Posted on 09/27/2006 12:46:03 PM PDT by kenn5
Annapolis company's systems help to monitor employees' computer use By ANDREW CHLDERS, Staff Writer
Marylanders know a thing or two about surviving the tedium of work, ranking among the nation's top time-wasters on the job.
But Ermis Sfakiyanudis and Alan Schunemann are just determined to ruin it for everyone.
ETelemetry in Annapolis specializes in business intelligence, helping firms to track their own technology infrastructure and people, to find out who's working diligently and who's updating a MySpace profile or rearranging a Netflix queue. The bane of office loafers everywhere, eTelemetry's Metron and Locate network trackers can pinpoint individual "bandwidth hogs" on a company's network, even tallying the time individual employees spend surfing the net.
"Web pages aren't very big. You can surf all day and it wouldn't show on a bandwidth graph," said Mr. Schunemann, eTelemetry's chief technology officer.
And the average worker spends a lot of time surfing. According to a recent survey by America Online and salary.com, Maryland ranks 16th in the nation for time wasted at work, with 2.4 hours a day going down the tubes, costing employers an estimated $17 billion in wages annually. Missouri workers rank as the nation's loafing kings, with more than three hours of each workday squandered.
While a quarter of that time went to chit-chat with co-workers and two minutes of company time went to looking for a new job, by far the most common time drain was the Internet. Workers blow an hour each day just surfing the Net.
The folks at eTelemetry have even turned their systems on themselves, raising a few eyebrows when their own employees' Internet use was tracked.
"It's amazing what we've discovered," Mr. Schunemann said. "Very useful from a manager's perspective."
But busting employees for tweaking their fantasy football rosters is only one benefit of eTelemetry's systems, which provide companies with "business intelligence." Metron and Locate simply plug into existing network hardware to evaluate how well systems interact and where Internet bandwidth should be allocated most effectively.
"Some of our customers use it as a resource tool to allocate resources," Mr. Sfakiyanudis said.
In the rush to add the most updated technology during the 1990s, some businesses may have overlooked ensuring that all of the components worked together optimally, and eTelemetry has carved out a niche in the technology market helping companies make the most out of the infrastructure they already have.
"Now you can add some sanity," said Mr. Sfakiyanudis, company president.
The company, founded by Mr. Sfakiyanudis and Mr. Schunemann in 1999, is growing exponentially. Last week eTelemetry moved into new larger offices as it announced $4 million in venture funding that will more than double the size of the company within the next year.
From 12 full-time staffers now, the company expects to grow to 25 or 30 people by late 2007. Connecticut-based Centripetal Capital Partners is investing $4 million to continuing developing Locate and Metron.
"Critical to our decision-making is solid evidence of a competitively advantaged, strong and proprietary product that meets an unmet or underserved need in a large and growing market," Centripetal Capital principal Jeff Brodlieb said in a statement issued this week.
Part of a growing tech community in Anne Arundel, eTelemetry has also become a refuge for a number of former USinternetworking employees. Mr. Schunemann and Janice Roper-Graham, vice president of marketing, both spent time at USi, and they credit the enthusiasm generated by that firm for spawning a swath of other, smaller tech businesses in the county.
Drawing on his business background and geekish proclivities, Mr. Schunemann said the goal of eTelemetry was to meld the two previously incompatible worlds.
"I wanted to do something good for business with geek stuff," he said.
This is probably true in an office environment to some level. Yet, when I owned and ran a restaurant in my twenties, you either jammed or didn't in the hours one was employed or they were simply 'outa there'. I've given a lot of "you're outa here" talks in my life.
Thus there are some jobs you can't afford to slack or you're done. I am usually successful in those environments, as I love to work and jam. But I also like loads of down time. I used to give my workers generous time off and bonuses and if they were sick, I let them take as much time, even a little more if they wanted it for mental health time or just family play time. I planned on it ahead of time when I scheduled of course. I benefitted as well as my workers.
So somehow I guess it all works out for everyone. I am a freelancer now and run my own show, just for that reason. I can't stand sitting in a chair acting as though I am working. I'd rather be slashing my wrists. I guess knowing where one is at their best helps to pick the right sort of career for oneself.
LOL!!
Well sure, if you want to catch yourself wasting time on the internet.
Nonsense. I can opus any time I want to.
I'm surfing on my employer's nickel, and if they don't like it, they can take a flying leap.
OK, I'm retired, but they still send me a check every month.
One of the joys of retirement is getting paid for doing what I want to do.
The Pony Express model of resource management: round em up, wear em out!
I heard it said that when Henry Ford Jr. had an efficiency expert doing a survey that the expert came to him and spoke of a man who spent the whole day every day with his feet on his desk, lost in thought.
Ford replied that he knew this and the last good idea that "loafer" had was the Mustang and sent the expert on to earn his own keep.
This must be stopped. Now.
Our IT Department has some creepy peepy software that allows them to actually look at your screen from their screen and control your mouse. They say they need it for loading programs remotely onto the machine when needed.
They are cool guys and are too busy to spend all day watching to see what we do but they do have sniffer and firewall programs installed to keep you from accessing porn sites and gambling sites.
The computers are company equipment so they have the right to do it. The way I look at it is that I get my work done everyday during my shift and don't take breaks so I'm allowed to goof off when all my work is done so long as I realize that work always comes first.
What does an employee using streaming audio while they work look like to an corporate admin? I've always wondered as I stream at work alot.
>>>"I wanted to do something good for business with geek stuff," he said.>>>
An Eddie Haskell wannabe.
I'm military...and our comm nazi's have that too. Our's is called Altiris. It's a little spooky when you are surfing and all of the sudden you see the magnifying glass show up in the bottom of the screen because they are working....and they see what you see. Of course, you can't get to any chat rooms or any thing on a military LAN (at least ours) anyway...legally.
As far as streaming media, I left my IT/management job to make streaming and disk oriented media for corporations (around the time that this technology was becoming functional). So from my end, I would say if it has to do with work--kudos for your company for making work stuff interesting.
If not, I'd say, it does not look all too good. With one exception, if it is something awesome enough for everyone to dump work and grab a bucket of microwave popcorn, then you be the office man in the know, especially if you have main server side personel support :-)!
As far as just seeing it from the server end though, I'm not the best person to ask.
I personally don't have any problems with streaming, unless 200 other people are doing it with you, slowing down the internet connection. Of course I can't speak for your management who would likely see it as down time, when all you are doing is listening to a digital radio.
I really don't care what any of my users are doing on their PCs as long as what they are doing isn't illegal, a security risk, or tearing up something that I will have to fix. I have several hundred users and most of them behave themselves.
I am then going to have a meeting and form a committee to look into it.
>>>Yet some people spent their whole morning up on the web as well as much as their afternoon and needed to have their ass fired. They were too. I did feel though that all of these people needed to know they were monitored and then at least they could make their own decisions.>>>
But were they actually not doing anything? I have a browser up almost all day, although I am not doing something on it most of the time.
>>>Thus there are some jobs you can't afford to slack or you're done.>>>
The restaurant business is a customer service based business and a whole different animal than productive office work. As someone who has worked in both, I can tell you that productivity for customers needing immediate assistance is different than one who needs creative thought and problem solving/business solutions.
I just threw up a little in my mouth.
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