Bloxx, a leader in content filtering and security, has announced that Sevenoaks District Council has deployed its Web Filtering solution to help it improve IT efficiency across its organisation. The Council will use the Bloxx Web Filter to help it manage complex permissions across different departments to ensure that employees are able to access the sites they need without being hindered by over-blocking or complex configuration management.
Sevenoaks District Council provides a range of services to 114,000 people across west Kent. The Internet is used extensively by staff, from logging onto payment gateways through to checking information about licensed premises and accessing central government services across the Council’s Public Service Network connection. The previous Web filtering solution was proving to be too restrictive for staff and caused network latency problems. This was a source of deep frustration for employees and calls to the help desk significantly increased. Despite extensive product training only a few people felt comfortable making changes to the configuration, which in turn was a complex task as it required three different tools and could only run directly on the Microsoft Windows Server.
Michael Laver-Smith, IT Manager at Sevenoaks District Council commented: “Flexible access to the Internet is absolutely critical for the effective provisioning of the varied services we provide to citizens. However, despite our 100 Mb connection, with the previous solution it felt like we were on go-slow. Rather than enabling the staff in their job role, having to use the Web was becoming a hindrance, as there was no consistency in terms of performance. Our staff operate in a dynamic working environment and need to be confident that the Web can support them in delivering a stand out service to residents, rather than acting as a barrier to productivity.”
In addition to helping the Council to increase the performance and reliability of the Internet, the Bloxx Web Filter has introduced an extra layer of security at the Council’s network gateway and enabling it to inspect and filter HTTPs traffic entering the network, which it hasn’t previously been able to do. The ability to detect and block malware at the gateway will also reduce the risk of endpoint infection.
Charles Sweeney, CEO, Bloxx commented: “All to often organisations find themselves suffering from over zealous Web filtering solutions that focus on how the Web can be restricted. As a result staff can’t perform their jobs effectively and it becomes very demotivating for all concerned, not to mention costly as the IT team ends up having to dedicate resource the problem. Web security technologies need to provide real-time and dynamic access in order to help organisations benefit from the enormous potential of the Internet through facilitating transactions, sharing of knowledge and services.”
About Bloxx
Bloxx offers Web and email filtering and security for medium and large organizations in both the business and public sectors. Bloxx has achieved unrivalled sales growth year-on-year to become a leading Web filtering provider with an estimated 6 million+ users worldwide. To find out more about Bloxx Web filtering email [email protected] or visit www.bloxx.com.
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