Modern-day businesses can find it incredibly challenging to exist without having a digital or online presence. As the competition grows more robust, business owners are keen to establish themselves on the internet, allowing themselves to attract larger audiences.
But having an online presence brings a severe risk of data breaches. Interestingly, even the tech giants like Apple, Twitter, and Meta have been victims of cyberattacks in the last year. As a result, business owners are now keen to ensure their online privacy by opting for a business VPN.
How a Business VPN Is Different from a Personal VPN
Business VPN helps businesses to run over a Virtual Private Network. It allows business organizations to connect with their remote workers and multiple branch offices sharing resources, data, and tools for smooth workflow without compromising information privacy.
Business VPNs use perimeter security models that provide a virtual network to employees, which they can access through a public or private connection from anywhere. This is the difference between a personal and a business VPN. The employer maintains a business VPN, and access is typically limited to business-related applications and websites.
On the other hand, a personal VPN is best for accessing apps and data of your choice. Often, users prefer VPNs to hide their identity and evade geographical restrictions on certain websites.
Types of Business VPNS
Business VPNs have two types based on how users get access.
- Site-to-Site VPN – Provides access between two or more networks. It’s best for private traffic, and companies with multiple offices frequently use this VPN.
- Remote Access VPN – Provides network access to remote users while encrypting the online traffic to secure information on the network. It prevents data tampering and interception from providing online privacy to businesses.
The Value of VPN for a Business
A VPN can be valuable for any business. Here are some of the ways VPN helps firms.
1. Improved Online Security
The primary function of a VPN is to provide online privacy to the user. Business VPNs do so by deploying trusted remote servers. When an authentic user shares their credentials with the server, it verifies the identity and encrypts all the information it receives from the user.
As a result, valuable business information becomes encrypted, which protects it from theft, hacker attacks, and spying agents over the internet. Compared to a regular network, a VPN can amplify online security for businesses, preventing hefty financial losses.
2. Controlling User Access
Access control is one of the significant benefits of a VPN. It determines who can connect to the network. It’s an ideal option for business owners who don’t want unauthorized users to access critical business information.
A VPN runs a three-step process that involves:
- Identification or verification of a person or application.
- Authentication of the person. Typically, VPNs use passwords for user authentication.
- Authorization of controlled access to the user, based on their role in the network. It typically involves the username and IP address.
Based on the organizational hierarchy, there can be various levels of access control and permissions for each user. Therefore, it gives business owners more power to decide who gets access and to what extent.
3. Save Costs
Since VPNs can help users connect virtually anywhere, communication is faster and more efficient. Hence, managers don’t need to make long-distance phone calls; they can use free online conferencing tools like Zoom, Skype, etc., over a secure network connection.
Moreover, business VPN solutions are affordable, so it doesn’t cost businesses too much to secure their resources and valuable online information.
Therefore, when business owners spend less on online security, they can invest more in their marketing and other areas to maximize their profits.
4. Providing Remote Access
VPNs have become a handy option for businesses as the trend for remote work continues to grow. That’s because VPNs make accessing networks and resources for remote workers easier.
Generally, home-based networks aren’t as secure as business networks. So, when an employee wishes to access the business network, they must ensure complete safety and privacy of information. Hence, a VPN ensures that authentic users can access the company network without compromising security.
Business owners can safely share their information with remote employees over a secure and encrypted channel. Hence, it ensures that the business runs smoothly even if the workers aren’t physically available at the office.
Besides remote access, it’s also great for businesses with a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy. Regardless of the type of device and operating system, every authentic user can connect to the business VPN server safely.
Secure Client Data
A data breach of a client’s information can be fatal for any business. Therefore, when enterprises collect client information through online forms and other tools, a VPN ensures that the data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
More importantly, when businesses use dedicated VPN tools for their clients, it also brings more credibility and helps earn the client’s trust.
Conclusion
Business VPNs ensure data privacy, cost reduction, access control, and client privacy. Thanks to different access techniques, VPNs have helped businesses grow substantially without compromising their online privacy.
