The Benefits of Starting A User Activity Monitoring System

Benefits of User Activity Monitoring

If you’re on the fence about starting a user activity monitoring system across devices or networks, you’re probably wondering if it’s worth the investment, or if you should just be more trusting of your employees. After all, you don’t want them to feel like they’re being micro-managed or taint their opinion of management.

The truth is, effective employee monitoring, or user activity monitoring (UAM) improves productivity and network security, provides an understanding of user behavior, allows for accurate billing, and brings issues to light.

Make workers more productive

Deploying UAM software can boost employee performance. Just knowing they are being monitored can positively affect your employees’ online activity. Maybe they’re not intentionally wasting time on non-work-related internet searches, and just being aware that someone can see their activity will make them think twice about their browsing activity.

Additionally, it allows leadership to get an accurate picture of processes and make suggestions for improvement. UAM provides concrete data on user activity, rather than subjective opinion, to help with effective decision-making.

Mitigate insider threats

A strong firewall and secure network can keep hackers out – but what if they’re already in? UAM can help you detect insider threats to your sensitive data. The average organization experiences 4 insider leaks each year, costing $16.3 million annually – which is 12 times more than the cost of external attacks.

With so much interaction (people, devices, systems) with sensitive data, your users are a huge liability. Though 87 percent of insider leaks are unintentional, such as clicking on a malware link or attaching the wrong file, the threat remains. User activity monitoring allows organizations to catch dangerous activity before a leak, or at least in time to minimize the damage.

Establish a behavior baseline

Nobody is completely productive 100% of the time at work. People take breaks, and most have some non-work matters to deal with occasionally during the workday. User activity monitoring lets employers establish a baseline of user behavior so they know what is reasonable to expect when it comes to their employees’ internet usage.

With a baseline, leaders can approach those who are abusing internet usage and work to find a fix. On an individual basis, if a certain user’s behavior changes drastically, this could be a warning sign and UAM software can alert IT to investigate further.

Plus, understanding what your employees do online helps you better understand them. You can communicate expectations, and even partner with HR to make sure benefits packages are in line with things that are important to workers.

Accurate billing

If you know conclusively where your employees’ time is being spent, you can bill your clients with improved accuracy. If a client questions the invoice, organizations will have data from a UAM system to support the bill. This ensures both parties are getting fair treatment – your organization isn’t accidentally under-billing, and the client is confident the charge is valid. It also protects your reputation and your bottom line.

Spotlight issues

Our research shows that user activity monitoring software can reveal serious problems within your organization. 20% of users surveyed, said the UAM software they deployed revealed sexual harassment issues among employees and 5% said drug abuse issues were brought to light. In these situations, monitoring actually protects employees, because an organization can quickly address the dangerous issues. Some issues may never surface to HR, but with user activity monitoring, the problems can be quickly resolved.

Additionally, 11% of surveyed organizations said user activity monitoring made them aware of underutilized software. Knowledge like this can lead to a change in employee education to focus on program basics, or can lead to adjustments in software spending to help the bottom line.

Boost your business

With so much freedom network access brings and so much sensitive data at stake, employee monitoring is becoming a necessity for the modern business. You can protect your assets, improve your business, and understand your employees better by investing in user activity monitoring software.