European firms are increasingly investing in Internet filtering solutions.

According to a Datamonitor survey of 200 major European enterprises, URL filtering and conditional access solutions feature prominently in companies’ enterprise networking investment priorities.

The Internet has fast become a major source of distraction at work as employees access sites that are non-work related or offensive – in particular pornographic content. This in turn has some impact on productivity – and may expose companies to litigation. As a result, many companies are seeking solutions that will provide a more effective means of monitoring and controlling Internet content being accessed.

Almost two-thirds of the 200 companies interviewed claimed to monitor employee Internet usage – 40% on a regular basis, and 23% from time to time. And out of the 37% that do not currently monitor employee usage, 12% say they are considering doing so.

Currently, 41% of respondents do not place any restrictions on employee Internet access; while policies on other matters vary, nearly all the remaining 59% restrict access to pornographic content. The threat of litigation arising from the viewing of pornographic content makes it an understandable target for censorship; the recent spate of cases where employees have been fired for circulating and viewing pornographic content highlights that this is an area of concern for companies.

Out of the companies that restrict access, a third use written company policy alone. While this is cheap, many employees are unlikely to stick to the rules. Almost a fifth of companies manually check Internet history files, which is highly time-consuming. The remainder use a dedicated software solution, which is likely to be more effective than a written policy and cheaper than manual checking.

The key for providers of such dedicated solutions is to educate potential clients of the benefits and risks that such technologies can provide, in terms of increased productivity and reduced risk of litigation.

Related research: Datamonitor, Strategic Enterprise Networking Opportunities (DMTC0849)

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