Folder Synchronization Is Not For Business

The amount of data traffic in the world is staggering, and that number is only going to continue to rise. The cloud seems to be the reason for this rise, and in fact is now where most of this data traffic is taking place. All things considered, this is not all that surprising. The cloud makes collaborating with colleagues and reaching out to clients easier, it provides additional layers of safety to sensitive data, and it provides the means to moving, storing, and utilizing large quantities of data that simply are not possible with legacy IT solutions.

However, the cloud is still a relative newcomer on the IT scene, and many businesses are either not using the cloud at all, or if they are using the cloud, not utilizing it to its maximum potential. Indeed, there is still a lot of room for the cloud to grow in the business world. Arguably the biggest trap that businesses fall into when looking at the cloud is getting stuck on file sync capabilities.
File sync is among the most basic cloud features, and certainly one of the least efficient ways of managing and sharing large quantities of data. Despite this, file sync has arguably become the most popular and well known feature of the cloud, besides perhaps storage. The reason for this is because of the consumer side of the cloud industry. While DriveHQ has always been dedicated to providing business cloud IT solutions, other companies such as Dropbox and Box have popularized the cloud on the consumer side.

Limitations of File Sync for Business Use

Traditional file sync providers such as Dropbox have popularized the file sync folder, where you can easily store files, and they will automatically be synced to the cloud server. Unfortunately, this does not scale well to large data and a large number of users. Imagine if you needed to save a document to the cloud, but you also needed different users to have different degrees of access to the document. Or what if you had locations in two different countries and needed remote, real-time collaboration capabilities?

With file sync, you’re extremely limited. All you can do is access a folder located on a cloud server, and then downloaded onto your local device by making a copy of it. Obviously, since you are only getting a copy of the file, if you try to edit it and re-upload it, you will risk overwriting updates. Furthermore, if you have a number of users trying to access the file from the same network, you may eat up bandwidth and slow down all work productivity because of all the copies being made.

File sync does not offer much in the way of security. If you wish to share a file, you have to share it to everyone. Not only that, because users make a copy of a file and download it onto their local devices, any user could then take that file and do whatever they wanted with it. File sync is not just a solution that lacks security, it is also relatively unreliable. Some service providers have developed countermeasures to the following problem, but for the most part, if you experience a network outage, your computer is briefly disconnected from the internet, the app stops running, etc. you will not be able to resume an interrupted sync task, and will have to start from the beginning.
Obviously, if you are a large enterprise with large quantities of data, this would be highly problematic. File sync is not a bad cloud solution by any means. If you need to store small personal data, like images, videos, or documents, or only need to share between a few users, file sync offers a quick, convenient, and easy to use solution. However, if you are an enterprise and you need a secure and reliable solution, there are certainly more powerful solutions available.

DriveHQ’s Alternative Solutions and their Advantages over File Sync

With FileManager, you will have a window displaying both your folders on the local drive and in the folders in the cloud drive. Moving, sharing, publishing, and remotely editing files is not just possible with FileManager, it’s easy. DriveHQ offers powerful security and encryption tools, and using FileManager in conjunction can optimize your enterprise operations. FileManager has file sync capabilities, meaning it literally can do everything a file sync service like Dropbox can do, but also much more. If you need to create groups and sub-groups, share and publish folders, set access rights for different sub-users, or just do a basic file transfer of any size, FileManager is typically the best solution for you.

WebDav Drive Mapping is perhaps the easiest alternative to file sync available. The point of mapping a folder to a drive is to make the folder, which is locally accessible, connect to the cloud. In other words, rather than having to logon to an application or website, all you need to do is open up a folder and you can access any documents saved to the folder. If the folder has been shared to other users, you can access documents that those other users have uploaded without needing to save a copy of the document to your local device. Accessing and then collaborating on files is much easier.

Data backup is why many people turn to the cloud for solutions. With the Online Backup software, you can actually store data on the cloud with the intent of having it there to be protected, not merely stored. With so many cloud storage providers lacking in basic security features, it is not hard to understand why people do not use the cloud to protect data. Features that allow you to roll back your account to a certain date, save file versions, and even backup data that are already stored to a different cloud account, has actually made it safe to backup your data with the cloud. And with the ability to schedule backup tasks, you can keep the Online Backup software running in the background, meaning you can spend less time backing up your data, and more time generating data to backup.