Australian IT innovator, Netbox Blue, now offers businesses the most effective way to embrace the  benefits of social media without exposing themselves to productivity problems, reputational damage and data leakage, with the new SoMMS (Social Media Management System).

The solution allows companies to monitor and control social media communications and even block inappropriate language on common social networking sites (like Facebook) using Netbox Blue’s patent pending SafeChat technology. The technology can be used on the company network  and on company-owned laptops anywhere in the world, to provide complete control over social media use.

SoMMS combines Netbox Blue’s proven transparent application management technologies (to block applications not approved for company use) with unique social media control technology (to effectively monitor and manage approved social media applications).

“Social media is increasingly a fact of business life,” Netbox Blue Chairman John Fison says. “Love them or loathe them social media sites like Facebook and YouTube are here to stay. Facebook recently knocked off Google as the most-visited website in the US and with 400 million visitors and growing, the popularity of social networking is all too obvious. Social media represents a massive opportunity for businesses to spread their message. This potential has already been embraced by politicians, retailers, charities and government departments - eager to speak directly to their constituents, customers and patrons."

“But social media applications come with a broad range of very real threats. These include loss of confidential company data, employees accessing inappropriate or banned internet sites, increased costs due to media streaming, music downloads and file sharing. Illegal file sharing can also expose companies to copyright infringement liability."

“A company’s reputation may also be at risk from an employee posting defamatory, racially or generally inappropriate comments on social networking sites, blogging or communicating offensively by email.”

“SoMMS provides businesses with the best way to make use of sites like Facebook, MSN, Twitter and Gmail for business purposes without falling victim to the threats that they also pose.”

Cerebral Palsy League Australia IT Operations & Network Development Manager, Steven Candle says SoMMS has given his organization total visibility and control over the staff’s email, social media and internet use.

“That means staff no longer waste time on non-work related web sites and applications,” Mr Candle says. “It also means we can prevent malicious or inappropriate email from ruining our organization’s reputation - and that’s a feature we value extremely highly. Our bandwidth usage has also greatly reduced as a direct result of our staff’s knowledge of the transparency we now have over internet use. I would highly recommend the Netbox Blue solution to other Not For Profit organizations.”

Features of SoMMS:

• SafeChat – Prevents inappropriate language from being posted on the most popular social networking sites, Instant Messaging and Gmail. It scans the traffic stream against a highly customisable list of keywords to determine if the stream should be blocked and logged or allowed through. Policies can be set to determine what action will be taken if a keyword is used. An administrator can be automatically informed if a policy is breached. 
• Email Content Management – blocks inappropriate language or comments from being received or sent through email conversations.
• Website Manager – Controls access to particular sites or categories of sites. This can be set up with different rules for different days, or staff members, providing flexibility plus control.
• Time of Day Manager – Manages the time of day that staff members are permitted access to certain internet sites, such as social networking and webmail.
• Download Manager – Sets limits on data download, preventing excess usage bills.
• Privacy Manager – Prevents private company details from being given out to inappropriate parties.
• Reporter and Alarm System – Delivers full visibility of all internet-based activity in a drill-down format and offers alarms to alert administrators of any policy breaches.  
• Netguard IPS -  Intrusion detection and prevention system that also controls access to Web 2.0 (social media) applications, preventing viruses and inappropriate internet use.
• UTM – Prevents spam, viruses and other malware, with full firewall capabilities and more, as required.
• Laptop Protector - Once installed on every company-owned laptop it replicates the policies of the central Netbox settings. This innovative solution is fully secure and allows remote administrative access to reports, alarms and for policy administration amendments as necessary. It is easy to install and works on PCs running Windows XP and Windows 7*.

        *Windows 7 32 bit only