Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com March 16, 2015 • Worcester Business Journal 13 >> T E C H N O LO G Y Tech tools helped business flow during snowy winter E leanor Loiacono's first session of her IT Strategy and Policy class involved the usual distribution of the syllabus to guide the semester, and answering questions about the class. What followed for the next three weeks of Monday classes was out of the ordi- nary, as winter storms clobbered the Northeast with snow and dangerous travel conditions that made it impossible to conduct the class. Loiacono, an associate professor of information technology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, was left to resched- ule the classes to a weekend or find a dif- ferent way to hold them. Like a number of organizations and businesses in Central Massachusetts, she chose to use technolo- gy to work remotely. She used document- sharing technology from Blackboard Collaborate — which is used by many schools — and the conferencing ability of Adobe Connect to convene her classes. With the record-setting Jan. 27 blizzard dumped three feet of snow on Worcester, forcing a ban on driving, businesses had no choice but to close, and subsequent storms forced employees to remain home either because of poor travel conditions or snow days for their children. While Allen Falcon, the CEO at Cumulus Global in Westborough, understands that those won't be the most productive days, it's critical to not have to reschedule important meetings and to keep the work flowing. The latest crop of office tools helped during these snowstorms, showing that companies could provide uninterrupted service. Office management products — including Google Apps for Work and Microsoft Office — already have the communication lines built in that most offices need to function. The addition of various cloud-based operating systems within businesses not only provides off- site storage, but also remote access to documents. Mobile phone applications, such as free video conferencing through Skype and cloud storage from Dropbox, help round out the remote working field. "The instant messaging provides the instant 'hey, quick question' informal communication," Falcon said. "The vid- eoconferencing lets you put a human face on it and see the body language." Falcon's company specializes in set- ting up companies and organizations with cloud-based operations, so the storms put his company's products to the test. Through the use of the Google suite — which includes Hangouts, an application that allows chatting via typ- ing or videoconferencing, along with document sharing and a cloud phone system that can direct calls to an employ- ee's personal phone — working from home becomes a preferred option to some during inclement weather. The lawyers at Mirick, O'Connell, DeMallie & Lougee, based in Worcester, have become accustomed to working from home, making the snow days throughout February "seamless," accord- ing to Executive Director Diane M. Power. Every lawyer has access to the files they need through the company's Citrix remote-access system, allowing them to get work done anywhere using either their laptop or smartphone. "It allows folks to access our systems just as if they were in the office," Power said. "They can get access to everything they need — their documents and spreadsheets." Both agreed that being accessible and retaining in-office levels of availability are key during the snowy months. While some local clients may be closed, it's important to be available for others who are working, and technology is often the key to those con- nections, Power said. But all the technology in the world is useless if a plan is not in place for these emergency scenarios. Creating and testing remote-access pro- >> Continued on Page 14 The higher your deposit accounts and outstanding loan balances, the more you could get back! ACTON | CHELMSFORD | FITCHBURG | GARDNER | GROTON | LANCASTER | LEOMINSTER | LUNENBURG | ORANGE | TOWNSEND We gave back over $ 2,500,000 of our fi nancial success to members in 2015! The is in business. Find out how much your business accounts could pay you: GiveBackCalculator.com workerscu.com | 978-345-1021 | of our fi nancial success to members in 2015! is in business. Live or work in Massachusetts? You can become a member. The is in business. is in business. BY SAM BONACCI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer Allen Falcon, CEO of Cumulus Global in Westborough, says business should have clear policies on how inclement-weather workdays will be handled.

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