Johannesburg, 22 Nov 2000
The dramatic increase in gambling and online trading web sites, together with the advent of bandwidth-intensive entertainment sites like CBS`s Big Brother, will adversely affect productivity in the workplace.
"Websense Inc, a software company that helps corporations manage employee Internet use, predicts that `Big Brother` may diminish corporate productivity and network bandwidth in the US by more than $54 million, and that online trading during working hours is costing corporate America $11 billion annually," says Gary Middleton, national sales manager of Dimension Data Security, which markets and supports Websense locally.
`Big Brother` follows 10 strangers who are disconnected from the outside world in a house equipped with 24 cameras and 59 microphones to record their every activity. Employees are streaming the 24-hour live Webcast through their workplace networks.
A version of the show that debuted last year in the Netherlands generated 52 million total page views, and similar shows drew more than 200 million viewers during a 100-day period in Spain and Germany.
CBS recently reported more than 1.4 million unique visitors hit the "Big Brother" site during its second week and a 214 percent spike in visitors occurred the day that the first cast member was voted off. Websense estimated the multi-million dollar figure based on the average visitor spending 15 minutes per visit.
"Employees are watching this show at work, where they can see live footage and use faster corporate bandwidth," says Websense CEO John B. Carrington. "Unfortunately, broadcast-style streaming video is extremely network intensive. `Big Brother` has the potential to crash corporate networks every day during its 100-day run."
Online gambling sites, which increased by 209 percent in one year, with an increase of 136 percent during the last six months, are also causing corporate headaches.
"The number of gambling sites on the Net has spiked from 6 992 in August last year to more than 21 651 as of August 2000," says Middleton.
According to Dr. David Greenfield from the Center for Internet Studies and author of Virtual Addiction, the increase in gambling sites could adversely affect the workplace in many corporations.
"Companies that provide Internet access to gambling sites may incur substantial employee productivity losses," says Greenfield. "In extreme cases, this may increase the potential for liability from the negative consequences an employee may incur - including compulsive gambling problems and financial losses."
Online gambling is one of the fastest-growing industries on the Internet, with annual revenues of $1.2 billion last year, an increase of 80 percent from 1998. It has the potential to become a $3 billion industry by 2002, according to Bear Stearns, a global investment bank.
Corporate America is also set to lose billions in productivity as online stock trading soars.
"Websense figures show that these sites have grown more than 800 percent in the last nine months - now totaling more than 13 000 on the Web," says Middleton. "While online financial sites are thriving, corporations could be feeling a dent in worker productivity as employees check and adjust their personal portfolios on company time."
Websense`s estimate of a $11 billion annual loss is based on the average worker spending 30 minutes per week on stock trading sites at work.
"Employees are taking advantage of greater bandwidth in the office to get streaming information from Wall Street," says Middleton. "While they may be making money off the markets, they`re effectively moonlighting at work."
According to Forrester Research, more than 7 million investment accounts will be handled online in 2000, up from 5.4 million in 1999.
Websense tracks 67 types of Web sites in categories ranging from `entertainment` to `gambling` to `pornography`. The company provides demographics on Web content to its customers - primarily mid- to large-sized corporations - so they can monitor traffic patterns of users on their networks.
"It`s critical that every organisation establish written Internet use policies to define inappropriate workplace Internet use," says Middleton. "To enforce these policies and to reduce the risk of legal liability, a company should also automate its acceptable Internet use policies with Web filtering software, such as Websense Enterprise."
Share