TCS Laptop Monitoring Tool Raises Employee Surveillance and Data Privacy Questions

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has deployed a Digital User Experience Monitoring tool on company-issued laptops, raising questions about employee activity monitoring, data security, and privacy.

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According to Moneycontrol, the tool can show applications accessed and the time spent on them.

Tool Used on Company-Issued Laptops

The deployment is being viewed internally from two perspectives: preventing data leaks and monitoring activity on employee devices. Moneycontrol reported that TCS has not formally communicated the move to employees.

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The company has also not responded to questions about the software vendor, its exact capabilities, the type of employee data collected, or who within TCS can access the information. These details could not be independently verified.

Employee-monitoring tools are already used across parts of the IT and BPM industry. However, the HR concern is about how such tools are used and whether information is collected only for IT and security purposes or linked to individual employees.

Pareekh Jain, CEO of EIIRTrend, said the likely purpose of such a tool is to check whether applications are working properly, identify issues such as applications hanging, and understand time spent on different applications.

He added that this can be an important metric when managing IT infrastructure for a client, while also acknowledging that the same tool can be used for employee surveillance.

Privacy and Client Data Concerns

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The extent of monitoring available through the TCS tool could not be independently established. It is also unclear whether the information is aggregated for IT and security teams or made available to managers.

The media reported concerns around employees working through client virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). If monitoring extends into client environments, it could raise questions about the handling of confidential client information.

However, there is no confirmed evidence that TCS is currently capturing such data. Some key questions remain unanswered:

• What employee activity is being recorded?
• Is the information linked to individual employees?
• Who can access and retain the data?
• Is the tool being used for security, IT support or employee performance monitoring?

TCS Privacy Policy

TCS says in its privacy policy that it has measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, use, alteration or disclosure. The company also says access to personal data is limited to people with a business need to know.

TCS employed 6,00,000 professionals as of June 30, 2026, according to its investor FAQs. At this scale, employee monitoring also raises practical questions around data management, access controls and transparency.

TCS also expanded its partnership with Zscaler earlier this year and launched Workspace Experience Studio with digital experience monitoring capabilities. However, it could not be established whether that technology is the same tool now deployed on employee laptops.