Refog Maxim Ananov, REFOG Help Desk 1. How does it work? Is it installed locally or does it work in the cloud? System administrator installs Refog Monitor on a computer that is to be used to. Installation requires administrator password to prevent unauthorized use. After the software is installed and configured system administrator creates a network installer that can automatically deploy monitoring part of the software to computers within the network. A lightweight monitoring module is installed on each computer that has to be monitored. Data is stored locally on each computer. Log viewer accessed that information directly over local area network. 2. When did you released the software? We are developing computer monitoring solutions since 2002. Refog Employee Monitor was first released in august 2007. Latest major release was in October 2009. 3. What makes your software different from others in the market? Our program has convenient and clear interface with set of helps and the inquiry built in the program. The logs (bitácoras) can be viewed both in a tabular mode, and in as web pages. The logs can be sent via mail or FTP. It is possible to sort, filter the logs on various parameters, search necessary info by keywords and display the logs in a slide show mode. Our program allows to monitor separate users of the computer, instead of all users at once. That is the manager of the company can stop monitoring his/her user account and at the same time monitor the work of other users andâ analyze the logs later. Moreover we offer a 30-day trial period for usage of the program during which all the functions of registered version are available. 4. How much increase in productivity and efficiency do you guarantee? These parameters are individual for each organization and depend on many factors. Nobody from our competitors can give the similar guarantee of efficiency. 5. How deep can it go? I mean, registering the program, the file name, the content? Registering the website, the password, the profiles visited (in case of Facebook, for example)? How much privacy is it exposed? The product records web site visits, typed text, instant message/chats conversations (supporting most popular applications and web sites), application activity and creates screen shots. All the operations with files are being monitored on the computer. The level of privacy depends on the settings the administrator makes in the program. The monitoring of concrete logs may be started or stopped, for example you can stop the monitoring of keystrokes. When the monitoring of all the logs is enabled the whole user activity is being recorded. 6. Can you create white and black list to select the apps that users can access and when can they do it? At the moment Refog Employee Monitor is for monitoring purposes only. We are also developing Refog Time Sheriff which can black/white list applications and add time or
duration based restrictions. We plan to integrate these products in future to provide allin-one solution. 7. Can the software be used to control the attendance of the employees? (who came in late, for example) There is no special feature to control attendance, but it's possible to check when a computer was turned on or when did user activity begin on particular date. 8. Can you open and close their applications remotely and in real time? The product does not interfere with user activity and can't be used for remote control. 9. Can it be installed without the employees knowing about it? The product can be set to operate in hidden mode. 10. How much does it cost? Each monitored computer requires a license. Licenses are sold in packs. Larger license packs provide greater discounts. For example, 3 license pack (up to 3 computers) costs $149.95 ($50 per computer). And, 50 license pack (up to 50 computers) costs $1449.95 ($29 per computer). A customer can pick any required number of licenses during purchase. These are US prices. Regional prices may vary. Please see this page for pricing details: www.refog.com/pricing.html 11. How many clients do you have? We have several thousands clients using Employee Monitor. 12. What type of business is your target? (its economic vertical, its size and its problematic situation or concerns) We are targeting a small business, up to one hundred of employees. 13. Do you have clients in Costa Rica? How many? Can you give me any contact information? Along with a number of private customers, we've sold few dozens of business licenses in Costa Rica. We can't reveal their contact information for privacy reasons. 14. In which circumstances do you recommend a company to buy the software? Most companies would be able to leverage benefits of using our software, since it lets you monitor internet usage patterns during work time, usage of undesirable applications (like games or video players), keep a track of copying important documents (e.g. tracing back information leaks), etc. Imagine how once successful company would suddenly experience problems like reduced employee performance or competitors taking advantage of some leaked trade secrets. Such software would be able to help pin pointing the reasons behind such problems. 15. Don t you think it creates a hostile environment to work in? We see our product as a powerful tool. And as any tool of such power and versatility it should be used responsibly. It's up to our clients to rule out ethical and privacy concerns in their working environment.
Rescuetime Tony Wright, founder and CEO How does it work? It's a small app on your computer that measures what's "in focus". In other words, it times which app or site you're actively using. If your computer goes idle (like when you go out to lunch), it stops measuring. So it's really an attention measurement tool. When did you released the software? Jan 2008 Is it installed locally or does it work in the cloud? It's a tiny local app that pushes data to the cloud to minimize the effect on your machine as well as allow people with multiple computers (or businesses) aggregate their data. What makes your software different from others in the market? I don't think there are many companies in our exact market. We often get compared to employee time tracking software, but I don't think that's a good comparison. Most of our 150,000 users are individuals (though we have a growing number of business customers who believe in transparency like this). How much increase in productivity and efficiency do you guarantee? We don't gaurantee anything! But we've seen that the average user increases their productive time by about 9% over a 2 month period. Of course, we're comparing their first week of RescueTime-- we don't know what they were like before that, so we suspect that number is quite a bit higher. A tool like RescueTime can only help if the person really cares about their efficiency. How deep can it go? I mean, registering the program, the file name, the content? Registering the website, the password, the profiles visited (in case of Facebook, for example)? How much privacy is it exposed? Eeeek! We don't look at most of that. The only thing we pass to our servers is program name, site name, document name (optional), start time and end time. We don't scrape any content like passwords or anything creepy like that. What about the time spent away from the computer: meetings, phonecalls, can you track that too? We sure can! When your computer goes idle, RescueTime will pop up a window that says, "Where have you been since 12:15pm?" which allows you to click buttons like "meeting", "phone call", "lunch", etc., to help fill in the blanks. Can you create white and black list to select the apps that users can access and when can they do it? You can do both of those things, yes.
Can the software be used to control the attendance of the employees? (who came in late, for example) Assuming their job is largely sitting in front of a computer, yes. Can you see the employees desktop remotely, in real time? No. Can you open and close their applications remotely and in real time? No. Can it be installed without the employees knowing about it? We have a "restricted" mode (which limits employees access to their own data). It's less obvious, but it's not "stealthy". While we don't want to dictate to people how they should use RescueTime, we think there are some great best practices if you really want to have a productive team. I have a guest post about this topic here: http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/08/20/corporate-web-site-blocking-monitoring-bestpractices/ Can it generate alarms to the chief s email or cellphone? You can create alerts in the system, but we think this is better when it alerts the user. i.e. Alert me instantly when I spend more than X hours on Social Networking" or somesuch. How much does it cost? $5-10 per user per month, depending on team size. Does this prince include support or just the licence? Support is included. How many clients do you have? 150,000 and growing every day! What type of business is your target? (its economic vertical, its size and its problematic situation or concerns) We target information workers-- if an individual or team spends the bulk of their productive time in front of a computer, we're ideally suited for that. Do you have clients in Costa Rica? How many? Can you give me any contact information? We have a large number of clients in central and south america. We had 400 visitors from Costa Rica last month. In which circumstances do you recommend a company to buy the software? We don't recommend using it if your goal is to "catch your employees hand in the cookie jar". In other words, if you're using it to catch someone being bad, I don't think it's a good idea. It's a tool to help your team understand how they spend their time, which helps them be more productive... It's kind of like a credit card statement for time in that way. It's also a great too for managers to understand team engagement and
morale. The important thing to realize is that leisure surfing is actually GOOD in moderation. Don t you think it creates a hostile environment to work in? If it's used incorrectly, it can create a hostile work environment. I personally think it's much more hostile for employees to be in a constant state of hiding how they really spend their time. People who work hard aren't necessarily recognized for it. Instead, corporate workplaces rewards people who APPEAR to work hard. Information isn't evil-- by managers certainly can use information for evil purposes. Our hope with RescueTime is that it causes people to spend more time being productive but ultimately spend LESS time in front of their computers... and our data shows us that it's working out that way.