Hands-on review: Intego Flextivity Mac monitoring tool

With the growth of Macs in enterprises and small businesses, ensuring productivity has become an ever more difficult occurrence. The use of Facebook and other social networks cause a noticeable sink in business productivity. Intego have released a new app that gives small business owners the capability to manage productivity and keep their Macs secure.

The software has two parts, the first being an app installed on the client computer, and the cloud based management console. The software is designed for business owners to work with their staff to identify best practices for during work hours.

With the ability to set policies for individual computers or networks, you can manage allowed content, as well as ensure virus scanning occurs, and appropriate firewalls are set.

If you work with sensitive information, having appropriate security policies in place are vital, and having your customers know that their information is secure ensures confidence in your product.

Being able to stop internal harassment and inappropriate content can save you from the loss of an employee, or the potential legal issues that could occur.

Flextivity could be seen as Big Brother, with its capability to take screenshots in certain circumstances, so I would suggest openness between employer and employee over its use and expected behaviours at work.

As a coaching tool, it could be quite beneficial, giving you information about computer use, and what is being looked at in your business. After all, it's your business and maximising its efficiency is just as important.

Flexitivity monitors the applications used, giving you feedback on their usage.

Flextivity is a powerful tool, of great benefit to a Mac based business, just use it wisely and ensure trust between you and your staff, as to what it will be used for.