How to effectively communicate from 3 offices?
February 15, 2009 12:35 PM Subscribe
I am in a job, shared by 3 entities and I therefore have 3 offices, 3 voice mails, 3 intranets and 3 email addresses. I cannot forward all phones, or all emails, and cannot read some emails at some offices. I need to check all emails, since automated systems send things there. Can people give me suggestions on how to work effectively in this situation?
Office #1: Has email with POP, IMAP and web-based capability and is forwardable. I would like this to be the one I send most messages from since it is my primary employer. I can log in remotely with VPN if I need to. I have no computer in this office, but bring my laptop (I also have no printer in this office and need to ask the secretary to print anything for me). I cannot forward the phone in this office.
Office #2: This is the one that makes things difficult. I can only connect to the network using one of their computers (so not my laptop). I have one computer here and do not have administrative privleges on it, so I cannot install anything. They block all outside email and email websites (including office #1 email, as well as gmail, yahoo, etc.). I can log into office #3's intranet & email from this computer. I cannot forward this email. I can forward this phone. My secretary is employed by this company and only has a computer on this network, so I need to use the shared drives on this network to get things to her (or email everything, which is a pain for collaborative documents). I also need to keep the outlook calendar up to date so she can schedule meetings for me. I use Google calendar and manually sync it twice a week. This email is on an outlook server and I can check it over the web, but it does not have a POP or IMAP address, so I only check it through the web page.
Office #3 is where I spend most of my time and where most of my employees are located. I have a computer there plugged into office #2's network (for any port there, I can request it be activated to either the #2 or #3 networks). I also have a cable for the #3 network, which I plug into my laptop. All of my employees there are on the #3 network. This network does block ports so that I cannot use an email program in order to check all my emails. I check them through the (annoying) web pages. This email also does not allow forwarding. My phone here can only be forwarded to phones at offices #2 and #3.
Any suggestions? Thanks.
Office #1: Has email with POP, IMAP and web-based capability and is forwardable. I would like this to be the one I send most messages from since it is my primary employer. I can log in remotely with VPN if I need to. I have no computer in this office, but bring my laptop (I also have no printer in this office and need to ask the secretary to print anything for me). I cannot forward the phone in this office.
Office #2: This is the one that makes things difficult. I can only connect to the network using one of their computers (so not my laptop). I have one computer here and do not have administrative privleges on it, so I cannot install anything. They block all outside email and email websites (including office #1 email, as well as gmail, yahoo, etc.). I can log into office #3's intranet & email from this computer. I cannot forward this email. I can forward this phone. My secretary is employed by this company and only has a computer on this network, so I need to use the shared drives on this network to get things to her (or email everything, which is a pain for collaborative documents). I also need to keep the outlook calendar up to date so she can schedule meetings for me. I use Google calendar and manually sync it twice a week. This email is on an outlook server and I can check it over the web, but it does not have a POP or IMAP address, so I only check it through the web page.
Office #3 is where I spend most of my time and where most of my employees are located. I have a computer there plugged into office #2's network (for any port there, I can request it be activated to either the #2 or #3 networks). I also have a cable for the #3 network, which I plug into my laptop. All of my employees there are on the #3 network. This network does block ports so that I cannot use an email program in order to check all my emails. I check them through the (annoying) web pages. This email also does not allow forwarding. My phone here can only be forwarded to phones at offices #2 and #3.
Any suggestions? Thanks.
Are you in charge of this stuff? Because what you need is some elimination of redundancy. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to both connect your laptop to each office's network and to check/read all of your company email. At least get VPNs between all the offices.
posted by rhizome at 1:50 PM on February 15, 2009
posted by rhizome at 1:50 PM on February 15, 2009
Skip front line help desk and go to the network admins at each of these companies. Explain the situation. Just because you can't forward e-mail and phones doesn't mean they can't (in fact all this is trivial from an admin perspective). Be nice, explain you know this is out of their normal requirements and that you'll get anything cleared that needs to be cleared if they can accomplish it technically. Also explain you won't call up at 3AM because you can't access the VPN that only the network guys use and one of them changed a key and forgot to include you on the e-mail. I think if you can VPN in on a common client (there's a 90% chance these are going to be Cisco VPNs), half your battle is won. Make sure you do something nice, so you'll be known as the guy who buys pizza for lunch and not the high maintenance asshole who complains to the president that their custom solution for accessing network shares (because they don't like to VPN) doesn't work when they're on an aircard on a yacht in the gulf of mexico and why can't you nerds just get this to work. But seriously, this is where you want to go to the networking guys.
posted by geoff. at 2:09 PM on February 15, 2009
posted by geoff. at 2:09 PM on February 15, 2009
It really sounds to me like it's a horrible setup that would be incredibly unproductive. Is there no way at all to talk to the IT managers of all your offices, to see what they suggest in order to make things easier? Or talk to your supervisors at all three places and work with them to get you set up in some other manner? At the very minimum, see if Office #2 can unblock the email of Office #1 and allow you to connect via VPN to Office #1's network.
I know that companies have systems in place that work for them, and some people won't make exceptions (like allowing you to plug your laptop in at all the offices, or to forward all the phones to your cell). But it's at least worth asking. And as your supervisor/s, it' should be painfully obvious that the current setup is making you less productive.
posted by gemmy at 2:20 PM on February 15, 2009
I know that companies have systems in place that work for them, and some people won't make exceptions (like allowing you to plug your laptop in at all the offices, or to forward all the phones to your cell). But it's at least worth asking. And as your supervisor/s, it' should be painfully obvious that the current setup is making you less productive.
posted by gemmy at 2:20 PM on February 15, 2009
If all of your email accounts are available via Outlook Web Access then you can get a blackberry and set it up to access those accounts. It would not synch calendars, etc. the way a company issued blackberry (with the blackberry enterprise server backend) does, but at least you'd be able to see incoming mail without powering up your notebook. Here's how. Before you buy one, you might want to find out if they've blocked it.
If any of the companies have a policy against this, don't do it - typically lockdowns like Office #2 (are these all the same company?) are for anti-malware or legitimate security measures rather than IT just being jerks.
posted by txvtchick at 2:24 PM on February 15, 2009
If any of the companies have a policy against this, don't do it - typically lockdowns like Office #2 (are these all the same company?) are for anti-malware or legitimate security measures rather than IT just being jerks.
posted by txvtchick at 2:24 PM on February 15, 2009
(Also, they haven't blocked it if they issue blackberries internally.)
And just to clarify, you'd buy your own blackberry and set it up to access all three accounts through your carrier, rather than getting a company blackberry. I don't believe you can set up a company blackberry, with a bberry enterprise server back end, to access email in three different organizations.
posted by txvtchick at 2:59 PM on February 15, 2009
And just to clarify, you'd buy your own blackberry and set it up to access all three accounts through your carrier, rather than getting a company blackberry. I don't believe you can set up a company blackberry, with a bberry enterprise server back end, to access email in three different organizations.
posted by txvtchick at 2:59 PM on February 15, 2009
I would ask each company whether they're OK with your forwarding email to one of the other company's servers -- this could cause legal hassles for them (i.e., if Office #1 gets sued and you have to provide their emails in discovery, but they're mixed up with Office #2's emails, you may wind up exposing Office #2's info in the suit).
posted by zippy at 4:36 PM on February 15, 2009
posted by zippy at 4:36 PM on February 15, 2009
Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions so far. These are not the same company, but they are related -- it's a university, medical school and hospital (I run a lab associated with, and funded by, all three). The hospital is the one with the locked down security, and they have patient confidentiality concerns since patient records are on the same network system. They are thus unyielding in their policies. The IT managers at the schools will work with me and are generally accommodating.
The Grand Central site looks like it's great for many applications. The phone actually isn't a problem really. The people who call my direct numbers are ones I'd generally rather deal with on voicemail, and important callers have my cell phone number. However, I can think of many situations when I might want a Grand Central number.
posted by DrJJ at 7:32 PM on February 15, 2009
The Grand Central site looks like it's great for many applications. The phone actually isn't a problem really. The people who call my direct numbers are ones I'd generally rather deal with on voicemail, and important callers have my cell phone number. However, I can think of many situations when I might want a Grand Central number.
posted by DrJJ at 7:32 PM on February 15, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by matty at 12:41 PM on February 15, 2009