VPN solutions for businesses

Table of contents

What is a VPN?

Types of VPN solutions

Benefits of using a VPN for your business

VPN solutions for small businesses

Implementing VPNs into your business

Working with Focus Group

Whilst the always-online world has its perks, cyber threats are no laughing matter. Today, protection is paramount! Choosing the right business VPN is essential for safeguarding connectivity, supporting a mobile workforce, and enabling seamless interaction with digital services. But which solution solves your problem?

In this article, we’re diving into why VPN solutions for business matter, how they work, and what you should consider when selecting the best VPN for business.

What is a VPN?

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) creates a secure, encrypted tunnel between a device and a network, keeping your data transmitted across the internet protected against interception.

If we’re talking work, a business VPN allows your teams to securely connect to internal resources from anywhere – be it a home office or travelling.

For businesses embracing IoT devices and hybrid working models, connectivity is no longer confined to a fixed office. So, a VPN helps ensure the link remains private and under control, whether it’s sensors in a production facility, WiFi terminals in a retail space, or remote workers logging in from home!

Types of VPN solutions

There are several types of VPNs that businesses can use, each suited to different scenarios. Let’s explore some of the most common categories.

Remote-access

A remote-access VPN allows individual users (for example, teams working from home or on the move) to connect securely to a business network via the internet.

This type of connection is common for work-from-home, travel, and flexible working. It offers teams the ability to access applications, data, and tools as though they were in the office, which is a big plus when you’ve got distributed teams and multiple devices in play.

Site-to-site

A site-to-site VPN links two or more networks – like your head office and a branch office – over the internet, enabling each site to communicate securely. This is ideal for businesses that have multiple offices or operations across different sites and need to share resources as if they were on a single network.

Cloud

A cloud-VPN solution lets remote users connect back to the primary network securely. With network perimeters being more fluid today, cloud-based VPNs support flexible connectivity across evolving infrastructures.

SSL

Instead of installing a full VPN, an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) VPN allows secure access via a web browser, allowing teams to access specific applications or resources. This is a more lightweight option for occasional remote access or customer-facing connectivity, particularly in smaller setups.

Benefits of using a VPN for your business

Deploying a business VPN can bring several tangible advantages:

• Secure data in transit: Encryption helps protect sensitive business and customer data as it moves across the internet.
• Flexible remote access: Your employees can connect from anywhere and still access internal networks, supporting remote, hybrid, and mobile working models.
• Connectivity across sites: Site-to-site VPNs deliver a unified network across branch offices without requiring costly private circuits.
• Cost effectiveness: VPNs can often be deployed without physical infrastructure, making them accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes.
• Regulatory and privacy compliance: By controlling remote access and encrypting traffic, businesses are better placed to meet data-protection and cybersecurity regulations.

Whilst these benefits are big for business, it’s worth mentioning that VPNs are no silver bullet. A broader cyber security strategy is always worth mapping out to make sure every corner of your data and workload is secure.

VPN solutions for small businesses

If you're a small or growing business, you might have different priorities compared with larger enterprises. Maybe you’re moving fast or managing cost constraints, yet still want to ensure security and connectivity is top notch.

Here are key considerations for selecting VPN solutions for small businesses:

• Scalability: Choose a solution that can grow with you, whether adding more users, remote sites, or cloud connections.
• Ease of management: A simple dashboard, effective access control, and minimal manual configuration help reduce the burden on small IT teams.
• Flexible deployment: Cloud-based VPNs or managed services help avoid large upfront hardware costs and can be ideal for smaller operations.
• Support for modern devices: Ensure compatibility with laptops, smartphones, tablets, and smart devices.

VPNs are an integral piece of connectivity. Ultimately, the best VPN in a small-business context is one that delivers the right features without overspending and still allows for secure remote access and flexibility as your business evolves.

Implementing VPNs into your business

Integrating a VPN effectively means more than simply turning it on. That’s why we’ve created a practical roadmap that can keep you on track!

1. Assess your connectivity map: Decide which users, devices, and sites need access. Who requires remote access? Which branch sites need linking? Which cloud services must be connected?
2. Define access policies: Determine who needs access to what resources, under what circumstances, and whether from specific devices or networks.
3. Select the right VPN type: Choose remote-access, site-to-site, cloud, or SSL based on your needs (or a mix and match if that’s what you’re looking for!).
4. Choose a vendor or solution: Evaluate options based on scalability, ease of management, cost, security features, and support.
5. Deploy securely: Configure strong encryption protocols (for example, IPsec or TLS), enable multi-factor authentication, and ensure devices are properly maintained.
6. Consider connectivity and performance: Ensure that remote users and branch offices have sufficient bandwidth. Note that encryption and tunnelling can introduce latency or performance impact.
7. Monitor and review: Track usage, audit access logs, update policies, and amend as your business evolves.

By following these steps, you’ll ensure that your VPN solutions for business are not just implemented but embedded in a way that supports productivity, security, and flexibility.

Working with Focus Group

At Focus Group, we understand that connectivity and security are critical to your success. As a long-term partner and trusted strategic advisor, we are well placed to help you design, deploy and manage business VPN solutions tailored to your needs.

Whether you are looking to link branch offices, enable your remote team, or implement the best VPN for your business, our team offers:

• Expertise in selecting and architecting the right VPN type for your situation (remote-access, site-to-site, cloud, SSL).
• A holistic view of your infrastructure, ensuring alignment with cloud services, IoT connectivity, and broader security strategy.
• Managed services to keep your connections performant, up-to-date, and protected.
• Ongoing review and support as your business grows and your connectivity needs evolve.

Ready for the next step in your VPN journey? Get in touch today, and let us help you enable secure, flexible and future-proof connectivity across your entire business landscape. Contact our team here.