleagues in the office, although we have weekly meetings by video conference. I certainly don’t miss the crowded commute and, in the summer, I can step straight out of the office into the garden while most people are still struggling home.”
Dr Peter Schutte, Head of Advisory at the MDU, said: "The MDU originally decided to offer homeworking as a way of retaining experienced staff following the merger of its London and Manchester offices into one London HQ. We’ve since realised however that it can offer many advantages to us and to our members. All the MDU’s medico-legal advisers now work from home and, because they can be based anywhere in the UK, we are never short of high quality applicants when we are looking for new advisers.
“We have had to develop specialised computer systems because what we do is unique. We also have access to a comprehensive digital library of medico-legal information such as regulators’ guidance, relevant legislation and recent guidelines, to help us to advise members. There are great advantages to having all our files available at the click of a mouse. Recently I was able to advise a doctor who was distressed to have received notification of a GMC complaint which he thought he had resolved with the patient, with our assistance, three years earlier. Straight away I could bring up his old file on my screen and discuss how best to proceed. As he lived only a short distance from my home, I was able to meet him the next day at his surgery to discuss his response.
“There are some disadvantages of course, such as missing the face to face contact of colleagues in the office, although we have weekly meetings by video conference. I certainly don’t miss the crowded commute and, in the summer, I can step straight out of the office into the garden while most people are still struggling home.”
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