Track Your Employees With A Desktop Remote Monitoring Service

When left unsupervised, many employees who have desktop access to the internet spend hours each day surfing the web. They waste countless hours that could be devoted to working do everything but work. Because of this, your business may be loosing considerable amounts of profits due to lost productivity. But there is an effective way to get that productivity back up, and that is through a desktop remote monitoring service.

Chances are that you have already tried various tools and methods to encourage your employees to not use the internet for personal reasons. However, they did not help and you just ended up wasting your money. You might run a business where internet access is vital and cutting service is not an option. Furthermore, blocking websites with filtering software can have negative results when your employees are also blocked from sites they need to be able to access.

Your next choice may be a desktop remote monitoring service. With this type of service, professionals are able to monitor how much time your employees are devoting to being productive and how much time they are spending doing non-work related activities on the internet. Additionally, these services also monitor when your employees access websites that can be harmful to your network or if they are potentially leaking confidential data.

There are many tools available to choose from. Some things that a business owner needs to consider are the cost of the services, what is monitored, and how the data that is being monitored is accessed. Monitoring internet usage can be a full time job for one or more people, so the employer also needs to think about the additional manpower and resources that will be needed.

Remote monitoring software prices have dropped considerable over the years as technology has become more affordable. Some basic software can be found online for free, while other advanced programs can be quite expensive. Outsourcing to an online service gives you freedom from worrying about purchasing the programs, software licenses, or upgrades.

Next, you will need to determine the level of monitoring that you need. Basic programs simply keep lists of the websites that your employees accessed without providing much amplifying data. Advanced programs provide greater detail and usually include in-depth activity logs. Some programs even offer keystroke loggers and can capture emails for additional security.

There are two primary ways that data is remotely monitored. The most secure method is to have computer personnel monitor the information directly from the network. This prevents the data they monitor from being leaked to the internet. However, this would require that you hire employees who are skilled and may be too costly. On the other hand, outsourcing to an online monitoring service is much more economical, but all of the data is at risk to being intercepted by potential adversaries to your company.

Regardless of what type of service an employer ultimately chooses, they have the legal responsibility to inform their employees that their activities are being monitored. In many places, not making your employees aware of this constitutes illegal search and seizure and employers can be sued, fined, and even imprisoned. Having employees sign a legal document stating that they consent to monitoring is a simple way of informing them of monitoring without violating their rights.

Desktop remote monitoring services are an excellent way to increase productivity and ultimately profitability. Keeping track of employee productiveness is already difficult, but remote monitoring makes it a little easier. And the increased profits may even pay for the monitoring services.