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March 28, 2011
8 Reasons to Use a Web Based Employee Time Clock Part 1
The advent of installable time clock software meant that physical punch clocks or paper time cards were largely superseded in forward thinking companies. However, problems with computer and software compatibility, hardware reliability, and on-going technical support costs as operating systems change means that there has to be a better solution for tracking employee time and attendance data. Over the last couple of years improvements in web application technology and increases in internet bandwidth means that a web-based time clock system is now a truly viable alternative to desktop time clock software.
I've decided to compile what I consider to be the top 8 reasons why your company would be better off using a web-based time clock system rather than an installable desktop software time clock. I'll spread this over three articles, of which this is the first (I'll link to parts 2 and 3 from here as they are written). Note, that the reasons I put forward here are in no particular order.
1. Vastly Improved Compatibility
A Web Based Time Clock system means no more worrying about this version of Windows, that version of MacOS, your operating system service pack level, database access drivers, or incompatibilities with DLL's or OCX's or any other number of three letter acronyms that mean almost nothing to no-one. It means that when you upgrade your computers to the latest operating systems you don't need to worry if your employee time clock will still work. It also eliminates the worry of other software breaking your vital attendance tracking system.
All a web based employee time clock system needs is a reasonably modern web browser, and internet connection, and some sort of hardware to run it on. And the hardware? No more being tied down to one platform, it could be a PC, a Mac, a smartphone (Android or iOS anyone?), or a tablet. It really doesn't matter as long as the web browser on your device is up to date.
2. Data Security and Reliability
A good online employee time clock system will store all data on servers that are completely secure from attack and manipulation. By removing the need for you to store your own data on your own computers you are advantaged in a couple of ways. Firstly, no more need to worry about data backups and retrievals, that's all handled by the Web Based Time Clock vendor. A good vendor will have a live copy of your data available at all times, and at a bare minimum will perform a complete backup of your data every few hours.
The second advantage of storing your data remotely is that your information is not available to employees to snoop or potentially manipulate. Our long experience in the desktop time clock software market shows that this is a very real risk. We've seen attendance data manipulated by employees simply wanting to falsify their timesheets right through to disgruntled IT staff wanting to wreak havoc when they are terminated. Whatever the reason, an online time clock system eliminates this risk.
Posted by markn at March 28, 2011 8:50 AM
