Storing employee monitoring data in the cloud has several distinct advantages for companies who are looking to monitor their employees which will be discussed in this article.
- Easy to set up and install.
Cloud based employee monitoring software simply requires a device with an internet connection for you to install it. There is no need to purchase expensive servers or hire an IT team to configure servers and deploy the software to all employee computers or devices in your workplace.
Simply access each device and download and install the software on to it to start capturing data.
Many cloud based employee monitoring software make this easier if you have many devices by allowing you to install across multiple devices using either a USB device or a network connection.
- Accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
Having cloud based employee monitoring software means that you are no longer just restricted to monitoring your employee’s computers.
You can now monitor their smartphones and tablets too, and all from the comfort of one online portal.
However, monitoring this device is usually much harder than most companies realize.
Sure, you can set up device policies to give your IT staff permission to view what is installed on it or to remotely lock or wipe the device, should it get stolen, but this is the kind of stuff that an IT team are best left to deal with.
How can managers simply tell whether their employees are using their corporate devices effectively and not breaking corporate policies?
That is where cloud based employee monitoring software takes the lead over traditional server based programs.
You can simply ask the manager to log in to the online portal and they can instantly review the data captured from the employee’s device.
There is no need for them to get permission from the IT staff to look on a server somewhere or ask someone else to get the data for them because they do not have access to the required server themselves.
- Saves on cost of purchasing servers and additional training.
Many companies have a departmental budget and if employee monitoring software is part of that then ideally, depending on the size of the company, spending less is good.
There is no need to purchase servers or train and hire additional staff to run them or to spend hours training the employees on how to use the monitoring software.
- Cheaper and more flexible subscription terms
Cloud based solutions for employee monitoring are also generally cheaper than server based ones.
For server based one’s companies usually require a set number of licenses be purchased up front (e.g. 100) and this may be too much for many companies because they might not need them all.
Because they don’t want to feel tied down to a contract it makes sense that cloud based is the option to choose because it is also more flexible.
If you want to monitor 10 devices for a month only, then this is achievable only with a cloud based solution.
You would not be able to get this same level of flexibility if you wanted a server based solution.
But there is one main downside to cloud based employee monitoring.
- The Internet is always required
Because it is so reliant on the internet, should the manager be in a place with no internet or should the employee device not have an internet connection then captured data cannot be uploaded to the online portal for the manager to then view.
This can lead to a delay in what could be vital reporting information.
Furthermore, depending on the amount of data getting uploaded to the online server in the cloud it may be that the server being used gets to the point that it is not fast enough or has enough storage space to store all the employee data.
This can lead to online portal performance impacts, making it slow and could even lead to the server going down completely should the software company decide to perform server maintenance or upgrades.
However, overall, choosing a cloud based employee monitoring solution can save your company time and money.
Time, because it is quick and easy to install and money because no additional hardware is needed.
If you have the device and an internet connection that device is ready to be monitored.
So why not check out the cloud based employee monitoring software below to find out which one best suits your companies needs and can help you monitor your employees more efficiently?
Recommended cloud based employee monitoring software:
- KnowIT
- Teramind
- Workpuls
- Activtrak