In this digital age, access to the internet, whether it be in a professional, academic, or even a retail environment, is now a necessity – it is what makes makes everything run. In professional environments, the potential for internet misuse is quite prevalent hampering employee productivity with distractions including gaming, social media, instant messaging, etc. Apart from the productivity loss, these activities have a marked effect on network performance as resources are consumed by bandwidth hungry applications/services unrelated to work activities. As networks of all sizes are required to support integrated data, voice and video for business use, each will have the ability to impact the other and gaining visibility into that is critical for maintaining an efficient network.
With the right network traffic monitor software, IT professionals can easily monitor network performance and usage.
Productivity lost due to time spent online can add up very quickly for businesses. A recent Comscore study discovered that up to half of all online holiday purchases take place during working hours. Another report by IDC found that 40% of all internet activity during working hours is non-work related. The same report stated that up to 70% of network bandwidth is utilized by non-work related internet usage. In the case of the Comscore study, the average loss was approximately $14,000. The direct productivity loss is compounded by the additional traffic load that negatively impacts network and business application performance. Poor performing business critical applications lead to a frustrated and inefficient workforce and ultimately the network admin gets the blame.
A number of tools are available for internet traffic monitoring, from freeware to the very complex and associated high cost of ownership. The pure-play employee monitoring solutions typically require an agent to be installed on every PC that is to be monitored. These tools can provide highly detailed information into employee activity but generally lack the functionality to provide network traffic visibility and require constant monitoring to ensure non-work related activities are kept to a minimum. Web filtering technologies are another option that allow IT staff to selectively block access to specific sites and depending on the cost, give good coverage of network bandwidth monitoring capabilities. These tools are typically hardware based, fairly complex to deploy and have a total cost of ownership that may be beyond the reach of many SMBs.
Modern packet-based network traffic monitoring software offers yet another option for IT professionals who wish to monitor and manage the performance of their networks. Total traffic within the corporate domain can be monitored, for any device that has web-access, including BYOD. This type of software alerts the network administrator of any potential issues which may arise and compromise the efficiency of the network operations, including non-work related internet activity. Moreover, administrators have the ability to monitor all the various traffic classes, ensuring that their business critical traffic does not have to compete with non-work related bandwidth, thereby confirming QoS policies.
The Internet is here to stay and businesses need to find the balance of access for their users to ensure work related activities are optimized without making their employees feel stifled or that they are being watched by Big Brother. With the correct network traffic monitoring software, network administrators can monitor the traffic on their networks and ensure that the activity that occurs is appropriate and centered on the function or functions for which it was intended.
