A lot of people suffer from the misconception that businesses inherently have their own hardware and VPN resources. For many businesses, purchasing their own hardware to facilitate VPNs for their mobile employees isn’t a viable option due to the high cost of hardware resources. This couldn’t be truer of small and medium sized businesses that likely lack a large IT support staff and have a very small IT budget.
But the fact remains that these businesses need a way to access information securely so that one hacker, thief, or information leak doesn’t ruin their business. This is especially true in a global setting, and today more and more professionals are taking their careers on the road than ever before. Just take a second to think of the dangers that are posed when an employee is running around the world and accessing corporate resources that are sensitive in nature. How many foreign ISPs and governments would have an opportunity to see that data before it reaches its intended destination?
Furthermore, of the businesses that already have their own infrastructure equipment, it may not always be appropriate for an employee to build a VPN tunnel to that device. There are many reasons that a business would want an external VPN solution to protect their employees and data on the go including:
- Security testing – many times organizations want to block entire countries’ IP addresses from accessing their equipment, and a VPN tunnel will allow them to use an IP address from a foreign location to verify that their security is working.
- Management considerations – if a small team of employees are working remotely and an organization doesn’t want to allow IP addresses from that country to access their infrastructure, a VPN service that allows multiple accounts is extremely attractive.
- Traveling considerations – Some employees travel so frequently that it would be cumbersome to try to block or allow each and every country they visit from their infrastructure. In these cases, a VPN tunnel back to the country where the business is based is extremely beneficial.
Regardless of the size of your business or your motives for purchasing a VPN, one thing remains constant: your employees need to access data securely and you just can’t do that without a VPN. If you are thinking about getting a VPN service, consider this list of VPNs for business use:
Best VPNs for Business
VyprVPN – Complete Review
VyprVPN is based out of Switzerland as part of the Golden Frog company. They have been around awhile and have made quite a reputation for themselves. Though they cost a little more than some of the other alternatives, their service is excellent. As a business, their web interface will provide you with a page to manage user accounts. You can also choose roles for these users accounts such as a regular user or an administrator. Furthermore, each user that you add to your account can have concurrent connections on one mobile device and one desktop device. In addition, they will give your employees access to over 700 servers located in over 40 various countries. All in all, they do a great job of making their service available to businesses.
ibVPN – Complete Review
Invisible Browsing VPN offers a business solution that is a little more expensive than some of their competitors, but the fact remains that they still offer a reliable and fast VPN service. Essentially their business class service will offer most of the same features as their ultimate package, and it will provide features such as P2P file sharing capabilities and DNS services. But two extra benefits to businesses is the opportunity to first try out their services with a 2-day free trial. Furthermore, they offer a 15-day money back guarantee.
Private Internet Access – Complete Review
Private Internet Access makes the best VPNs for business use list on the grounds that they provide an extremely reliable service and there are incredibly inexpensive. Each user would only cost $3.33 per month when you purchase a full year subscription, and each user account will allow up to five devices to access the VPN at the same time. They offer PPTP, OpenVPN, and L2TP/IPsec connections and they don’t keep any logs of your traffic. Lastly, they have a network of over 3,000 servers that will give your employees access to VPN connections in over 21 countries.
ExpressVPN – Complete Review
ExpressVPN costs more than most of their competitors and a single user account can cost $8.32 per month when you opt for a full-year subscription – but we think they provide such a strong and reliable service that they make the cut. Their network has matured over the years to provide you access with servers located in over 80 different countries, and they are always expanding. Plus, their customer support is fantastic and will help you out 24/7 to make sure that you don’t run into any configuration or connection issues. Lastly, they even provide you with a 30-day money back guarantee to ensure that you are happy with their service.
PureVPN – Complete Review
PureVPN is the last pick on our list, and we think they are a good fit for businesses looking to secure the data of their employees. Based out of Hong Kong, PureVPN will allow each account to connect up to five devices at the same time. They also offer phenomenal 24/7 customer support and they offer connections to over 500 VPN servers located in 141 countries around the world. Lastly, their service is very reasonably priced at $4.16 per month – making them a cheaper alternative than some of their competitors that charge nearly double the price.