The internet is such a huge and useful resource. However, not all websites are useful for a company and many of which can actually waste time and cause security issues. A site such as Facebook is not exactly useful when your employees are wasting time scrolling through their feed instead of working. This means that a lot of companies have taken the step and introduced web-filtering technology to stop this sort of activity. With an effective web filter in place, a company can increase its productivity and security in a number of ways.
Restricting Access Keeps Employees Focussed
When a company goes to the effort of restricting access to certain sites, they see employees spending far less time on non-work-related sites. This is especially true when they block access to social media sites. IT professionals estimate that as many as 58% of employees spend approximately four hours a week on non-work-related sites when this activity is not blocked. And as much as 26% of employees waste over seven hours a week on non-work-related sites. This means that a lot of time and money is lost to unnecessary internet activity. Even if a company only restricts one non-work-related site, non-work-related activity drops significantly. If all social media sites were blocked, non-work-related Internet activity would drop again. Taking away this temptation is a great way to increase productivity and keep staff focused on the job.
Improved Network Security
Across the internet, there are approximately 18.5 million sites that have some sort of malware infection. If an employee clicks into one of those sites, you run the risk of infecting your network with malware, which has the ability to steal data and use up your processing power. You can obviously teach your employee how to be aware of dangerous websites. However, a better approach would be to introduce Content filtering to enable you to block any malicious sites out there. This will definitely reduce your chance of an infection.
Enhanced Network Efficiency and Reduction in Costs
A business will usually invest a lot of money in business technologies that are designed to cater to the customer’s needs in the most efficient way. However, if an employee is busy wasting time looking at non-work-related sites, this will inevitably put extra, unnecessary strain on your network. Cleanly video streaming is an activity that uses a lot of data meaning that your network slows down so that it can keep up with all this demand. If you set up content filtering can stop employees from doing these sorts of things.
No More HR Nightmares
If you do not have a filter in place, a member of your team could potentially view inappropriate material, and this can cause offense and make you vulnerable to lawsuits. It is possible that someone walks by when offensive material is being displayed on someone else’s computer. Unfortunately, this could result in HR receiving a complaint. This is something that has to be resolved immediately; otherwise, potentially, you could have a lawsuit filed against you. A content filter can resolve this issue for you before it rears its head.
