Messaging and file sharing are fundamental to taking your business beyond walls—and they’re not the same thing. Learn what to look for.
Using mobile devices at work is no big deal these days. But if you’re really going to reap the benefits, it pays to have a strategy. The key is to find ways to get the information you need in a form you can use. And you want access to it from any device—laptop, smartphone, tablet.
The two most fundamental data services that almost all businesses share are email and file sharing. People need to share information—whether documents in the form of files or messages such as email and instant messaging (IM). Even though these services are basic to a wide variety of business activities, how a business chooses to deploy and manage these services can have pretty big consequences down the road.
Email and file sharing shouldn’t be the same thing
Many organizations primarily share files by passing them back and forth in email. It’s an ingrained habit from when it was difficult to share files from a server behind a firewall with other organizations.
Email is convenient, but it’s also got some disadvantages as a primary file-sharing tool. For example, every time you email a file, you create a copy of the information. Copies of documents can be controlled with technology such as Azure Rights Management, but it’s still a good idea not to create dozens of copies every time you collaborate with another team. It also wastes storage space and network bandwidth, clogging inboxes and Ethernet cables with unnecessary data.
You don’t have to ditch your servers
Many businesses have an on-premises file server or three delivering files across the organization. They serve many important purposes and are likely to stick around for a long time. However, even in an organization with significant investment in on-premises file shares, there are times when having a cloud-based option is attractive, especially if it is transparent to users and simple for IT to manage.
Simpler storage and sharing
Now, it’s easy to create a secure cloud storage and share solution where you can securely collaborate with your own team, and share information under policies you control. Microsoft OneDrive for Business complements Exchange Online in Office 365 this way. OneDrive for Business serves as a seamless cloud file store, whether as a primary solution or complementing existing, on-premises storage resources.
With a small business cloud storage location for your whole team to store and share information from multiple devices, you can improve information security, reduce storage requirements, and maintain control over your critical business information. Instead of creating copies every time a change is made, OneDrive syncs files so they stay up-to-date automatically. You can control who has access to a file.
Going mobile
Back to mobility: Exchange email and OneDrive file storage work on a wide range of popular devices, from smartphones to tablets to computers, to help you manage your small business cloud-based email communications. So, if you click a link in your Outlook email, you’re likely to have a OneDrive native or web app available to help you open and manage files. It’s an integrated solution without the up-front integration.
Ready to get your business out and about? Check out Exchange and OneDrive as part of affordable Office 365 subscriptions.
