Secure Remote Access —

Because Home Is Where

Your Business Is

By Peter Coloyan

As the owner of a home based host agency, your work never stops — or, at least, it seems that way!

I feel that it is essential to the success of both a host agency and its independent contractors that the host is accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Just because I may be away from my home office for a day, a week or more, I still have dozens of agents who rely on being able to contact me and receiving the information and travel leads we provide them on a regular basis.

Additionally, the updating, maintenance and editing of our many Web sites does not happen by itself (unfortunately), so I always plan ahead when being out of the “office” for a day or more, making sure that the accommodations at my destination can provide the lifeblood that keeps the heart of our business pumping — Internet access!

With Internet access (high speed wireless preferred, with a wireless-enabled laptop) and one all-important Web-based remote-access software program, you can, literally, have your home office available to you anywhere in the world — in an airport, hotel room, on a cruise ship, at the beach and now, even on some long haul flights.

You will have all your home office PC programs — your E-mail, graphics, database, word processor, Web editor, ftp, fax, browser or any other software you have installed on your home office PC — available to you remotely.

Any hardware you have connected to your home office PC is also securely available to you via your laptop — or any Web-accessible PC, such as at a business center or an Internet café, if you do not have a laptop or prefer to travel without one.
The program that allows you to do this is GoToMyPC (more information at www.gotomypc.com). It actually lets you work on your home PC remotely as if you were sitting in front of that home terminal.

Similar software is available from LapLink and I’m InTouch, although, according to PC Magazine (this agent’s bible for new technology), when evaluating GoToMyPC, “Navigating the remote machine appeared slightly faster than LapLink Everywhere’s remote-desktop service and significantly faster than the service offered by I’m InTouch.”

You need to have either DSL or cable Internet access, which keeps a connection always available to you, at your home office PC in order to utilize GoToMyPC or any other remote-access program. You also need to install the “host” program on your home office PC and set up a secure username and password for your remote access. This will take all of two minutes!

Access is then very simple. Visit GoToMyPC.com and enter your account information from any Java-enabled laptop or PC. You are then automatically taken to an interface that shows your actual home desktop, in real time.

You can access all your files, send and receive faxes, check E-mail, etc. You can run your home based travel agency remotely!

By the way, I always suggest this program to all our affiliated agents, as well — since no one ever knows when that client interested in the owner’s suite on the world cruise will try to contact us!

I think you will agree, after using it on just one trip away from your home office that the cost is more than reasonable at just $19.95 per month. And, with no long-term commitment required, you can subscribe only for the time(s) you are actually away from your home office. They even offer a cost-free trial.

This is the most important productivity software and service for any home based travel agent who needs to get in touch with their home office — and I think that’s all of us!

Peter Coloyan has been in the travel industry for over 20 years. He embraced the Internet at its beginning and has flourished with it. He currently writes on, as well as edits, over 100 travel-related Web sites.