Basic Remote Network
Hi all
I need some advice on setting up my office.
I run a small business that includes setting up quotations and proposals.
The business has two directors and 1 member of staff. We have a small office in the south of the UK, midway between the two director’s homes. (One travels from the South and the other from the North).
We want to set up a system, so that we can keep all of our documents and proposals on a server in the office, which we can work from.
We want to store all the information in one central location that can be updated by all of us, that can be accessed remotely, from home and in Central Europe.
Currently we are e-mailing each other updated documents, which is both time consuming and creates lots of old documents that are incorrect and out of date.
This is how I see the system working.
1. My partner gets a request for a product, she is based in London.
2. The proposal is created on the system for me to access and amend as necessary, from my laptop, while I am in Germany.
3. The proposal is then sent to the client, with the document staying on the “server” in our office.
Personally it feels like I need a simple remote software programme and a system to access and file the proposals. Although I am not sure if that is everything that we need.
1. Could we set the laptops up so that we can access the server, without our partner reading our personal info on our machine?
2. Can we set up a generic database with our customer and supplier details as well as system to collect e-mails when away?
3. The system automatically backs up all the machines in the night – and records a log of amendments?
Currently we have:
1 Computer based in the office, as a server.
2 Laptops, 1 each that we work from.
Permanent Internet connections at our homes and Office – we also have a dongle each for when we are on the road.
Later I would like to upgrade to an Apple Laptop as I have had my fill of PCs, could this be achieved.
Could we auto- archive the information to 4th remote computer, for safe keeping?
So many questions and so little knowledge on my part!
Thanks for any help that may be forthcoming.
Regards
MLH