Secure file collaboration is an emerging focus on small business technology. With the ability to work together, manage workflow, and edit files all under one roof, secure file collaboration makes your projects run easier and smoother. And the security aspect makes your projects safer than ever: only those with the proper credentials can access them, preventing breaches by untrusted third parties.

Google Drive

There are a variety of secure file collaboration solutions available, with the most ubiquitous tool being Google Drive. The solution, offered by Google, is attached to users’ gmail accounts by default and allows for online file creation as well as collaboration by peers. The connection is secure requiring a log in into a collaborator’s gmail account to access the files. The pros of this solution are that it’s easy and is primarily free. The cons, however, are that it’s attached to a gmail account. If the gmail account gets compromised, the attacker also has access to the drive account. It is possible also, if not careful, to accidentally share the documents out to anyone with a link to them instead of just collaborators. Those using Google Drive also require a gmail account.

Dropbox

A second common solution is Dropbox. This program is also fairly common as well, and with good reason. It runs files through a secure connection right into an application accessed through a user’s desktop or through dropbox.com. Collaborators can be added to the file quickly and easily.

The pros to this solution are the fact that dropbox is a desktop application and therefore less vulnerable to attack. It runs through a secure connection, and it’s a bit more secure than Google. It’s also impossible to share things out accidentally. The cons are that dropbox costs money for anything beyond the most basic of plans, and the more collaborators you need, the more dropbox costs.

There are other solutions beyond this for secure file collaboration, but these are just two of them. Each solution, like Drive and Dropbox, has its individual pros and cons. Make sure you do your research before picking a method, but keep in mind that secure file collaboration will allow your employees to work from anywhere, so it’s well worth the extra work.

To find out more about secure file collaboration, or to learn about other services we have to offer, contact us today.