For all the efficiencies the Internet brings businesses, one of the drawbacks is that staff often spend time visiting Web sites that are not work-related.
Some of the most popular sites for workers are entertainment-related and include anything from radio stations around the world to pornographic pages. Financial Web sites are also a hit with workers.
Anthony Southgate, general manager of Security Solutions at Internet Solutions (IS), says technology can help bring the browsing habits of staff under control.
"Our URL Filter Solution can be set up to filter different Web sites for different company personnel," he says.
"We can apply a database of more than 600 million Web pages in more than 75 categories to making sure that employees visit just the sites that are related to the work they do.
"This Web Sense database includes filters for MP3 audio files, gambling, shopping and adult content. Customers can block access, permit access, or control access by time of day, to specific categories in the database. These controls can be applied to individual users, user groups and networks," says Southgate.
New sites are added to the database daily and IS downloads updates to the database every night to ensure it is kept up-to-date.
"One of the main benefits of URL filtering is that it helps conserve network bandwidth by stopping users from browsing entertainment sites during working hours. Staff productivity can be boosted by monitoring and managing what can and can`t be accessed.
"At some companies, staff sit for hours and browse through pages that have nothing to do with their jobs. A filtering service gives tight control of a process that otherwise would be difficult to monitor," says Southgate.
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Internet Solutions (IS) is SA`s leading provider of infrastructure foundations for electronic business and the forerunner in providing companies with effective connectivity solutions.
At present, it connects over 1 500 organisations to the Internet and over 3 000 sites through its range of VPN solutions, thus forming the primary electronic business community in SA.
IS offers a fully managed environment together with expertise in areas such as Internet access, VPNs, hosting, dial-up, security and data management. Its best-of-breed infrastructure is without equal and has been the preferred choice of leading companies since 1993. As the Internet industry leader, IS is also dedicated to sharing its success with others by providing improved access to education and information to all South Africans, particularly previously disadvantaged communities.
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