Having a remote team is getting more and more popular. There are many good reasons for it, too. It does, however, come with its challenges, not least of all the difficulty of overseeing all the processes and daily tasks that telecommuters do.

One way to solve this common problem is to implement a software that will enable you to monitor remote workers’ computer activities and keep track of their working hours. But, as you’ll soon discover, there’s a huge array of different options for you to choose from - from computer time monitoring software free versions to the more advanced paid solutions, from the most basic to extremely sophisticated ones.

Going through all these computer surveillance software reviews and choosing the right one can seem like an impossible task, but this article is here to provide you with some tips on what you should pay special attention to if you want your choice to agree perfectly with your remote workers in particular.

Paid vs Free Computer Monitoring Program

Getting the most for the best price is the ultimate goal for many companies out there. But you also have to factor in the features that you want.

In other words, although computer usage monitoring software free versions are your cheapest option, they might not have all the features, support and compatibility that the process of tracking a remote workforce requires. So list out all the things you’d like to have, prioritize, do your research and then, once you have your own top 10 employee monitoring software list, choose the remote computer monitoring software which you believe offers the best value for money.

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System Compatibility and Installation Process

Easy as it is to make sure that the software works on your own machine, you have to consider its compatibility with other operating systems, especially if your remote workers use their own computers and you have no authority over which operating system they run on or how much memory they have.

It’s best to ensure at least both Mac and Windows user activity monitoring support, but it’s advisable to get the software that’s going to work on as many different systems as possible. For instance, you might want to not only get Windows 10 PC monitoring software, but also Windows 7 monitoring software, just in case your telecommuters have this older version.

Another thing you should consider is the installation process. It needs to be super easy for you to implement the software on your remote workers’ computers. The latest technology allows you to send an email invitation to your remote employees so that they can just click a button and download monitoring software without even having to come into the office. Pretty handy for someone who’s on another continent!

Basic and Advanced Features

Probably the most important thing to take into account are the functionalities that you need.

Considering it’s the remote team you’re going to be using monitoring software for, you’re going to need, first and foremost, attendance tracking feature. Time spent doing tasks on their computer is essentially like working hours for telecommuters, so having clear reports and timesheets on this is critical. Apart from this, you should look for app and website monitoring and time tracking functionality, which shouldn’t be hard to find as most systems offer these.

As for the more advanced features that you might come across when choosing the best PC monitoring software, think about whether you really need them or not. The key is to consider what you can and can’t do when conducting employee tracking on remote workers.

Some systems will include stealth mode which there’s no point in using because you have to tell remote workers about monitoring anyways. Another such feature can be automatic screenshots. Again, you shouldn’t really use this on employees who work from home because they might be using their computers outside working hours for private matters.

Basically, if you don’t need it, make sure you’re not paying extra for it.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for the answer on how to track computer usage of remote workers in the best possible way, considering these three things should be your first step to choosing the best computer monitoring software. It all boils down to which metrics you need to track in order to improve remote employees’ performance and how to do this in a way that’s fair and respectful of their privacy.

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