In this brave new world of IM, e-mail, and YouTube, how can IT managers protect their networks, ensure productivity, and still have happy employees?
The IT manager at Vienna, Va.-based C2 Technologies was frustrated. So many employees were downloading viruses that the company's networks had slowed to a crawl.
One of the likely sources of the viruses was the company's instant messaging system. It was impossible to determine who was IM-ing relatives in Thailand and who was IM-ing a client about a project. So the IT manager did what he figured was the next best thing: He brought the IM system down.
"Everyone screamed at him," said Dolly Oberoi, C2's CEO. "He had to bring it back on. But he's still looking at ways to control it. It's hard to find a clean way."
In an environment where it's common for employees to surf the Web and download software apps at will, viruses and high network traffic are frequent occurrences, and security breaches are a risk.
The network usage adds up. Employees may be e-mailing and IM-ing clients and friends multiple times a day, checking out their friends' latest YouTube videos, watching work-related video tutorials or demos, shopping online, and using any number of Web apps to do their work. That's when networks can start to creak.
For Whom The Network Tolls
Managing what employees do on a company's network turns IT managers into tightrope walkers, perched precariously on a fine line hovering over issues of security, loss of productivity, and network overload on one side, and employee trust, morale, and retention on the other.
Some companies take the approach of Edinburg, Texas-based First National Bank. Its senior VP, Brent Rickles, said the bank's policy is to be as restrictive as possible when it comes to network usage. This means that none of its 40 employees can install software on their own, all e-mail servers -- besides the company's -- are blocked, YouTube and similar types of sites can't be accessed, and there's no IM-ing allowed.
"I don't want my customers to read that one of my employees used their Hotmail account to send out someone's bank balances," said Rickles, who added that while security is the main reason for the restrictive nature of the company's policies, productivity is a side benefit.
"I've been other places, and I've seen people doing a lot of personal stuff and wasting time," he said.
Setting A Network Policy Is Tough
C2's Oberoi would tend to agree that instant messaging is incredibly distracting. "It's similar to a phone ringing nonstop. E-mail is also distracting, but instant messaging is worse," she said. "But it's an excellent communication tool."
She should know. Part of the reason why her IT manager had to bring the IM capability right back up was because it was the only way to communicate with one of C2's larger clients. "He preferred [IM] to phone and e-mail, and we were in a fast development cycle with them," Oberoi said.
Oberoi said she can see the impact instant messaging has on the quality of work of some of her employees -- especially those who have relatives overseas -- but she has not yet formulated a policy on the tool. "Do you allow it for personal use? How do you control it? We strategized with ways to limit IM for personal use but we couldn't [do it]."
Next Page: Enforcing A Network Policy Is Tougher
