Does Your Employee Monitoring Support Chromebooks?

If you’re considering a change to your office operating systems, you probably have been looking into the latest trends in enterprise equipment. And that means that you may have noticed that an increasing number of enterprises are adopting the Chromebook as their dominant device. 

Why is that? Take a look at what you need to know about the features that make Chromebooks popular in the enterprise space, and how to make sure that your employee monitoring system supports Chromebooks. 

What’s an Enterprise Chromebook?

Chromebooks are becoming a more common choice not just for personal use, but also for use in business.

Chromebook Enterprise laptops are different from regular Chromebooks that a user might buy for personal use. For one thing, they come with the Chrome Enterprise OS, and for another, organizations don’t need to buy a separate license for each separate device. 

An organization’s IT department can also manage the organization’s Chromebooks, and other Chrome OS devices, as well as the Chrome browser in other operating systems through Chrome Enterprise, which may help streamline security and development procedures and make things simpler for both the IT department and for users. 

What’s Are the Benefits of Switching to Chrome? 

There are a number of reasons why organizations might want to switch to the Chrome OS and use Chrome devices. Security is the first and foremost reason why many companies decide to switch. Chrome’s cloud-based devices mean that users are unable to inadvertently expose the company to viruses and other malware when using the company network. 

Each web page and app that a user opens is in its own virtual “sandbox,” and when the users close the app or webpage, any threats that may have existed are neutralized. This goes a long way toward making sure that the company network remains secure. 

Chromebooks also make it easy for multiple users to share devices without leaving personal data behind that could be picked up by other users. Chrome’s guest mode means that users can even log in and out without retaining the user’s settings or information, if necessary. 

In addition, the Chrome Enterprise system allows IT departments to manage devices and software in a relatively hassle-free way. And because Chrome devices now support Android apps, switching to Chrome allows users to take advantage of a wide range of useful apps, with ample support, that are easy for users to adapt to. 

The Chrome OS also makes it incredibly easy to add new devices or change devices. All a user has to do is sign in, and their history, bookmarks, settings, and other user data are immediately available. Compare this to the difficulty involved in migrating settings and data to a new Windows device. If nothing else, some devices will inevitably be lost or broken due to accidents or user error, and Chrome ensures that they can be replaced and that the worker can retrieve their data with a minimum of hassle, cutting down on lost time for the company. 

Employee Monitoring on Chrome OS

Although the Chrome OS provides an organization with a lot of security, employee monitoring software is still necessary. 

While Chromebooks and the Chrome OS provide a lot of peace of mind when it comes to security, that doesn’t mean that there are no security concerns for organizations to think about. Users can still be targeted in certain scams that don’t necessarily involve malware, such as social engineering scams. 

And of course, organizations still have to worry about malicious actors within the company. Monitoring is also still necessary to catch problems like cyberloafing, or wasting time on the clock, and to be able to collect information about workflow patterns and individual employees’ work for the purposes of feedback, for example. 

So, is your employee monitoring software ready for the Chrome OS? Useful monitoring features for organizations using Chrome OS include:

• Website activity monitoring – this lets you see which websites have been visited and what exactly happens on those websites. In other words, you’ll be able to see just what your employees are up to online. This can help you cut down on employees spending work time on personal tasks online, like checking personal email, watching videos unrelated to work, or visiting social media sites. 
• App monitoring – More and more, organizations have come to rely on apps for a variety of tasks, so it’s important to be able to see which apps your workers are using and what they’re using them for. Your monitoring software should give you the ability to monitor Chromebook and Android apps. 
• Screenshots – Pictures don’t lie, so when you need to investigate worker activity online, screenshots can help you get the real picture of what’s going on. Your monitoring software should give you the ability to make screenshots or screen captures, and allow you to play them back video-style for easy viewing. 
• Keyword and Behavior Alerts – Knowing what to look for can help streamline your monitoring. You need monitoring software that will alert you to certain keywords or behaviors (like returning to one file over and over again, downloading files during non-working hours, or downloading an unusual number of files) that could be a sign that something is wrong or that a worker is behaving maliciously. 
• Remote Viewing – Employee monitoring shouldn’t require you to literally stand over an employee’s shoulder to monitor their work, of course. You will need the ability to monitor remotely from anywhere, including from home or on the go if necessary. Your monitoring software should allow you the ability to monitor whatever you need to from whatever your location happens to be. 

Chrome OS is certainly not the most common OS for businesses, but it’s becoming more mainstream all the time, and for good reason. High security, ease of use, and low price points combine to make Enterprise Chromebooks a very reasonable choice for many organizations – perhaps including yours. 

Just make sure that you have monitoring software that’s ready for use with the Chrome OS. To find out how InterGuard can monitor user activity on your employees‘ Chromebooks, start a Free Trial now.