NesterSoft WorkTime
While technology has provided a lot of great benefits to businesses and organizations, it has also caused a lot of headaches when employees get side tracked researching about irrelevant topics, joining the conversations on social networking sites, or watching the latest viral videos. With all that there is to do on the Internet, employees often get caught up in all of the fun and aren’t working as efficiently as once before. Not only that, but using the Internet for recreational purposes also puts a company’s network at risk for viruses or slower connection speeds that can immobilize a whole office. In order to combat this issue, many businesses find that employee monitoring software helps managers regulate what their employees are doing on company time and equipment. We have analyzed and reviewed today’s most popular Employee Monitoring Software Systems so you can determine which best meets your needs and can help you increase efficiency at work.
Read on to learn more about NesterSoft WorkTime.
Product Overview
WorkTime is a Windows-based employee monitoring application that can meet the needs of a business of any size. It has three different versions – WorkTime Corporate, WorkTime Professional and WorkTime Home. For corporate uses, the software has been field-tested to work in companies with more than 5,000 computers and is optimized to use very little system resources. Both the corporate and professional editions are available for $49.95 per license, with the ability to add on other licenses, updates and support packages. In addition to basic web monitoring features, WorkTime provides reporting functionality that can help companies define their Internet use policies and keep malware and viruses from interrupting their systems or producing slow load times throughout a network. WorkTime keeps all recorded data safe on the company’s servers and has security features to ensure that the software is used only to monitor employees’ performance, not to spy on them.
Who Should Use This Product
Managers and administrators of small companies and large corporations alike who are interested in monitoring employee Internet and computer usage for the purpose of increasing productivity and efficiency would find this software helpful. This software is touted as “reliable, powerful and safe”, so companies who want a no-hassle monitoring system that can give them the results they are looking for would find WorkTime a great and affordable option. Since the software package does not have any surveillance features, companies with a strict employee privacy policy could find this software a perfect fit compared to others on the market whose surveillance features may infringe on those individual rights.
Web Usage Monitoring
NesterSoft WorkTime software automatically monitors computers over a network and all monitoring is performed in the background, so it is absolutely invisible to the employee. It automatically records what activities employees perform on corporate computers, the times that they perform these activities, and for how long. WorkTime records all activities performed on a computer, including running software and applications as well as Internet usage. Tracking is unlimited and records launched applications, opened documents, visited web-sites, and also monitors the duration of each activity. This time collection is then broken into categories and managers can see the “actual work” times of employees, which refers to an application or document being active while the keyboard or mouse is active. Helping to eliminate idle times is a key factor in WorkTime’s reliable and accurate monitoring tools. For web usage, WorkTime also records web-sites, URLs, page titles and the time when specific web pages were accessed. For Internet monitoring, WorkTime supports Microsoft Internet Explorer 6/7/8/9, Mozilla Firefox 2/3/4, Opera 9/10/11, Google Chrome 4+.
Surveillance Features
Many employee monitoring systems have extensive surveillance features as a part of their software in addition to any monitors or tracking devices linked to a company’s network system. The creators behind WorkTime, however, are adamant about advertising their suite of software as strictly a monitoring device, not a spying platform. As such, it does not record screen shots, keystrokes, email or chat content, nor do managers or administrators have the ability to view employee screens in real-time.
Reporting Features
WorkTime offers scalable results and data so that managers and administrators can create custom reports and documents based on the data they have collected in the system over time. Computer monitoring results are automatically collected in one centralized location, and reports can be scheduled, generated and viewed conveniently using the WorkTime Administrator tool. With extensive numbers and data ranging from times, dates, website and program names, users, and computer numbers, information recorded from WorkTime’s software will be accurate and extremely helpful when pinpointing specific employees that are using computers and the Internet for purposes other than those required by their job. Managers can customize their reports to show “Top 5” results for items like most visited websites, applications, or run times, and individual data can be pulled from multiple reports into one, concise document. These reports can be generated with visual graphs, compiled in a spreadsheet-like format, or just listed as a rundown of all of the numbers collected throughout a certain period of time. Reports can also be exported as HTML, XLS or CSV files.
Other Features
In addition to monitoring computers over an internal network, WorkTime also has the capability to monitor computers located in remote sites or departments, the activities of employees using laptops that are not necessarily connected to the company’s Internet or network even if they are in the office, or remote employees who don’t have a connection to the company’s network. For companies running the Corporate edition, they can also monitor employees working under Terminal Server or Citrix Servers. This is a great benefit for companies that have many satellite offices, work-from-home employees, or mobile equipment like laptops distributed throughout the company.
In terms of service, WorkTime has a customer service team that is available through live chat on their website, through email, and on the telephone, along with extensive support features online through their frequently asked questions page, product descriptions, and industry article database.
