Blue Rock

30 million people worldwide spending 233 million working hours a month on social networking at a cost of £130m a day!

One of the commonly recognised issues with modern systems and networks is the excess freedom that is gifted to the users to exchange email, chat on social networking sites or generally waste business time in browsing the Internet.


Corporate companies spend tens of thousands of pounds per annum in preventative measures as they recognise the cost to their businesses. However the smaller company is more at risk because they commonly do not employ IT Managers and do not have the time to police their staff, the problem is compounded for companies with remote sites where staff may not be under the watchful eye of the business Directors.


Mike Ford, Director of MF Hydraulics – a £ 2.7 million pound, 3 site business in the Home Counties was a classic example of this. Mike takes up the story…
“I had more than a sneaking suspicion that our systems were being heavily used to access social networking sites during the working hour. I couldn’t quantify it but, to be honest, in tight trading times I can’t and will not tolerate any time being lost in these pursuits.”


“I was considering buying software for each and every PC in the business but discussed the problem with our IT partners, Blue Rock”.
Blue Rock specific the installation of a firewall router which creates a physical barrier between the network server and the Internet. The Router can be configured to block types of Internet sites and also restrict access to sites containing certain key words.


The solution was installed in under 24 hours.


“The result was remarkable. Instantly I had complaints from my staff that they couldn’t access these sites – which confirmed my suspicions. It’s difficult to quantity the saving that we have made but if only a third of my staff spent 30 minutes a day “wasting” my time then I feel confident that the saving is between £ 3,500 – £ 5,000 a year – for a investment of a few hundred pounds”.


“The whole process was quick, cheap, non invasive and I urge every business in the UK to consider the cost, for them, if they don’t do the same”.