June 09, 2004

By: Briana Thomas
Website: http://www.wedding-invitations-n-online.com

Wedding Invitation Online – Wedding Details Can Be Researched And Purchased Online

Ordering the flowers. Creating the invitations. Finding bridesmaid dresses that aren’t hideously ugly. Planning a wedding is a full-time job for most couples, but unlike generations past, today the majority of wedding details, perhaps even the wedding dress itself, can be researched and purchased online.

As more than three-quarters of U.S. workers have a high-speed Internet connection at the office, compared to approximately one-third at home, employees are continually tempted to utilize their corporate Internet connections to complete the myriad of personal tasks related to wedding planning.

However, according to Websense, Inc., the world’s leading provider of employee Internet management solutions, planning a wedding during the work day does not necessarily mean a drain in productivity and network bandwidth for employers.

Rather, by implementing flexible Internet and application filtering policies, such as quota time, offered by Websense Enterprise software, organizations can allow and manage time spent on non-work related Web sites. Wedding details, perhaps even the wedding dress itself, can be researched and purchased online. Wedding details, perhaps even the wedding dress itself, can be researched and purchased online.

For example, innocuous sites such as those related to weddings can be managed, while more harmful or offensive sites such as employee hacking tools or pornography can be blocked altogether.

Websense’s customizable employee Internet management technology provides the richest spectrum of Internet access policy options beyond the basic 'block' or 'allow' functionality of other Web filtering products.

For example, patented Websense policy options include time-based quotas, in which companies set daily time limits for employee access to non-business-related Web sites such as wedding sites, and notify a user when they must use quota time to access a Web site.

For example, an employee may be allotted 30-minutes per day for personal online activities such as researching floral companies or purchasing a wedding gift from an online registry such as Wedding Channel.com or the Knot.com, two of the largest and most popular sites.

Websense’s sophisticated technology also lets companies filter by time of day, where certain types of Web sites can be made accessible only before or after work hours, and a continue option which notifies a user that a Web site is considered inappropriate, while immediately allowing access to the site with prior notification that access to the site will be reported.

According to a recent Google search, there are more than 34 million Web pages dedicated solely to weddings. Soon-to-be married employees can click their way down the aisle online by listening to sample song sets from potential disc jockeys or bands, ordering invitations, or even bidding for a dream wedding dress on eBay.

According to Websense’s recent Web@Work survey with Harris Interactive, 55 percent of employees admit to surfing shopping Web sites, and 39 percent visit auction sites such as eBay during the work day.

From a personal perspective, online wedding planning saves employees valuable time by researching wedding vendors on their corporate PC and purchasing wedding-related items online—thus avoiding leaving the office, and fighting traffic to meet vendors in person during the work day.

From the employer’s perspective, empowering their employees to plan their weddings online during the work day for limited amounts of time can have a positive effect on corporate morale, improve overall employee productivity, and conserve bandwidth.

Most organizations don’t want to be draconian with their Internet and application usage policies. Companies want to take into account workplace productivity, legal liability, security and bandwidth usage on the one hand and employee expectations and morale on the other, said Harold Kester, chief technology officer for Websense, Inc.

A clearly stated employee access policy teamed with a flexible yet granular employee Internet management solution such as Websense Enterprise strikes the right balance between managing personal surfing yet maintaining the benefits of Internet access.

Websense Enterprise software interfaces real-time with a flexible, award-winning best-of-breed URL database which is used to verify all Internet users’ requests based on the organizations’ acceptable use policy. Each request for a site is matched against the database and the policy associated with that employee.

The Websense URL database currently contains more than 6 million Web sites, including those most frequently accessed by employees. Web sites are classified into more than 90 categories of Internet content in 52 languages. For example, wedding Web sites are classified in either the 'shopping' or 'society and lifestyle' categories.

In addition to the company’s URL filtering products, Websense’s Client Policy Manager provides corporations with a powerful layer of control at the desktop.

Supported by a database of nearly 400,000 applications, CPM blocks the launch of unwanted and potentially dangerous applications and has the ability to proactively lockdown its desktops to prevent the execution of any unauthorized software.

Similar to the company’s Internet filtering capabilities, it can be set to manage application use by individuals or groups.

About The Author:

Briana Thomas is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.wedding-invitations-n-online.com.  Find all types of wedding invitations such as printable, unique, discount, winter, theme, traditional plus more.