3 enterprise-strength file sync services to check out

This should be the year your organization looks to dump its consumer file-sharing software. Don’t get me wrong — many of those services are great for individuals, but they’re not really suitable for enterprises. There are other products, however, that offer the file sync that Dropbox and Box and others do so well and so seamlessly, while also providing enterprise-level controls around access, encryption, identity, and more.

In this article, I will compare and contrast three prominent services so that in the new budget year, you and your IT department can make the right decisions.

flickr/moppet65535

There are five key features that enterprises should keep in mind when evaluating products in this file sync space, and I’ve written this analysis with an eye toward these five characteristics:

1. Information rights management: An administrator should be able to control what happens to a file that is downloaded or uploaded from the service, especially when it comes from a user external to the company, and especially how that file can be distributed after it is downloaded from the service. (How many politicians from this previous election cycle might have wished for this protection?)
2. A robust set of security features: You want single sign-on and federation or directory sync so your users get populated (and more importantly, depopulated) automatically, your data is encrypted both at rest and in transit, the service’s data centers are compliant with HIPAA and all of the other industry-specific acronyms that ought to matter to you as an enterprise, you have granular file- and folder-level controls, and you have control over external sharing and collaboration.