Mac for business? Should I use it? Employee monitoring and other software?

jobber_2

I have considered purchasing Mac's for the small business I run due to their reliability and security.

I do have some questions though regarding what available software there is. Notably because I work in a "knowledge" based industry I need to monitor what information employees are printing off and accessing. Although this may seem a little "dark" its important for us in regards to Data Protection issues.

Do you know of any other factors I should consider with mac for use in business?

superscaper

jobber wrote:

I have considered purchasing Mac's for the small business I run due to their reliability and security.

That's not one I've heard before. My experience in secure environments (BAe Systems, BNFL etc) where confidential and secret documents are involved have all used Windows/PCs.

jobber_2

BEA systems I assume would have had a dedicated IT team... unfortunately I dont have that luxury.

Computer crashing, print spooler problems, network errors... taking to much time out of my day!

MadCowMan

you mean there isn't iBigBrother available ?

You'd need to have auditing available on your file and print servers that would keep a log of files accessed and printed. There are 3rd party applications around that would keep a more detailed log of whats printed, not sure if you'd want to go to the stage of keeping a copy of what is actually being printed out.

You might want to consider what actually needs printing at all if your data is that secure ? if there isn't much printing that has to be done, simple solution , have the printer in your office.

superscaper

jobber wrote:

BEA systems I assume would have had a dedicated IT team... unfortunately I dont have that luxury.

Computer crashing, print spooler problems, network errors... taking to much time out of my day!

Not just large companies, one of my current clients is a very small company, maybe total of about five employees. Their business completely relies on keeping trade secrets out of the public domain. Again they use pcs, I've just never heard anyone before use Apple's because of their "security" in the workplace.

ollyshaw

Why do you want an apple? Reliability and security? Then linux is the OS for you!

Moneymaker

I use Macs for my business. Like "jobber" I simply can't commit time to troubleshooting PCs and the Macs just work. OSX is inherently more secure and more stable than any flavour of Windows. However, I don't need to do any monitoring so I can't answer the specific question.

MadCowMan gave a very helpful answer but, as most posters here seem to be unreasonably "anti-mac" (and probably have very little experience of using OSX), I think you'll get more help on the dedicated Mac help forums.

http://www.macosx.com/forums/
http://www.maclife.com/forums/
http://forum.macformat.co.uk/
http://www.macassist.co.uk/forums/mac.html

superscaper

Moneymaker wrote:

MadCowMan gave a very helpful answer but, as most posters here seem to be unreasonably "anti-mac" (and probably have very little experience of using OSX), I think you'll get more help on the dedicated Mac help forums.

Not a case of being anti-mac, they're fine for the right circumstances, but I've never seen them cited for their reliability and security in the real world if that's the priority of the business. I've only ever seen macs in companies where the primary business was design/art. But when it's something that concerns security in the form of protecting information, I personally have never seen macs used so you must understand that I saw it as a rather odd statement to make when no company I've ever seen thinks the same way.

MadCowMan

I'm not anti mac , ( or anti anything in particular , I'm just anti-zealot ) I'm not a fan(boy) of choosing a solution because of a brand , or perceived advantages. If its right for the job & the budget then it'll do.
The sort of problem described in the 1st post doesn't really hinge on the client , its about the back end structure ( ie where your printers and files are actually held ) which needs to be secure , and I dont really think thats a job for a mac. A good Linux file server will do the job at a low cost , but as the OP doesn't want to spend time 'messing about with IT' , then I don't think Linux will fit the bill either.

wolfman

ollyshaw wrote:

Why do you want an apple? Reliability and security? Then linux is the OS for you!

Well arguably BSD, not Linux. It's a much more controlled, quality assured solution compared with Linux.

A nice FreeBSD server to handle the file sharing, file permissions, logs etc... and printers.

But as far as Mac's are concerned, as workstations they're fine. Very capable. In fact you'd do well having everyone using an iMac or MacBook.

Moneymaker

"With their ease-of-use and enhanced security, G4 Servers have become increasingly popular with many firms and organizations, including the U.S. Army." (The Army had been using Windows NT and is currently using Mac OS servers running WebSTAR web server software for its home page web site.)
http://www.vmslink.com/apple/whyapple.tpl?cart=33381602704252

The TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of Macs is much lower than that of Wintel PCs:
http://138.202.192.14/~trembath/smon/tco.html

This discussion looks useful:
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-2011.html
Includes the suggestion: "Hey, call apple and ask them. They have a business consulting store. You tell them the size of your company, and what you want to do, and they will find the exact thing for your needs."