Secure Remote Access for New Jersey Small Businesses
Quick Summary for Business Owners
- Lifeline Technology Solutions now provides remote access directly, so support and billing come through your IT partner.
- ScreenConnect lets you use a computer in your office from anywhere. It costs $5 per user per month.
- Cloud Secure Edge lets laptop users reach office files and drives without a traditional VPN. It costs $100 per license per year and requires a SonicWall firewall.
- ScreenConnect requires multi-factor authentication. Cloud Secure Edge only accepts connections from approved laptops, so a password alone isn’t enough to get in.
- Both are available to businesses whose computers are on Lifeline’s monitoring software, which includes our managed IT clients.
If you check the office computer from home at night, or someone on your team works from home a couple of days a week, you’re relying on remote access. For a lot of small businesses, that runs through a separate tool with its own account, its own bill, and its own support line.
Most of the time you don’t think about it. The problem comes on the morning it won’t connect and you’re waiting on a vendor to call back. Lifeline Technology Solutions now offers secure remote access directly, so it’s supported and billed by the same people who look after the rest of your IT. Below we explain the two options, how they work and what they cost.
Why separate remote access tools cause problems
Most remote access problems we see come from how the tool is managed, and that’s usually outside an IT provider’s control.
We can’t fix what we can’t access
When the tool belongs to another vendor, we can troubleshoot the basics. Anything beyond that means contacting the vendor on your behalf, and sometimes asking for your personal login to that account. That adds time to every fix.
Billing sits with you
If a card on file expires or a payment is missed, access can stop without warning. You may not find out until you try to connect from home and can’t.
License minimums push the price up
Other remote access tools can cost several hundred dollars a year for as few as two licenses. Many vendors also sell licenses in fixed steps. If six people need access and the next step is ten, you pay for ten. For a larger office, that can run to well over $1,000 a year.
Choosing secure remote access for your office
| How you work | Option | Price |
| You connect to a desk computer at the office from home or on the road | ScreenConnect | $5 per user per month |
| Your laptop is your main computer and you need files on your office server or mapped drives | Cloud Secure Edge | $100 per license per year |
If you’re not sure, we can look at how your team connects today and recommend one.
ScreenConnect: use your office computer from anywhere
ScreenConnect lets you open your office computer from your home computer or laptop and work on it from there. Your files and programs stay on the office machine.
Through Lifeline Technology Solutions, it’s an add-on to your existing monthly plan.
- One bill. $5 per user per month on your Lifeline invoice, billed monthly with no long-term commitment.
- No license minimums. You can start with a single license and add people as you need them.
- Multi-factor authentication on every account. A password alone isn’t enough to sign in.
- Support from us. We manage the software, so we can fix problems without going through another vendor.
- Automatic updates. ScreenConnect runs in the cloud and stays up to date as part of the tools we already manage for you.
ScreenConnect runs alongside the monitoring software already on your Lifeline-managed computers. That’s why we can offer it for less than you’d pay buying it on your own.
Cloud Secure Edge: reach office files from your laptop
If your laptop is your main computer, what you need is a safe way to reach files and systems on your office network, such as a file server or mapped drives.
Most small offices handle this with a VPN (virtual private network). A VPN creates a connection from your laptop into your office network. It’s a common setup, but a VPN has some weaknesses that attackers have learned to use.
- VPN login pages can be reached from the internet, which makes them a frequent target for attackers. That includes attacks on flaws the vendor hasn’t fixed yet.
- If an attacker gets in through a VPN, they can often move from there to other systems on your network, including your servers.
- The older type, called SSL-VPN, is being retired. Firewall makers have started removing it from their products because attackers have targeted it for years. If your office still relies on one, you’ll need to replace it at some point.
Adding multi-factor authentication to a VPN helps, but it doesn’t remove these risks.
Cloud Secure Edge uses a model called zero trust. In plain terms, no device is trusted by default, and every connection has to show it’s allowed.
- No public login page. Cloud Secure Edge is designed so your network isn’t open to outside login attempts.
- Only approved laptops connect. The service accepts connections only from a laptop with the Secure Edge app installed. The service is designed so a stolen password on its own can’t be used from another computer.
- Access is limited to what each person needs. You can allow someone to reach one shared drive without opening the rest of your network.
Cloud Secure Edge costs $100 per license per year and requires a SonicWall firewall. We’ll check that your setup works with it before you sign up. Like any security tool, it’s designed to reduce risk, and it works best as part of a wider security setup that includes regular updates and staff training.
How to get started
If you’re already a Lifeline client, call us or mention it to your technician. We’ll confirm which option fits how your team works and add it to your plan.
If you’re not a client yet, either option can be added once your computers are set up on our monitoring software. We work with businesses across New Jersey, from our offices in Cranford and Clinton.
Remote access is part of our network support service. You can also view our plans and pricing or read our guide to cybersecurity for small businesses in New Jersey.