Tata Consultancy Services has reportedly rolled out a Digital User Experience Monitoring tool on company issued laptops used by close to six lakh employees, a move that has stirred debate over where cybersecurity ends and workplace surveillance begins.
What The Tool Reportedly Tracks?
According to a report by Bussiness, the software gives TCS visibility into which applications employees access on their laptops and how much time is spent on each one. Sources cited in the report said the deployment is being viewed internally through two lenses, as a step to strengthen data security and prevent leaks, and as a way to gain sharper oversight of activity on company owned devices.
Silence From The Company Adds To The Unease
Much of the unease among employees appears to stem not from the existence of the tool itself but from the lack of any formal communication preceding its rollout. When a company introduces software capable of tracking activity on personal work devices, employees typically expect to be informed beforehand. That reportedly did not happen at TCS, leaving many staff members uncertain about the exact purpose of the tool, the nature of the data being gathered and who within the organisation can access it.
TCS Denies Tracking Individual Employees
Breaking its silence, TCS has now pushed back on the surveillance claims. In a statement given to India Today Tech, the company dismissed the reports as baseless and said it does not monitor the individual activity of employees on their laptops, adding that employee privacy is respected. TCS clarified that the tools in question are meant to track network performance at a broader, macro level, with the stated aim of ensuring security, system availability and a better overall user experience for staff.
Client Confidentiality Adds Another Layer
The situation is further complicated by the fact that a large share of TCS employees work through client owned virtual desktop infrastructure. Sources had earlier suggested the company may eventually need to look beyond simple login hours to what work is actually being carried out, though any attempt to track activity within client systems could raise separate concerns around confidentiality and data protection obligations.
Part Of A Larger Industry Debate
Employee monitoring software is not new to the IT and business process management space, but its growing sophistication has intensified scrutiny globally. Cognizant faced similar criticism last year over a comparable tool, while Meta recently drew backlash for logging employee keystrokes as part of an AI data initiative before rolling back the practice.
With TCS now on record denying individual surveillance, attention is likely to shift toward whether the company offers further clarity on the tool’s vendor, its exact capabilities and the specific categories of data it collects.
Khushi Patel
Khushi Patel is a Senior Sub Editor at NewsX, covering automotive, technology, Lifestyle, entertainment, and mainstream news. She previously worked as a Copy Editor at Times Network and has written automotive editorial content, including comparison pieces, for TimesDrive.
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