The Internet is one of the best and most powerful information tools but it can be an enormous time sink if employees in the company have unrestricted Internet access. When those constantly on Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit and the rest are on the clock, that’s time and money they are taking away from the business! Providing users unrestricted Internet access is great, but not when it causes productivity issues. One way to deal with the problem is to manage and monitor access to the Internet so that you are efficiently using bandwidth, maintaining productivity and keeping employees happy.
Internet monitoring software works in a number of ways. Here are a few:
Time-based controls
When talking about productivity and the Internet, most people consider the time wasted when users go on social or recreational websites, so let’s start with that. Internet monitoring software can of course be used to identify and block this activity, but it can also be used to limit it while still letting users take a short break. A couple of minutes here or there, or permitting access during lunch but blocking access during other times, preserves morale while maintaining a productive workforce.
Blocking harmful websites
Harmful websites can severely impact productivity because they can infect computers with malware. These can cause reliability issues, computer slowdowns, and significant downtime while IT either cleans up the mess, or formats the drive and installs a new image. All of this takes time and costs your company money. A user’s productivity while IT is fixing their PC is essentially zero. Now imagine you have a company-wide malware infection. Internet monitoring software can block harmful or suspect sites and lower the risk of malware infections, keeping machines working and thus employees too.
Logging and reporting
You have an acceptable Internet usage policy, but how do you know if it is being followed or ignored? Internet monitoring software can perform logging of all activity, and generate aggregate reports on how your Internet circuit is being used. You can spot trends and address them before they become problems that could impact productivity.
Bandwidth controls
Even when users are accessing the Internet responsibly, even to do their jobs, Internet access can impact productivity. As more and more users stream media or download large files, bandwidth can be used up quite fast. The more users doing so, the greater the impact, especially on critical systems. Internet monitoring software can be used to limit the amount of bandwidth used, or the times when bandwidth-intensive activities can occur. This ensures bandwidth is available for critical systems, users can continue working and productivity does not suffer.
Everyone benefits when Internet monitoring software is used. The network is protected, employees can continue to browse the Internet safely and productivity is improved because users are happy. And your IT admin is happy too.
Learn more about the benefits that come with good Internet monitoring software, or just download a free trial to GFI WebMonitor and give it a spin!
