How to handle staff Internet shopping on company time
06 Dec
It’s coming up to Christmas, everyone just got paid and now they’re about to eat up company time spending the money they earned from you – on your time. OK, this sounds very cynical but it’s a common challenge for IT managers.
In fact the challenge is getting bigger. Of 1,400 CIOs polled, 60% said their companies block access to online shopping sites. When asked the same question last year, just 48% of CIOs said their companies blocked employees from using company equipment to shop online*. That’s quite a hike.
As for the remaining CIOs who don't block access, 23% said they allow access but monitor activity for excessive use, 13% allow unrestricted access, and 4% don't know. The CIOs whose firms allow online shopping said they expect employees to spend four hours per week, on average, surfing for deals this Christmas*.
That’s quite a dent in your resource (we’ll let you do the sum depending on the size of your organisation), amounting, ultimately, in expense for your company.
We’re not here to tell you how to manage your company’s culture. If you have a hard-line on personal Internet usage enforce it – there are tools to help you do that as well.
Thankfully help is at hand in the shape of web blocker and URL filtering. We personally like WatchGuard’s firewalls to counter this problem. So what does it do and how can it help you to manage staff Internet shopping on company time?
This all certainly sounds like it takes the headaches out of policing Internet usage at work, right?
For more details on WatchGuard's webblocking features click here or contact us on 0333 101 6000 / info@watchguardservices.co.uk.
In fact the challenge is getting bigger. Of 1,400 CIOs polled, 60% said their companies block access to online shopping sites. When asked the same question last year, just 48% of CIOs said their companies blocked employees from using company equipment to shop online*. That’s quite a hike.
As for the remaining CIOs who don't block access, 23% said they allow access but monitor activity for excessive use, 13% allow unrestricted access, and 4% don't know. The CIOs whose firms allow online shopping said they expect employees to spend four hours per week, on average, surfing for deals this Christmas*.
That’s quite a dent in your resource (we’ll let you do the sum depending on the size of your organisation), amounting, ultimately, in expense for your company.
We’re not here to tell you how to manage your company’s culture. If you have a hard-line on personal Internet usage enforce it – there are tools to help you do that as well.
Thankfully help is at hand in the shape of web blocker and URL filtering. We personally like WatchGuard’s firewalls to counter this problem. So what does it do and how can it help you to manage staff Internet shopping on company time?
- Strong administrative control - Configure up to 54 web categories to stop the sites and web tools you most want to block.
- Daily incremental database updates - URL database is updated daily to give you the most current protection available.
- Flexible configuration - Configure web access by users, groups, domains, time of day, and department requirements to meet specific business and user needs.
- Customizable open-access policies - Create custom "Allowed" exception lists for certain web sites, host addresses, or URLs so you can keep mission-critical access open.
- Acceptable Use enforcement - Allows you to enforce your acceptable use policies to protect your business from legal liabilities.
- Centralised logging and reporting - Generate graphical reports of web access, usage, and time of day for the data you need to make security policy decisions.
- Intuitive management - Easy-to-use interface makes deployment and on-going management simple and straightforward, even for novice network administrators.
- Cost effective solution - Priced per appliance, one WebBlocker subscription provides network-wide protection for all users configured behind your WatchGuard Firewall.
This all certainly sounds like it takes the headaches out of policing Internet usage at work, right?
For more details on WatchGuard's webblocking features click here or contact us on 0333 101 6000 / info@watchguardservices.co.uk.
* http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/79233
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