A family of Microsoft relational database management systems designed for ease of use.
I wish it were that simple, Daniel. In large corporations, there are levels of management you have to present your suggestions to & they approve. If they don't approve, you don't move forward, and you have to come up with other options. Also a key question from mgmt is usually "What's the ROI on this idea ?". If they don't like your answer, again you don't move forward.
Saying you won't use their VPN to log in because Access doesn't work well with VPN's is not an acceptable position. You have to work within your company/corporate environment, whether large or small. And as you know, some environments are quite political, so it's not just about your preferred technical option.