Mar 28, 2014

Providing a universal platform to store essential business files has become necessary for many organizations looking to boost productivity and have constant access to documents. With such a system in place, if the office Internet goes out or employees are working from home, they can easily keep using their resources and complete daily tasks. Without online file storage, companies could be forced to wait until their systems are back up and running, losing potential revenue and racking up additional costs for recovery needs. While there is rising demand for the solutions, decision makers must consider which option will be most beneficial and offer the features users require.

There are numerous services that organizations can use to preserve their essential documents, but many will be unfeasible. More developers are trying to gear their consumer-grade systems toward businesses, but this option often doesn’t have the necessary security capabilities, which could leave substantial vulnerabilities. For example, CSO recently evaluated Dropbox to see how the option measured up, finding that the solution is not viable for business. Dropbox does not have the essential security capabilities that firms could need or the remote features that enterprise systems offer. Both of these traits are essential to operations as staff will likely need video and other files to complete tasks. In addition, hackers could easily create attacks within consumer file sharing solutions, going undetected as many providers don’t inspect their environment from the inside out.

“Specifically, due to a desire to be all things to all customers, many of these vendors follow a guiding business principle to acquire ever larger shares of the customer segments that they target by allowing almost totally unrestricted content storage within their systems. Some of that content can be highly toxic and lethal,” industry expert Adam Gordon told the source.

Choosing the right storage platform
When deciding on a storage option, it’s crucial to research the vendors and what their offerings are truly capable of. As the need for this technology continues to grow, there will be numerous providers that will emerge, but many of these clones will die out, according to InformationWeek contributor Eric van Miltenburg. The organizations looking to capitalize on the trend will not be able to provide the security and reliability that businesses need – however, Memeo C1 has already established itself as an online file sharing solution geared for company use with the protection measures that IT and executives are looking for. The system also provides employees the flexibility they need to work effectively without compromising the safety of sensitive information.

“For the rest of the clones, it will be time to sign off for good,” van Miltenburg wrote. “Even after the inevitable consolidation, the survivors will need to keep innovating. Providing more than just a storage repository is the key to continued success.”

Sharing files is becoming more of a necessity and it will be important for organizations to consider how they can use the trend to their advantage. By gauging the features users need and factoring in security requirements, decision makers can choose an effective storage solution and maximize potential benefits.