Remote access to laptop?

Tell them you want to telnet in, the will set it up for you on their end.

Joking aside this is the conversation you want to have with your IT team , depending on what that server is used for or where its positioned on the network will dictate what they will allow you to use. How did you connect when you were 100% WFH? Also what kind of software is it you need access to?

So there is one laptop setup with the CostX server installed, and when you're in the office, each of your own laptops can connect and work?

Do you bring your own work laptop home?

I think what you're actually looking for here is to VPN into the office network, so your laptop acts as if you were actually in the office?

You could also connect directly to the laptop which has CostX server setup on it, but this might be a bit messier for the IT person.

Either of the above can I think be done for free depending on what internet router you use in the office/home, but tbh I'm not sure how on your specific setup and license.

Finally, you could just leave your work laptop in work, and dial directly into it through Teamviewer or Remote Desktop. This might be the best stop-gap solution but could be slower, as it's transferring the full screen view the whole time and not just the data you need in the background. It would also mean that you need another PC/laptop at home to do that.

Can you access one laptop from the other?

OK< as I asked earlier, can you email the files to yourself so you can work on them offline?

Ask IT to sort it for you or you could end up fired.

AnyDesk is an alternative to TeamViewer and it works extremely well.

As mentioned above, don’t go solo on this - get guidance from your manager or owner on the best way for you to work remotely.

Forget about asking here and just ask your it department. You clearly need guidance.

Let everyone else argue, argue, debate, debate etc. Par for the course on Boards.

This is a 4 person company. There is no IT department.

You need a solution.

Have a look at splashtop. I used it for years to access my home machines from anywhere.

I even used it at home with both laptops next to me so that I could have a second screen experience.

Through secure well designed remote access systems

There is absolutely no way I'd use a third party remote access tool to access business applications on a private network. A VPN needs to be setup by IT to facilitate the remote members of staff, and if that can't be done in a reasonable manner due to a lack of staff, then remote working isn't an option within that company.

At the end of the day a VPN should provide the same level of access to the resources as a local user would have, except that the access is controlled by the company up to the level of the company security policy, and the user account can be terminated or have it's permissions changed as needed. None of the remote access tools provide this level of security control and you're effectively opening an unauthorised hole into this company's private network.

A VPN is now a core component of any network - any admin worth their weight in pretzels should be able to deploy a secure VPN and administer it to the company policy.

Exactly. How can a company expect to grow or thrive unless it's able to invest in the necessary resources to do so. That's called the cost of doing business right across the world.