Remote work continues to be a widely accepted alternative to the traditional office setup. It has enabled organizations to boost productivity, reduce costs, and, most importantly, access and collaborate with the best talents overseas. 

Tools like virtual private networks (VPN) have allowed companies and their international teams to produce meaningful work without network interference and cybersecurity threats. These programs have created and supported seamless processes despite the significant distance between workers. 

Read below to learn more about VPNs and how they can help your company and its international team members. We will provide you with benefits, buying considerations, and more.

What is a Virtual Private Network?

A VPN is a digital tool that enables users to get a secure and private connection between their devices and the internet. This is possible by creating an encrypted tunnel redirecting online activity and data through a secure server. This tunnel protects browsing histories, personal details, and other crucial information from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and other third parties that may access such data, some of which may use the sensitive details they gather for malicious activities.

Generally, a VPN hides a user’s IP (internet protocol) address by rerouting the network to a remote server run by a VPN host. An IP address is a unique number combination or identifier assigned to a specific device on the internet or a local network. 

A VPN server is configured to protect online users from the entities mentioned. It would be useless if someone manages to acquire data since a VPN scrambles such information, making it look gibberish to outsiders.

How VPNs Benefit Remote Workers

VPNs benefit companies and their international or remote employees significantly. Here are some critical advantages of employing such a program in different processes. 

Protecting crucial company and personal data

Remote workers conduct most of their tasks online, putting them at greater risk of data breaches and other similar attacks. Unfortunately, there are cases where they access their personal and company data in public places like coffee shops, malls, and airports. Public Wi-Fi networks are generally unsafe because they often lack encryption, leaving data and devices in such spaces vulnerable to hackers. 

Meanwhile, even your internet connection at home can become a gateway to common hacking attacks like phishing, malware, and data breaches. That means without proper protection, online traffic, passwords, and other sensitive information can be accessed by unauthorized parties. 

With a VPN, remote workers can safely access their personal and company information without the risk of data breaches and other attacks. That means they can open all their business accounts anywhere on any network.

Accessing location-restricted content

One of the many challenges remote workers may face is accessing location-restricted websites. Some websites today often have geo-blocking due to licensing agreements or censorship.

Usually, this restriction applies to select countries, blocking residents from accessing the site’s content and services. This is a problem for international employees who want to expand their research by accessing resources outside their homes. 

Geo-blocking depends on a user’s IP address to gauge their location. With a VPN, employees automatically replace their current IP addresses with no location-based restrictions, allowing them to access a website and its entire content or services.

Preventing bandwidth throttling

Bandwidth or internet throttling occurs when an ISP deliberately slows down its internet speed. One of the most common reasons they do this is network congestion. This is when many users in a specific location simultaneously use the internet, sharing the available bandwidth in their area. ISPs do this to ensure that all users achieve a stable performance even at a slow speed. 

On the other hand, an ISP may impose data caps on their users. That means they implement throttling to users once they exceed their allotted data limit, encouraging them to stay within their allocated data usage. 

Regardless of the reason, bandwidth throttling is a significant issue that could interfere with a remote employee’s tasks. Through VPN encryption, users can mask their IP addresses from ISPs, making it less likely for them to experience bandwidth throttling. 

Seamless collaboration

Finally, a powerful VPN helps international employees work seamlessly by providing secure remote access to company systems and databases. Because of that, remote team members can produce meaningful work without interference from location-based issues. This is what allows companies to collaborate with talents outside their countries.

Factors To Consider When Choosing a VPN

A powerful VPN can help international remote workers boost their productivity and ensure better collaboration with their team members. Today, there are various VPN options available in the market. To help narrow your company’s choices, we’ve listed below some of the best factors to consider.

Security and privacy

A quality VPN must offer numerous security protocols to help remote employees gain secure and private access to websites and applications everywhere. 

Aside from encrypting IP addresses, a quality program must provide security features like a no-logs policy, where the VPN doesn’t record any online activity. It must also offer two-factor authentication to prevent outsiders from accessing the network. 

Moreover, a robust VPN must offer an integrated kill switch to elevate the program’s security further. If the VPN connection is suddenly disrupted, data within the server could be compromised. With a kill switch, a VPN can detect this sudden downtime and terminate interrupted programs. Doing so reduces the likelihood of any crucial information leaking. 

Meanwhile, some quality VPN providers offer built-in malware protection, giving extra layers of security to their users. Employees can arm themselves against threats like phishing, malware, and harmful downloads through this feature.

Server locations

Among the many crucial factors when selecting a quality VPN is location. The ideal program must have a broad geographical reach to significantly influence the VPN’s encrypting performance and ability to bypass geo-blocking. 

A VPN with a vast server network can allocate traffic more effectively. Because of that, it can reduce the risk of server congestion, offering faster and more seamless connections. It can also help users transfer their IP addresses to different countries to access geo-restricted websites.

User-friendly features

Tools like VPNs can be overwhelming to non-tech employees. For all users to maximize the power of VPNs, the right program must have user-friendly features. It must have an intuitive interface that allows users to navigate and activate the program easily. 

Some VPNs automatically select the best servers for users in one click. Meanwhile, others provide users with an interactive map to choose any desired server. These helpful features make using a VPN easy and must be on your checklist.

Speed and performance

Encrypting internet traffic through a tunnel and to a server may slow down a user’s internet speed. That means the ideal VPN program must offer excellent speed and performance to handle such a task seamlessly. 

An excellent VPN product must have many servers and high bandwidth limits to accommodate as many users as possible and maintain optimal performance. It must also allow users to choose the proper VPN protocol that offers high speed and security. VPN protocols determine how data is channeled between one device and a VPN server. 

Pricing and plans 

Pricing is crucial in buying or subscribing to a VPN plan like any other product. Not all programs available offer the same security, privacy, speed, and other features. The key is to compare different options in the market and gauge if their prices make sense for what they’re offering. Just because a program has a hefty price tag doesn’t always mean it has all the critical features of a VPN. 

Make sure to include the factors mentioned above, too. If you want your international employees to get the most out of your chosen VPN, you must ensure that you provide the best features for them.

Empower Your International Employees 

Remote working has become much more secure thanks to programs like VPN. With VPN, team members abroad can collaborate seamlessly with everyone at headquarters.

Choose the right VPN platform with excellent security, privacy, and network performance. Remember to select the one that will provide your employees with the best security and protection, regardless of location and device.