Checkpoint WebSense
Posted on 05/13/2005 8:29:47 AM PDT by Scenic Sounds
To all those employees who waste time on the Web at work, San Diego-based Websense owes you a debt of gratitude.
If it weren't for those goof-offs who check personal e-mail, access their bank accounts and shop online on company time, Websense wouldn't be nearly as successful.
The company capitalizes on workers' proclivity to surf the Net for fun by selling subscriptions to software that allows employers to block, or limit, access to non-work-related Web sites.
"Any company that's trying to increase the productivity of its employees and make them safe on the Internet is a potential customer of ours," Websense chief executive John Carrington said.
For employers, the cost of the Web filtering software can be recouped if it stops each employee from wasting just one hour on the Internet each year, according to Websense.
But increased productivity isn't the only incentive for companies to subscribe.
Some employers view the software as a way to reduce the risk of getting sued by an employee who is exposed to pornography on a co-worker's computer. Other employers use the software to prevent employees from accessing video and audio that can hog the computer network's resources.
The prospect of saving money for employers has turned Websense into a profitable, $112 million-a-year business. Its software sits on more than 20 million corporate computers worldwide.
Websense has classified more than 10 million sites into 90 categories according to content, ranging from abortion to games to weapons. Companies that subscribe to the software can then choose which sites an individual employee may access, which sites are limited to a certain number of minutes and which sites are to be blocked altogether.
Carrington said many clients choose to allow workers to surf the Web for personal reasons, but limit the time spent to 20 minutes or so a day. Most clients block pornographic sites at all times, he said.
Employees who try to access a site that has been prohibited get a screen telling them they have been blocked. The list of blocked sites can be tailored to each employee or to work groups.
The software is automatically updated daily with new sites that Websense finds or its customers stumble upon.
The typical Websense customer has 1,000 employees and pays $15.50 per employee for a one-year subscription. Subscriptions can be renewed for one, two or three years.
Websense's annual survey of Web use in the workplace makes a good case for subscribing to the company's software.
The survey released this week found that one in two employees use the Internet at work for personal reasons. Of those who do, the most popular destinations are news sites, personal e-mail, online banking, travel and shopping, according to the survey.
Seventeen percent of men and 11 percent of women had deliberately viewed pornographic Web sites on their computers at work, the survey found.
In the last couple of years, Websense has branched out into computer security. The company introduced add-on software that blocks Web sites that are potential security threats, such as those that automatically load spyware into a computer.
"They are still a dominant player in the filtering market," said Vikram Kaura, an investment analyst with C.E. Unterberg Towbin, an investment banking firm. "But security is where the focus is growing. I think they have sort of a unique position in terms of security. Websense is making really good progress in security risks related to employees on the Internet."
From here, Websense is looking into expanding into employees' use of cell phones. For instance, one idea is that Websense software could prohibit employees from downloading ring tones or games that cost employers money.
"We want to focus on solutions that will help company employees become more productive, and, of course, more secure," Carrington said.
Websense didn't set out to become the policeman of the workplace Web.
Founded 11 years ago, the company, then called NetPartners Internet Solutions, sold firewalls for corporate computers.
To help it sell firewalls, the company developed software called Websense, which blocked Internet users from accessing pornographic Web sites. Customers that bought a firewall from NetPartners would get the software free.
By 1999, the company had run out of venture capital.
Its founder had left.
And, according to board member Gary Sutton, the company had to take out loans to make payroll.
Yet Carrington, then a candidate for the CEO position, saw potential that no one else could see.
"I saw what this company needed was cash and better management," said Carrington, who had been CEO of three startup software companies.
By all accounts, he was right.
The Web filtering software was key to the company's success.
"That's cool," Carrington recalls saying when he first saw the software.
He knew from his own experience as a CEO at three other software companies how much time employees can waste on the Net.
Still, at the time, 60 percent of the company's business was selling firewalls. The Web filtering software was, more or less, an afterthought.
Carrington was also impressed with the company's dedicated employees. At the time, there were 60 or so. Today it has more than 500.
Carrington, who hadn't committed yet to take over the helm of the company, asked three venture capital firms he had dealt with previously to look at NetPartner's business plan.
"Every one of them said, 'There's nothing there,' " Carrington said.
Carrington took the job as CEO anyway and persuaded investors to come up with $10 million for the company.
Carrington turned the company around, first by getting out of the firewall market. He renamed the company Websense, after its Web filtering software. Then he took Websense public in March 2000, raising more than $72 million for the company.
Websense weathered the bursting of the tech bubble by staying focused on its mission of helping employers manage employees' Internet use.
"It's been a dramatic turnaround," said Sutton, the board member.
Sutton joined the board of Websense at the same time Carrington became CEO.
At the time, Sutton was CEO of @Backup, a San Diego company that did online backups for computer systems.
"We were the darling of the Wall Street investment bankers," Sutton said. "It was tough to even get them to talk to Websense. In the end, @Backup tanked. They couldn't have been more wrong about Websense."
Sutton likes to joke that board meetings at Websense have become "boring."
"Every quarter, profits are up 30 percent," Sutton said. "I tell John that I'm frustrated because when they keep giving the board these terrific numbers, we can't grouse and complain."
In 2004, Websense reported net income of $26 million on $112 million in revenue, up 57 percent from 2003.
Kaura, the investment analyst, said Websense is a dominant player in its market.
"This is one of the most profitable software companies out there," said Kaura, who does not own shares of Websense.
Carrington isn't satisfied to stop here.
In January, he announced he has begun searching for his replacement.
He said he thinks it's time for a CEO who can catapult Websense into a $1 billion-a-year company. He hopes to have someone on board by the end of this year.
Carrington plans to remain as the company's chairman, concentrating on formulating Websense's long-term plans.
He sees this as a turning point for Websense.
"What we have is a company that is still at a very early stage in the growth of this business," Carrington said. "Probably only about a third of all the employees in the world that use the Internet at work are managed by a system like this. There's a tremendous amount of opportunity there to sell."
Be the first - do it today!! ;-)
Yep. . .and get, as a result, a frustrated workforce. We have WebSense in place here. I do network security, and WebSense locks me out of about 30% of the "Pro" sites, and nearly all of the "hacker" sites where I get information that helps me do my job better.
As a result, I work shorter days at the office, and do most of my research at home.
And yet, Amazon and most shopping sites aren't blocked. . .
My company uses websense. It used to block religious content and Free Republic. No longer.
Weapons is still blocked, although I've figured out a couple of ways to bypass it.
ok you've got my attention. how is this bypassed?
Checkpoint WebSense
BUMP
I've found in some cases you can go to a similar site that has a link to the one you really want. Sometimes you can get in that way.
Tunnel via https to a server and port forward.
You might save wasted time of employees surfing the web, but it lowers employee morale, and therefore, lowers productivity. It's best not to have any monitoring software installed and keep the employees happy.
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