With the increasing use of social media, there is greater demand in organisations for having clear policies and solutions in place around Internet access monitoring and filtering. Many organisations that were not so strict about their employee’s internet access policies have started rethinking about their decisions in the recent times. This is mainly due to the increased addiction towards social media sites by people of all groups. Mainly organisations will have two options, either they can keep the internet open and have strict/clear policies in place for restricting the internet usage of its employees or they can completely block all the websites which they feel is not required for their business operations. As the latter option is more convenient and beneficial for both the employees and employers, organisations are showing more interest in having web access monitoring and filtering software’s in place.
Though web access monitoring and filtering go hand in hand, technically they are different. Web access monitoring mainly deals with the monitoring of the websites visited by the employees, monitoring the incoming and outgoing emails and monitoring the files which are being uploaded and downloaded. Web Filtering mainly deals with blocking the websites or domains which are not related to the business goals of the organisation. Both web access monitoring and filtering can help the organisation in many ways. Let’s have a look at the four major advantages an organisation can get by using web monitoring software and filtering solutions,
Increased Productivity : If the employees are spending more time in accessing the websites which are not related to the business interests of the organisation, they it sure to bring down the productivity of the resources and will have an effect on the organisation. So, when websites which are not related to the company’s business are blocked by using a web content filtering software, employees will invest their time in the office by doing things which are only related to the business interest of the organisation and thereby resulting in the increased productivity.
Better Security : The security risks associated with browsing/accessing unsecure sites can be greatly reduced by allowing users to access the sites which are only related to that organisation business interests. Though it may cause a bit of inconvenience for the employees, it will help the organisations by making them not to compromise on the security aspect.
Higher Bandwidth : If more and more employees engage in uploading/downloading files or in streaming the video content, then it will surely affect the internet bandwidth. Reduction in bandwidth may affect the employees who may be using the internet for business interests of the company. So, by having web access monitoring and filtering solutions, organisations will be able to offer constant or higher bandwidth all the time.
Financial benefits or Better ROI : By restricting the employees from accessing websites which are not related to the business interests, organisations can reduce the usage of the internet and thereby the costs associated with it. So, this will have a positive impact on the financial results of the organisation.