Employee monitoring software: The Top four Monitor how your staff uses the computers

Employees should be free to do their jobs at office without any restriction. However, the employers must ensure care as and when the employees use office computers. They have to keep track of the computer activities of their employees every now and then. This becomes all the more significant in case the organizations deal with sensitive data. This information is required for ensuring the effective functioning of an organization’s processes. This is where you would realize the importance of employee monitoring software. This software provides information as to how an employee uses the office computers.

Data tracking depends upon the quality of the employee monitoring software used. Usually you would be able to track the applications used, websites visited, and emails sent. You would also be able to check whether the employee tampered with the system settings or changed the location of device and so on and so forth. The above-mentioned activities are common features. A good quality employee monitoring software should be able to track much more. You should be able to identify and set things that require tracking. In addition, you should be able to receive instant notifications should any infringement take place. There are certain social media sites that require blocking. File sharing should be restricted to the minimum. Similarly, the use of external storage tools such as pen drives and hard disks requires exercising control.

The software should have a provision of a management dashboard wherein one can view these infringements. The software should generate timely reports. Every organization should be able to decide which software is applicable to them. Before finalizing the package, you should ensure that the software is in tune with the requirements of the organization. This article looks at four such software systems.

SpectorSoft, founded in 1998 and having offices in Florida, Utah, as well as Surrey, UK, has a customer base of around 36000 corporate customers and more than 900000 home users. It is a recipient of many awards. It offers log monitoring as well as smart phone monitoring and tracking software solutions. Its product Spector 360 not only detects and deters inappropriate employee activity but also gives a detailed report of the same.

It operates on both the Windows as well as the Mac platforms. It uses a unique keyboard detection and snapshot taking software to deter employees from straying across the line. It can also track every email sent as well as received. The key board logger program can track what is typed. It can monitor chats and messages too. It provides a detailed report of websites visited, online sites searched, files transferred, and applications used. In short, it can monitor all network activity. The software records the activities on a remote computer for viewing and analyzing later on through a selection of graphs and patterns.

The software can produce more than 50 different reports of employee activity. You can block certain sites based on your requirements. It allows for pulling up of erring employee over inappropriate use based on the reports generated by the software. You can plug data leakage. Frauds are easily detected thereby improving the efficiency of the organization. The software also has a provision where you can keep a watch over the checkers too. Proactive coordination between HR departments and other employees are some things that this software can provide.

The Company claims that its iMonitor Employee Activity Monitor (EAM) software is not only powerful but also used by thousands of organizations all over the world including companies such as Siemens. The main objective of the software is to improve employee productivity and maintain corporate confidentiality. iMonitor EAM allows organization to monitor a maximum of one thousand computers from a single centralized server.

This software enables you to monitor activities such as key strokes, clipboard activities as well as screen shots taken. The software can also detect document activities and websites visited. It can give a detailed report of online searched conducted by the employee as well as provide network usage time. One additional feature is that you can set up ten different monitors to detect employee activity and set real time alerts for specific activities if necessary. The software also enables you to block removable storage devices.

You can filter access to websites. One more feature sis that you can control a computer remotely by using its webcam for viewing the surroundings. You can generate real time reports of the activities and use the same to improve the efficiency of the organization’s systems and procedures.

Launched in 2006 by EfficientLab LLC, more than 1500 companies use this software. You can measure the punctuality of the employees and track their movements as well. This software allows you to set flexible policies in order to control the work time as well as free time of the employees. There are three main uses of the software. This software can control web usage, surveillance and work time tracking. You would be able to access data about the distribution of an organizations’ web traffic between its users, computers, groups, as well as departments. You are also able to filter websites that employees cannot have access.

There is a provision to inform users as and when employees access such sites. You can also issue notifications to such employees when they do so. By using the surveillance facility available in the Work Examiner, you would be able to keep a watch over what a particular employee is viewing at any point of time. You can also capture all emails and filter them as and how you like. You are also able to record instant messaging activities. You can keep a continuous watch over how the employee is spending his time, at what time he arrives, leaves, and see the websites that he visits during the time spent at the computer. You can also set up blocks for specific sites for specific employees.

There is a difference between normal companies and Governmental organizations involving national security issues. Such organizations require a higher grade of security measures. Awareness Technologies, formed in 2002 to provide such stringent security measures, boasts a clientele including Cabinet level agencies, law enforcement agencies, major corporations, and hospitals as well as schools. According to Company’s statement, the Sonar employee-monitoring tool is high quality security software and compares with the best in the industry. You are able to monitor all emails, and messages including the typed keystrokes.

You can view the documents accessed, applications used, and websites visited along with other such data. The main advantage of this software is that you can do this silently without the employee having any idea about it. As with other similar software, you can block applications and restrict access to certain websites. It has a unique key logger program that can track keywords typed as well. According to the company, it can work proficiently in both the terminal server as well as the Citrix environment.