Along with all businesses, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must now cater for teleworkers and employees working flexible hours. Unlike corporations, however, they lack in-house specialists or sophisticated communications solutions.

Wherever they are and whatever their working patterns, people must always be contactable by colleagues and central offices. Mobile phones are essential, but workers also need fast, secure and reliable access to company applications and databases.

Few SMEs have the time or expertise to find and implement the most beneficial solution. Even if they have the knowledge, they may find it difficult to get the right services at the right prices.

Joining forces to negotiate with operators can be productive. "Small companies can use group buying power to get deals similar to large corporations," says Paul Sherman, communication adviser at MEUC, a British buyers' club for utilities. "As part of a telecoms deal, companies can save up to 50 per cent on call charges. Corporate rates can be negotiated for all business calls made at home and administration time saved by automatically directing bills to the company."

Analysys, the IT research consultancy, calculates that approximately 99 per cent of all European companies employ fewer than 250 people, yet these companies account for almost 55 per cent of the turnover of all enterprises. Recognising the potential of this largely underserved market, operators are now targeting SMEs by developing innovative solutions and technologies at affordable prices and making it easier to manage teleworkers.

Neil Strenge, head of European marketing at Primus, the UK telco, believes SMEs need flexibility. "Competitive success depends on price and flexibility. SMEs should have services on-demand for teleworkers and secure communications channels for people working at home and away from offices," he says.

Given the lack of internal resources, SMEs might consider outsourcing communications to a telco or Application Service Providers (ASPs). Outsourcing saves companies from investing in or maintaining their own systems. SMEs can negotiate fully managed and scaleable solutions and integrate flexible workers into office voice and data networks.

Tobias Poensgen, joint managing director of Unica, a UK integrated service provider, believes outsourcing is beneficial. "SMEs are experimenting with teleworking. Outsourcing can eliminate the time taken to manage communications systems and deliver the best value using the latest technologies," he says.

Connecting teleworkers to company data networks efficiently depends on the availability of local broadband networks. Although not yet widely available outside the US, high-speed xDSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and cable modems are rolling out. Incumbent operators are launching different packages of 'always on' ADSL (asymmetric DSL) at speeds sufficient for most teleworkers. Depending on their location, most teleworkers are still limited to dial-up or ISDN which can prove expensive as both are charged on a per-minute basis. Nick Ruczaj, business manager for 3Com UK, believes the unknown cost of per minute tariffs is a fear factor for SMEs: "Broadband will change that because it is 'always-on' and charged at a flat monthly fee, giving SMEs predictable bills and making it more affordable to budget for home working," he says.

"SMEs can link branches and teleworkers by creating a virtual private network tunnel through the public internet to create a virtual backbone. Services now are fairly basic and data centric, but when Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is available it will enable more of a virtual office."

BT is developing a one-stop-shop solution for SMEs wanting to connect teleworkers. Jon Furmston, marketing director for SMEs, explains: "In a leasing deal for single PC users we will configure, install, connect the system and ensure it works. SMEs can also get a small office LAN (Local Area Network) to which teleworkers can be added."

Teleworkers can obtain fast access via satellite or wireless networks. Elliott Mueller, chief executive of Tele2, a UK wireless operator, says: "High prices excluded SMEs from the leased line market. With wireless, they can connect multiple locations and get data rates scaling to 1 megabit per second (Mbps)."

Manufacturers are testing equipment to enable virtual broadband offices. Steve Fenn, technology manager at Nortel Networks says: "Broadband equipment is being developed to create fast access and secure tunnels through the internet to company intranets. Users' IDs and passwords can be embedded in a SoHo (small office/home office) router which, once the office PBX and server are configured, provides an Ethernet connection so the remote desk looks like any other in the office."

Unified messaging is a sophisticated method of routing live calls to any pre-determined telephone number and voice, fax or e-mail messages to one in-box which can be accessed from fixed or mobile devices, websites or telephones. Text-to-speech technology is used to read text messages over telephones and all messages can be re-directed either to phones, fax machines or e-mail addresses.

"SMEs with workforces split between different offices or homes or with mobile workers can configure the service so all users can access all their messages wherever they are within a secure environment," says Ian Roberts, chief executive of UK-based e-go systems.

"Companies rent the service on a per-seat basis as and when required. They can opt for a fully managed service with different layers of security. All existing numbers can be replicated on the system and linked into appropriate mailboxes."

Tim Harris, owner of one company and director of three more, uses unified messaging from UK company Hitoori to create a virtual office. He sees it as the ideal way to control his businesses without worrying about where anyone is.

"Each company and user has a different in-box and password. Phone, fax and e-mails are directed to one box and messages can be forwarded to different equipment. If one director is busy, calls are automatically rerouted to another. Call directions can be easily changed on a website."

Consolidating all mobile devices, including two-way pagers, into one system can save money in the long term but may require up-front costs. Using Tetra, the public mobile radio standard, British operator Dolphin Telecommunications creates a nationally available mobile extension of the corporate network via the PBX.

"SMEs are charged a flat monthly fee and calls are free between group members with reduced tariffs for calls to the office," explains Nigel Rodliffe, Dolphin's head of marketing and communications.

Teleworking is a significant driver for broadband roll-out, which spells opportunities for operators. "Enabling remote offices is a killer application for xDSL which is not being pushed hard or properly deployed," says Tim Johnson, principal analyst at Ovum, the IT research company.