Enforcing
Internet Access Acceptable Usage Policies (IAUP)
Over the past few
years, providing employees with access to the Internet has become a critical
factor in the success of most companies around the globe.
 Many
companies have openly embraced the widespread use of the World Wide Web,
Internet e-mail, and file transfer mechanisms as highly efficient communications
and research tools to boost employee productivity.
In addition, a rapidly
growing number of organisations are also instituting private intranet's
and extranet's to enhance their employees’ internal communications
and to streamline interaction with external customers and partners.
Each day more employers
are granting their employees’ access to the Internet in order to
take advantage
of the wide range of readily available information and to improve the
overall
efficiency of their internal and external operations.
However, too many
organisations have also discovered the hard way that unrestricted and
unmanaged Internet access by employees can lead to dire consequences in
the form of wasted time, lost productivity, misappropriation of resources,
reduced morale, and the risk of diminished corporate reputation. Perhaps
more importantly, an organisation’s failure to take adequate steps
to define, manage and control employees’ Internet usage can also
lead to severe risks in the form of potential legal and financial liabilities.
The need to protect
against these risks has given rise to a whole new wave of significant
management efforts involving corporate executives, IT managers, human
resource staff and the legal community. Although the need for comprehensive
and enforceable Internet Acceptable Use Policies (IAUP) has now become
a critical issue cutting across organisations in virtually all industry
segments, all too often the IAUP policy efforts or technological implementation
for policy enforcement fall short of the mark.
In some cases, the
shortcoming is because company management fails to understand the full
extent of the risk, while in other instances there is reluctance to come
across like “big-brother” for fear of harming the company
culture. Sometimes IAUP efforts fail to adequately address the legal issues
involved and other times the policies are simply ignored because they
are too full of “legalese” to be understood by rank-and-file
managers and employees. Or, even with extremely well intentioned and well-crafted
IAUPs, the failure to deploy appropriate technologies for comprehensive
monitoring and management can dilute the policy’s enforceability
or, on the other end of the scale, can severely restrict Internet usability
to the point of compromising its overall benefits.
The bottom line is
that an effective IAUP must take into account the whole spectrum of these
policy and technology issues, within the framework of the specific organisation’s
unique set of goals and culture.
When it comes to potential
employee abuse of Internet access, the most prominent concerns are loss
of productivity, degradation of available computing resources and the
high risks of legal liabilities.
 |
To
request a FREE White Paper on 'Internet
Usage Policies' please complete your details below: |
|
|
