No Really, the Employees are on Facebook
FaceTime Communications, the makers of hardware solutions for security, management, and compliance, have collected live traffic data from more than 80 mid to large commercially deployed networks worldwide - data representing the daily web-based activities of more than 100,000 corporate workers. At the same time, they surveyed I.T. managers on a number of topics, including how many Web 2.0 applications they believed were in use on their networks. They then compared the two sets of findings. The conclusion? On a day-to-day basis, it seems I.T. managers don't know what their employees are doing - or what web apps they're using.
Web 2.0 at Work
Although most I.T. managers probably know that Web 2.0 applications are in use on their network, when comparing the survey results to the actual data, it appears they don't know how pervasive their use is.
FaceTime discovered that across the 80 companies studied, an average of 49 Web 2.0 applications were installed across locations. (It's worth pointing out that FaceTime counts everything from IM to IPTV as "Web 2.0," by the looks of the data, so take that finding with a grain of salt.)
Still, what is interesting in the data returned is that while only 60% I.T. managers surveyed thought that social networking applications were being used in their location, there wasn't a single company in FaceTime's study where social networking wasn't being used on at least one of the employee's machines.
As you may have guessed, Facebook was the most popular site overall, appearing in 50,000 instances across all 80 reporting locations. However, there was a total of 400 unique social networking sites reported in use. This "long tail effect," says FaceTime, should not be ignored when determining which sites to monitor and control for potential security and compliance issues.
Other popular activities included instant messaging (AIM and GoogleTalk were most prevalent), Meebo, IPTV, Virtual Worlds, VOIP (like Skype), P2P, and web conferencing.
Whether or not companies should be cracking down on these and other self-provisioned applications is a debate for another time. What's clear is that companies that think they have cracked down, are sadly mistaken.
Concurrently with this report - and perhaps because they were surprised by their own findings - FaceTime just launched a "Forget the Fees" program that eliminates the URL filtering fees for their customers. Because obviously, FaceTime's customers either weren't managing their network because they couldn't afford to do so...or they were just really cool about what their employees did at work.
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"only 60% I.T. managers surveyed thought that social networking applications were being used in their location".
This is incredible! With so many applications categorized as 'social networking applications' in this survey, there is no way that this number would be 60%. It has to be much higher...
P2P and VOIP? Really, which of FaceTimes corporate customers is so dumb as too not use the software to block P2P and VOIP?
Given the massive changes with layoffs and younger people coming into the workplace, it's no surprise that when they're met with email and business process software as they're only way to get stuff done at work, that they'd reach back out to the consumer web to stay connected to what's happening.
There was a time when people did the same with email. It was awesome to use with friends and they wondered why their dusty, slow company couldn't get on the email gravy train. Same thing is happening with Social Business Software. We'll look back at this and do a big no duh.
No, duh, is right. I remember being asked to bring my own laptop to the office to do online promotions on behalf of an employer that had blocked FaceBook and MySpace! Oh, well, thankfully my request to work from home that day instead was granted.
I will have to agree with Barbara and Sam ,we'll look back and wonder why we all got freaked out about change. Change happens; live with it. The world (and it's information) will be online sooner or later. People need to access it.
By the way, counting things like Instant Messaging as a no-no Web 2.0 application seems a lot like throwing out the baby with the bath water. Instant message is totally necessary in the work place and maybe one day we will realize that about FaceBook is, too. I don't even consider myself a heavy user of either one of those.
It was awesome to use with friends and they wondered why their dusty, slow company couldn't get on the email gravy train. Same thing is happening with Social Business Software. We'll look back at this and do a big no duh.
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"FaceTime discovered that across the 80 companies studied, an average of 49 Web 2.0 applications were installed across locations."
Isn't the lack of any software installation appart from internet browser one of the first feature of "Web 2.0" ?
Web 2.0 tools are changing the way people communicate and consume information. This is a case of consumerization of technology when employees bring mainstream applications to the enteprise. The open platform model also enables the use of web 2.0 from the work place. Gen Y employees use IM and even Facebook to multitask across work assignments and personal interactions.
Hmmm....why don't more companies encourage certain 2.0 apps as a marketing/pr tool vs. impending doom? Big no duh..
It was awesome to use with friends and they wondered why their dusty, slow company couldn't get on the email gravy train. oky...