Activity Tracking

There are many reasons why companies are tracking their employees computer activity. While increased business use of the internet has resulted in many new opportunities, it has also opened the door for more potential misuse of company equipment. It is possible for employees to send personal e-mails from their workstations, conduct on-line shopping expeditions, access online games, or spend time on social networking websites or other sites that have nothing to do with their work responsibilities.

What is Activity Tracking Software?
Open access to the web is a necessary tool for any company but also gives some employees the opportunity to engage it behavior that is inappropriate, illegal, or that can jeopardize the security of the company. Employee misbehavior on the internet can add up to both a waste of money and less productivity for a company. It can also lead to serious liability risks.

Employers have the right and responsibility to track employees computer activities. Because the workplace owns the equipment, the company can set the ground rules for how computer stations should be used. Many companies already have official policies against using company workstations for anything unrelated to company business. However, with multiple employees, monitoring how people are using computers can be quite a challenge. That is where activity tracking software can really make the difference.

How does it work?
Most activity tracking software can monitor several computer users at once in real time, and it does that by compiling statistical information on the applications and documents employees have used in addition to the websites they have visited. It can even block devices to prevent the use of certain websites or applications. To get data and prevent further access, the tracking software act as a blocker, recording complete URLs for a browser, application usage time and compiles the data into convenient statistics, blocking users or machines by their IP address.