Dear {!firstname},

First, I'm very pleased to tell you that OPT Solutions is a COSE 10 Under 10 Award winner! We are truly honored. The awards ceremony luncheon will be held at the COSE conference on October 20, 2010 at 12:30. See more information under Events.

As we move into fall - and prime budgeting season - we offer opinions on IT budgeting.

Finally, here is Part III of our HR technology policy series. We focus this month on the benefits and challenges of Telecommuting policies.

As always, feel free to forward this to others who may find this newsletter helpful.

Sincerely,

Laura Pettit Rusick
OPT Solutions, Inc.
www.optsolutionsinc.com

With more than 17,000 members, the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) is a driving force in advocating for the priorities of Northeast Ohio's small businesses.

The COSE "Ten Under 10" Award honors companies with less than 10 full-time employees for their best practices in innovation, growth/success, value to the community and the environment, diversity promotion and customer service excellence.

OPT Solutions was chosen for this award by a panel comprised of COSE board of directors, business owners and volunteers.

Have you put off projects, software upgrades or other IT investments?

As you begin the budgeting process for 2011, we strongly recommend keeping line item detail with all IT costs for your organization in one place. This visual makes it easy to see inconsistencies and overlap between departments. Make sure hardware and software support costs are included. Are there PCs and software licenses for new employees? Don't forget centralized systems licensed by number of users.

Watch for opportunities to consolidate to one vendor and reduce costs. From cell phones and copiers to email marketing software and end user reporting tools, more than one software package of the same type translates to higher than necessary license, support and training costs.

We've seen instances where departments felt they "owned" equipment which sat idle while the organization purchased new equipment of the same type for another area. We've also seen them refuse upgrades because they don't want the cost in their budget, yet the IT area is costing more due to increased support costs.

This scenario is often created by chargeback systems. There is a lot of positive about charging back users for their technology consumption, but mechanisms are needed to ensure the overall corporation does not suffer.

When did you last update your HR policy's technology section? Does it include Social Networking? Cell Phone Usage? Work from Home?

In Part III of this series, we discuss policies to support home workers, or telecommuters.

Telecommuting provides several benefits, including:

• Increased productivity, as employees home with children, waiting on home service or simply traveling can still get some work done.
• Reduce office space expenses for the organization and reduced commuting expenses for the employee.
• Employee attraction and retention. Have you seen the stats on the number of workers who plan to find a new job once the economy recovers?
• Having the technology in place to work from home provides some backup in the case of a disaster.

Issues to consider:

• Can employee productivity be adequately measured?
• Will you know if the employee is abusing the telecommuting policy? Clearly communicate the policy and expectations. For example, during office hours, do you expect to reach employees via phone?
• Organizations used to reimburse for home internet access. However, most employees today already have access and the reduced commuting expenses may be benefit enough.
• Estimate how many employees could optimally be working from home. Assess your current remote access technical solution to make sure it is adequate and has the appropriate security.
• Consider "thin client" or "virtual desktop" solutions that allow secured access from home computers. This technology keeps applications and data on corporate servers, allowing home PCs access without virus risk.

If you choose to encourage telecommuting, keep in mind that one of the biggest challenges is creating and maintaining your corporate culture when some employees can't build face-to-face relationships. Strongly consider bringing everyone together periodically, regardless of location, and don't forget to honor those contributing from home.

Copyright © 2010 by Laura Pettit Rusick.

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