With the advent of “the cloud” and new ways of working in business, you’ve probably heard one name more than any other — Dropbox. For years, Dropbox has established itself as the standard file-sharing software. Though many fine alternatives are available, such as Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox is regularly the leader.
Let’s take a look at the value Dropbox provides to your business to see if it’s a good fit for your needs.
What is Dropbox?
Just in case you’re not familiar, Dropbox is a file synchronization service that offers a personal plan as well as business features. Dropbox works by creating a special folder on your computer. Anything you place in that folder — documents, pictures, music, etc. — is automatically synced to other devices that use your Dropbox account.
So, let’s say you had Dropbox installed on your home office PC, your work PC, and your iPhone. If you were working on a spreadsheet at home and saved it in Dropbox, you could easily retrieve it from your Dropbox folder on your office PC. There’s no fumbling around with a flash drive or emailing yourself files — everything just syncs.
That’s the backbone of what Dropbox does, but its business plan offers a lot more.
Team Syncing
When you implement Dropbox for Business at your company, the power of syncing files across computers becomes a lot more powerful. Using Dropbox’s administrator tools, you can set up groups and teams to have access to certain files.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8xFWpvtFV0
For instance, you could create a folder for each department in your company’s Dropbox and make the manager of that department the administrator for said folder. Each manager then has the power to add and remove users from the folder and control how they sync those files.
You can imagine the benefit this has for teams. Setting up a Dropbox folder is simple, and once everyone has the Dropbox software on their computers, they always have the most up-to-date version of important files. No more emailing files back and forth or accidentally editing the same file at once. Dropbox lets you know if another team member is viewing the same file as you so you don’t make clashing changes.
Powerful Administration Tools
Situations often change in a business environment, and Dropbox for Business gives you the tools to adjust.
If someone loses a device with access to your Dropbox, you can wipe it so that confidential files don’t fall into the wrong hands. Whenever someone changes positions, an easy account transfer tool lets you re-assign files to someone else. It’s easy to change folder permissions for new users or remove them for those leaving. And Dropbox provides usage reports so you can review what team members have been doing in case you suspect foul play.
When you need to share a file with someone outside your company, you can send them a password-protected link that expires after a set time. Dropbox also provides file recovery, so if someone makes an accidental change to a document you can roll it back.
Best-in-Class File Syncing
Any business that needs a better file storage system should look into Dropbox. It combines simple yet incredibly useful features with powerful security and management features. If this sounds like something that your company could use, we invite you to contact us today. Let’s see if Dropbox for Business can benefit you.