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Introduction
Employee Monitoring is a revolutionary corporate productivity
analysis tool. Employee Monitoring monitors and records
all activity on a customer's network, including all Web
surfing, email, and instant messaging, in order to provide
management with detailed information regarding employee
performance. Employee Monitoring allows management to
simply and quickly assess employees' time and company
resource usage in order to determine individual efficiency
levels and increase overall productivity. Employee Monitoring
helps to mitigate costly liability and litigation risks,
target destructive Web behaviors, deter intellectual property
and internal data theft, and identify wasted resources.
In effect, Employee Monitoring is non-invasive Internet
monitoring to achieve greater corporate security, efficiency,
and profitability. Top
The Company
Employee Monitoring is a software program that seeks to
fill the increasing need of small business for simple
and effective Employee Internet Monitoring (EIM). More
than 409 million employees worldwide will use the Internet
at work by 2005, up 137 million or 67% over just a two
year period 1. With such a sharp increase in the number
of employees utilizing the Internet in the workplace,
corporate management is fueling the increasing demand
for EIM as they search for a simple, yet complete solution.
Few sound solutions are currently available for small
business. Most products priced for small business typically
fall under the category of spyware. Most decent solutions
for the enterprise cost in the range of thousands of dollars.
While there are many Employee Internet Monitoring (EIM)
products on today's market, they are generally too expensive
for small business and require too much technical expertise
and time to install and maintain. Employee Monitoring
overcomes both of these obstacles by providing a complete
solution that is much simpler to install and maintain,
and at more reasonable pricing.
The Employee Monitoring project initially began in January
of 2002. It has had several test releases over the past
year under various names. One such release, LineTap, has
been downloaded over 1,800 times in less than ten months.
Employee Monitoring version 3.0 is currently finally ready
to go as of August 18, 2003. Top
Mission Statement
Employee Monitoring is a technology company specializing
in Internet surveillance for small business and mid-sized
networks. We recognize management's need to be responsible
for activities occurring on their networks. We understand
the myriad and serious challenges associated with Internet
access in the workplace. We provide the necessary tools
to transform employee Internet access from a liability
into an asset.
Our goal is to be the number one employee Internet monitoring
solution provider to small business in the world. We also
aim to provide our shareholders with a substantial return
on their money.
We believe that the Internet can be a highly effective
tool for business, or conversely, that it can lead to
lost productivity and law suits, depending on how it is
managed.
We believe in assisting individuals and organizations
globally to enjoy greater responsibility, stronger freedom,
and increased productivity through the Internet. Top
The Product
Employee Monitoring allows employers and managers
to determine at a glance if employees are wasting company
time and bandwidth by surfing the Internet for personal
interests, viewing inappropriate downloads or Web sites,
or illicitly transmitting proprietary secrets. Employee
Monitoring is so easy to understand, operate, and deploy
that companies do not need in-house IT personnel for its
installation, operation, or maintenance.
While many Internet monitoring and filtering products
watch just Web surfing (only one port out of 65,000),
Employee Monitoring records incoming and outgoing emails,
instant messages, Web searches, downloads, and Web surfing
through any IP port. Employee Monitoring combines the
simplicity of brute packet sniffing with the ability of
robust, enterprise grade Employee Internet Monitoring
suites, to create a very cost-effective and capable solution.
Employee Monitoring's™ unique advantage lies in its
ability to provide comprehensive Internet monitoring simply
and quickly. Employee Monitoring tracks the use of the
most highly used Web applications, like Real Player, QuickTime,
Morpheus, KaZaa, the four primary instant messaging programs,
email, and much more. Few programs are capable of tracking
all such activities.
The SEC recently began requiring financial firms to keep
track of all correspondences regarding their clients of
certain categories. For many financial firms that includes
correspondences in the form of instant messaging. To fill
this need approximately three main companies that provide
instant message monitoring and logging have developed.
Their systems start at $10,000 to $15,000 and go higher
based on the number of users, and also require annual
subscription fees of up to 30%. Their systems are not
only costly but also rather complex to install and operate.
Employee Monitoring similarly monitors and records all
instant messages, including usernames and passwords, and
the conversations from both participants. Employee Monitoring
performs equally well for email as well. Employee Monitoring
targets time usage inefficiencies, spots activities which
are against policy prior to their becoming crises, and
tracks spyware and hack attempts on the network, all at
much more reasonable costs than other solutions. Top
Internet security company CSI statistics state that 70
to 80% of all security breaches occur from within the
organization. Content monitoring can monitor for and stop
the accidental or intentional disclosure of a company's
Intellectual Property, confidential information or other
non-public content that can be accessed or disclosed electronically.
Screenshot of Employee Monitoring while in use and getting
set-up examples are available at:
http://www.employeemonitoring.net/getting-started.asp
One of the greatest advantages of Employee Monitoring
is that it doesn't need to run on a separate server, but
rather can run on a standard workstation that is simultaneously
performing other tasks.
Employee Monitoring fills an under-penetrated niche in
the market. Most products in the EIM market sell for several
thousand dollars, require network and server training
for installation and maintenance, and are therefore too
complex for management's own use. Employee Monitoring
on the other hand sells at prices that small business
can afford, and is simple enough for management to use
personally.
Another central difference between Employee Monitoring
and other products for business is that Employee Monitoring
strictly monitors without any filtering or blocking of
Web sites. Most solutions consist of at least some content
filtering, which causes problems because, due to current
technological challenges, they all too frequently block
legitimate sites while allowing other prohibited sites
through. Employee Monitoring offers a different philosophy:
users can access any content so as to avoid the above
referenced problems, however any Web application used,
file downloaded, message sent, or Web page visited is
recorded and can be recalled at any time by management
so that the appropriate disciplinary action can be taken.
It is estimated that 3 to 5 million Web sites are newly
established or renamed each week, making the collection
and storage of accurate data virtually impossible. Some
providers of site blocking technology, however, claim
greater than 90% accuracy in database tracking of Internet
sites, a claim that is highly improbably based on the
shear volume of new and renamed sites. Site Blocking blocks
vast amounts of good data along with the bad. Site blocking
technology focuses only on HTTP based Web traffic, leaving
other applications such as instant messaging, e-mail,
e-mail attachments, and other applications. Site Blocking
conveys to users that if they find inappropriate sites
that are not blocked then it's okay to use them. Top
The Director of Network Security at a large university
privately admitted that their content filtering solution
from one of the market leaders only blocks about 70% of
prohibited traffic, and that they have no monitoring solution.
Therefore, three out of ten prohibited pages make it through
the filter and they have no means to see who, when, or
what of these disallowed activities.
Due to the complexity of low level packet networking and
programming, most monitoring products use outside, unproprietary
program code for their foundation. Employee Monitoring
however, was developed completely in-house and all of
its code is fully proprietary.
In order to view the full program's functionality, you
are welcome to download a version of Employee Monitoring
from: http://www.employeemonitoring.net/download.asp
Please keep in mind that it only operates on any version
of Windows 2000, 2000 Server, or XP. Also, if the network
is switched, then any inexpensive hub is required to connect
between the router and the switch, and also connect from
the hub into the PC running Employee Monitoring. A detailed
user's manual, complete with diagrams and troubleshooting
information, is being finalized. For
more information on the required network topology, please
see the graphic entitled Hubs vs. Switches.
What Makes Employee Monitoring
Unique -Comparison to other EIM
Employee Monitoring will likely have significantly higher
profit margins than its competitors because its deployment
never requires a field technician for installation or
service calls. Because its development was conducted on
such a limited budget, Employee Monitoring is a very competitive
product by means of a low initial investment relative
to its competition. Moreover, all of its sales, billing,
and even distribution processes are nearly fully automated
and occur via the Internet. Top
New Releases
New releases of Employee Monitoring are planned for six
month cycles. Each subsequent version will include new
features and added capabilities. Net TimeManager™,
a module of Employee Monitoring, is planned but not yet
in development. Net TimeManager™ will have an even
greater focus on time management for increased individual
and corporate productivity. Net TimeManager™ will
be pushed through time management training channels.
Ultimately a line of content filtering products may be
desired. Technological and business planning for filtering
products have been partially developed, but product development
has only been started. Top
Regulatory Issues
The only regulatory issue of note involves privacy laws.
Generally courts in the United States have ruled in favor
of the employer in a strong majority of cases brought
by their employees suing over privacy rights regarding
Employee Internet Monitoring. As long as employees are
monitored during their hours of employment and on the
company's computers and network, the courts predominantly
rule in favor of the employer.
Sean Monson, of the law firm Manning, Curtis, Bradshaw,
and Bednar, is a frequent lecturer on employment law.
According to Mr. Monson, in order to avoid any legal liability,
employers in the state of Utah should inform employees
that they will be monitoring their Internet activities
and that action may be taken based upon what is discovered.
Legal precedent would suggest that in any case, Employee
Monitoring would not be liable for having provided the
monitoring tool regardless of the owner's use of it.
The Employee Monitoring team is working with its patent
attorney in order to protect all patentable concepts and
processes related to the Product. The team has worked
with their attorney, as well as another Salt Lake patent
law firm, for other patent filings before.
The Company facilities and operations headquarters located
in
downtown Salt Lake City: Westgate Business Center Top
The EIM Market
News, analysis, and research data and statistics that
indicate the growing market for EIM are listed below.
IDC estimates that the worldwide market for EIM software
increased from $62 million in 1999 to $214 million in
2001. IDC further predicts that the market will grow to
$655 million by 2005, which is an increase of $593 million
or 1056% over six years. From 2000 to 2005, IDC predicts
the following annual growth in international EIM markets:
United States, 30 percent; Europe, 43 percent; Asia/Pacific,
68 percent; and the rest of the world, 39 percent. 1 Top
A niche segment of the network security market, EIM, is
rapidly growing, especially when it means recouping potential
lost productivity, which cost businesses an estimated
$357,000 per company in 2000, according to an industry
survey. The EIM market is fueled by the increasing use
of the Internet as a workplace resource and the concomitant
risks associated with access to the vast Internet. Companies
in this niche say their products help improve employee
productivity, conserve network bandwidth and lessen potential
legal risks. 2
Analysts say the EIM market is large, growing, and under-penetrated.
In 2000, there were an estimated 200 million workers using
the Internet at work, according to research firm IDC.
By 2005, that number is expected to cross the 500 million
mark, an increase of 300 million employees. 2
Driven by the growth of Internet-enabled employees, the
EIM market segment is one of the fastest-growing in the
Internet security sector and is expected to be a near
$1 billion market by 2006, according to IDC. 3
A recent IDC study reported corporate email volume is
expected to double by 2006, from the present level of
31 billion a day to 60 billion - leading to an increased
need by corporations to manage this form of employee communication.
3
News, analysis, and research data and statistics that
indicate the growing need for employers to monitor their
networks are listed below.
This past August, about 46 million people in the United
States went online for personal reasons from work, according
to eMarketer.com. 4
Workers spend 8.3 hours a week surfing non-work-related
sites, according to the Harris Interactive survey of 305
employees and 250 human resources managers. 5
According to the American Management Association, 27%
of Fortune 500 companies have battled sexual harassment
claims stemming from employee misuse and abuse of corporate
e-mail and Internet systems. 5
NFO Worldwide states that 70% of employees admit to viewing
or sending adult-oriented personal e-mail at work. 5
IDC estimates that 30% to 40% of employee Internet use
is not work related. 5
Hollywood and the recording industry have recently begun
applying pressure on corporations to deal with employees'
illegal downloading of copyrighted material internally,
or be prosecuted by the RIAA. 9
One Arizona company recently settled with the RIAA for
$1 million because of its employees' unlicensed downloading
of copyrighted material on the company's network. 8
In 2001, 60.7% of employees surveyed said they visit Web
sites or surf for personal use at work (up from 50.7%
in 2000). The number one reason employees give for the
Internet causing them to be being less productive at work
is the time they spend surfing sites that are unrelated
to work. (UCLA study on Internet/E-Mail use) 6
Secret monitoring by the U.S. Treasury Department of Internet
use among Internal Revenue Service employees found that
activities such as personal e-mail, online chats, shopping
and checking personal finances and stocks accounted for
51 percent of employees' time spent online. The top non-work
Web activity favored by IRS employees was going to financial
sites. Chat and e-mail ran a close second, followed by
miscellaneous activities (which included visiting adult
sites), search requests, and looking at or downloading
streaming media. 6
70% of all Internet porn traffic occurs during the 9-to-5
workday (SexTracker). 6
According to a survey conducted by the consulting firm
Dataquest, a division of the Gartner Group, 82% of U.S.
business executives believes Internet use should be monitored
at their companies (InformationWeek Online). 6
The desire to boost productivity and keep confidential
information secure are compelling businesses to take a
closer look at the way employees use technology. Still,
some businesses don't monitor workers' use of technology.
Sometimes, companies assume that there isn't a problem,
but they're often surprised by the degree of employee
misuse when they finally use monitoring software (Gartner
Group). 6
Instant messaging is one technology prompting increased
monitoring as its use in the workplace grows. Instant
Messaging use in U.S. companies grew from 2.3 billion
minutes in September 2000 to 4.9 billion minutes last
September, according to research by ComScore Media Metrix.
"There's still concern that it's a largely unmonitored
channel," says Jonathan Penn, a Giga analyst. (InformationWeek
Online). 6
Countless situations like these are increasing the necessity
and urgency for corporations to take responsibility for
the activities occurring on their networks, and thereby
also increasing the demand for Employee Monitoring.
Please do not hesitate to contact
our team with any question or problem.
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