Sometimes, as an employee or company owner, you’ll need to travel the world to expand and develop your business. When you become business traveller, you’ll still need to stay connected to those back at home. This can be difficult without the right planning though. So that you can constantly get in touch via phone or email, here are a few tips that may be helpful. Remember that you’ll already need to have a laptop or smartphone for most of these to be applicable.
Five business traveller tips
Make Sure Your Hotel Has Wi-Fi
Depending on where you’re travelling, the data coverage may be a bit unreliable. To get around this, make sure that you have Wi-Fi access as often as possible. When booking your hotel room, always ask if there is an internet connection available for guests. Sometimes this will come free with the accommodation and other times you’ll have to pay for it. If you’re using local conference facilities, find out if they have net access too. In all cases, you’ll have a constant connection to the web while in the hotel and when meeting clients, allowing you to stay in touch with those back at the office with ease.
Research International Phone Conditions
Of course, it’s not possible to have Wi-Fi access everywhere. If you’re out and about in a foreign country, you’ll still need to think about making phone calls and sending emails back home. For example, you might be heading to an overseas meeting or exhibition when an emergency happens in your office. To make it easy for your staff to contact you, think about getting an international phone package. This will be much cheaper than simply turning on mobile roaming as you won’t have to pay for both incoming and outgoing calls.
Utilise Shared Offices & Similar Premises
If you’re travelling to the right places, you may find that there are plenty of co-working spaces available. Not only will these provide you with a professional place to work within but they should also come with their own high speed internet access. Even the best meeting rooms will have this facility, allowing you to connect back to your workplace while discussing terms with a foreign client or business owner. Some of the highest quality shared workplaces will also have video conferencing systems, eliminating the distance between where you are and where your office is.
Download the Right Smartphone Apps
With this infrastructure, you’ll then need to think about software. Your smartphone will be your lifesaver here as you can download a host of useful applications that allow you to:
- Chat to staff on the net
- Make online phone calls
- Look up local exchange rates
- Record all foreign contacts
Depending on what you’re doing while travelling, you’ll require different features on your phone. This shouldn’t be a problem though regardless of what model you now have. Before you depart your present serviced workplace, just download everything you need to prevent any costly data bills from building up throughout your business trip.
Think about Cloud Computing
Finally, you should think about how you are going to access important documents that you might need while overseas or interstate. While you can store everything on your laptop, this is a security risk if the device gets lost or stolen. Instead, why not keep everything on the cloud? In this way, you can only access it if you have the password given to you by the company. Cloud software is also great for collaborating with fellow employees over long distances. Make sure that your laptop and smartphone have all of the necessary programs and improve your overall connectivity while travelling.
