Keeping your employees connected to people and information anytime, anywhere is a big step toward making your business more efficient. And it's especially important for small and medium-sized businesses like yours.

"Individuals in a small or medium business are much more critical to the overall business than individuals in larger companies," according to Jan Dawson, research director of Ovum Research. "If the general manager is out of contact or cannot access company resources for an extended period of time, this can seriously damage a small business."

To help employees reach the resources they need, many companies are turning to unified communications, which brings together all voice and data communications on a single network. With a virtual private network (VPN), employees can securely connect to your network, even when working from home or on the road.