Company: Dragon Computer Remarketing Ltd.
Location: Hampshire, UK
Industry: Computer Brokers
Number of employees: 15
Product in Use: GFI WebMonitor™ for ISA Server
The British company Dragon Computer’s core business is the supply of new and second hand computer equipment and parts to the maintenance and computer repair industry. Initially established to supply IT hardware and parts Dragons business has expanded to include a wide range of services; supply and distribution of parts, repairs, remarketing, asset management, consultancy and distribution. When the company saw an increase in the use of excessive, non work-related browsing that was negatively affecting service levels, they decided to install GFI WebMonitor to monitor and control browsing during office hours, block access to certain websites and maintain a log of websites visited.
The internet is a great business tool and the majority of organizations today consider access to the internet a must for employees. At the same time, if employees are spending too much time browsing the internet during working hours – often looking at sites that are far from related to their job – there is a risk of cyberslacking, loss of productivity and increase in security threats.
John Bromley, Director of Dragon Computer Remarketing Ltd. has no doubts that the temptation to browse the internet is strong for some employees and certain websites could (and do) lead to time-wasting.
“The company realized that we needed to address the problem. There were issues of bandwidth consumption but more than anything I really felt the need to protect my network from users who were accessing websites that were not productive to the business,” he explained.
This is, unfortunately, one of the downsides to opening access to employees during office hours. There are a number of security risks involved. While management can turn a blind eye to employees checking out social networking sites, they would not take kindly to an infection from malware or spyware that could result in downtime, loss of business and even credibility.
“The company did not want our employees to spend excessive time browsing non work-related sites that could then impact negatively on the quality and quantity of work that they do or the level of service we provide to our customers.”
The solution was to install web monitoring software that would allow Dragon Computers to monitor and manage internet access throughout the organization. The company decided to go for GFI WebMonitor for ISA Server after trialing the software on its server.
According to Mr. Bromley, two elements stood out – its price and features. “We tried the trial version of the product and were pleased with the performance and the features. The decision to go for a full version was also based on the price which was just right, as it’s within budget for a small-sized business such as Dragon Computer and also includes support.”
During the free trial period, Dragon Computer took the opportunity to test GFI WebMonitor and they noted that it integrated well with their existing setup, came with the features and provided the results that they needed. Passing the trial period with success, the company did not feel the need to try out other products.
Mr. Bromely said that the GFI WebMonitor “installed easily on the ISA Server, and although it did slow it down slightly this was not enough to cause a problem” or “remove from the efficiency of the product”. With the product installed, the company started to notice an immediate positive impact as employees were spending less time browsing and more time doing their required tasks.
“We seem to do more business as the staff don’t spend all day surfing the web,” Mr. Bromley said, adding that the software is cost-effective and designed and sold with the budgets of small to medium-sized businesses in mind; “therefore Dragon Computer could afford the solution that in turn helped us to save money by increasing productivity and bring back hours lost through unproductive browsing.”
Apart from managing and monitoring the human aspect, through using GFI WebMonitor the company was also able to secure the network by preventing users from downloading attachments from their personal emails, which may contain viruses or content that is not permissible in the company. If viruses were to enter the system this could cause havoc and lead to downtime and stop work processes costing the company money.
Moreover with GFI’s web monitoring software, the company mitigated any legal problems that could arise from illegal downloads or illicit website access which could lead to lawsuits. Mr. Bromley said that the company has a duty towards its staff to provide them with a safe work environment even in terms of visual imagery: “our legal responsibility is to protect the staff from seeing or accessing pages and images that may be offending.”
“GFI WebMonitor provides the perfect solution in an easy-to-manage product. The results were immediate, and there was more productivity from the staff thus giving us the results that we were after. It does what is says on the box and is a cost effective solution.”
For more information about GFI WebMonitor visit: http://www.gfi.com/webmon
April 2009