Common Mishaps When Organizations Use Consumer File Hosting Services for Work

File Hosting Services

This year’s situation with COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns posed new challenges for businesses, as they were forced to switch to work from home and the question of remote work organization became more relevant than ever.

For companies that were not previously working with remote environments, it may be challenging because it involves multiple steps of planning, implementation, and integration, as well as organizing extra protection measures like VPN, firewalls, and DDoS protection for the corporate workspace.

Among the essentials that come to mind in this process is organizing a file-sharing solution, as it’s an integral part of functioning almost for any business. The right way here is to incorporate the Distributed File system. While the majority of workspaces use Windows Active Directory to manage internal profile and accesses along with Remote Desktop Protocol, the DFS solution should have a possibility to integrate with the technologies that are already in place.

As these technologies continue to be in demand, choosing cloud DFS solutions such as Gladinet or similar providers will cover most of your file-sharing needs.

Choosing the File sharing solution may be tricky, as looking for cutting costs business owners choose to use traditional file sharing solutions designed for personal needs. And here’s where the majority of issues can occur:

Lack of Centralized management

Unfortunately, traditional file hosting solutions like Google Drive or Dropbox does not allow managing logs and arrange system monitoring to check who is accessing the files shared via a link. It brings the risk of data leakage. Recent research shows shocking stats: more than 50% of companies had over 1000 sensitive data open to everyone in the company. So if the breach happens, it will be hard to spot it and revoke all the required accesses.

Synchronization issues

One more important point is collaboration on the file, and the traditional services lack the option of blocking simultaneous editing that is present in DFS solutions. Using the latter, users are working on the local copy and once the work on a file is done, their changes are synchronized with the original file. With the collaboration present in the personal file usage, it’s not possible to block the file for editing that may bring a mess in the working process. (i.e. in Google, when multiple users are working on the complicated spreadsheet, it becomes really slow and inconvenient to edit).

Inability to grant Custom permissions

The majority of traditional hosting services lack the option of selective sharing of files. I.e usually, you can make files accessible via a link or by personal notification, sometimes even by sharing the password-protected link, but there’s no way to grant group permissions especially when different folders and files take place. Moreover, if you use shared access by link or password, when a person leaves a company, or simultaneously open access to certain groups. If you have a big team, it becomes a real headache. DFS  solves this issue by integrating with your Active Directory. Thus, if you change the group list, the corresponding permissions will be granted or revoked automatically.

Insufficient Data encryption

Traditional solutions have very limited options for data encryption, and if you deal with customers’ personal information it may become a serious problem. Exposing this info is considered as a breach of data protection laws like GDPR or CCPA and may result in paying enormous fines (much higher per one incident, than you spend on adopting the DFS solution).

As you may see some of the issues caused by using traditionalFile Hosting Services – This year’s situation with COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns posed new challenges for businesses. file sharing may just bring inconveniences, while others bring the risk of financial damages, that’s why choosing the proper DFS solutions make both these issues going away.

Needless to say, that before making any decision, you need to have a thorough plan including all the business requirements regarding the file sharing service functionality as well as any potential issues it may cause. Only in this way, you can find the best file sharing service for your business.