Jaimie Dobson Internet Consultant

Over the May Spring Bank holiday I capitilised on the benefits of working for oneself and took an extended break in the wilds of the Lincolnshire countryside without having to get a holiday chit signed by my boss.

The modern wonders of mobile internet computing, my BlackBerry and cloud computing mean that even though I was camped up in the middle of a forest, I was able to keep in touch with my associates, monitor e-mails and access files as I needed them in order to keep my business ticking along until I got back.

Who Needs an Office?

Thanks to an internet dongle plugged into my laptop’s USB socket and a suitable airtime subscription, I enjoyed an internet connection of up to 3G speeds. In practice during this break, it was a lot slower than this being in the middle of some trees and all that; but hey, work with me here! This handy device allows me to access files such as word processing documents and presentations across the web that I have stored in the “cloud” using my Google Docs account as well as a spot of web surfing where needed. This together with access to our online project management application which allowed to keep up to speed with current live development projects my team of developers were working on I was still connected, yet back to nature.

My BlackBerry™ allowed me to send and receive emails as though I was in the office, keep up to date with Twitter and my Facebook friends and keep in touch with my associates using Google Talk and Yahoo! Messenger: all in real time! Not to mention the ability to make calls (I don’t do texting in case you’re wondering).

I tell ya! Who needs an office?

I Know What You’re Thinking

Now I know what you’re thinking! You’re thinking “what’s the point of going on holiday if I’m still going to be tooled up as if I was in the office?”

I can subscribe to this view. However, if you’re a small business owner you’ll know that the cord between you and your business is thick and strong. Business and social lives become blurred at the edges and without regular contact with your ‘baby’ you start to twitch and scratch! Having good connectivity whilst you’re away alleviates the itch and keeps the twitching at bay whilst preventing your business from becoming neglected.

So if you’re in the lucky position of not having to fill in a holiday chit, get yourself mobile web-connected, leave your office behind for a while and take a well deserved break.

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Tags: Business Life, Cloud Computing, Digital Technology