Best Cloud File Sharing For Mac
Daniel Brame The Best Cloud Storage and File Sharing Providers for Businesses for 2019 Businesses need reliable cloud storage and file-sharing services in order to effectively manage their files. Here we test and compare 10 such services that make it easy to manage files within or outside of your company. What Is Cloud Storage? There's limitless scalability and budget-easing affordability to be enjoyed with today's storage capacity and pricing options in the cloud. Your business can store its data at a fraction of the cost of other options these days. Users can easily share important documents across the company and externally, thanks to integrated services and strong cloud-based security.
Files can be sent fully encrypted and IT can track them with complete oversight. That said, there are still many important features that cloud-based storage and file sharing platforms need to contain before they can be considered ready for businesses. For information to be useful in the business world, it needs to be accessible, traceable, and secure. Cloud services also should support the needs of workers accessing data in multiple locations, since roughly is set up for at least part-time remote work, according to.
In addition, cloud services should support the workflow of your organization. Luckily, there are several cloud storage applications that can meet these challenges. But before you make a final buying decision and migrate your data to someone else's cloud, you should know some key details relating to storage and sharing, security, and integrations. Storage and Sharing In terms of storage capacity, raw storage space is becoming more and more affordable every year. As multiple terabytes (TB) per user become commonplace, competition has shifted more to service features rather than overall bucket size.
Today, 1 TB of space is typical as a starting place, with more storage readily available and very affordable. What you're really looking at are the other features provided by the service. Some providers have their own data centers while others actually outsource their storage to another third-party cloud, often (AWS) or a similar (IaaS) player. That's an important point to consider: Are you signing a service-level agreement (SLA) with a cloud provider that's directly responsible for the infrastructure or is the provider beholden to another party? If it's a third party, make sure to investigate that firm and examine its track record. Then, look at the levels of service it offers.
For example, while all of the major offerings have some level of uptime guarantee, it is worth noting that location is an important factor. How many data centers does the third party have? And is your data distributed among them for better reliability or does that come at an additional cost? In terms of sharing data, at a minimum, this should take the form of a sync client, meaning software that resides on each registered client and which takes care of making sure data in the cloud is synced with any local replicas. But it can also have other points of access.
For instance, Microsoft OneDrive for Business syncs with the Team sites that are part of the popular collaboration platform, while Box for Business offers a fully functional web client with drag-and-drop support. Shared data can be stored in folders originated by individuals or in team folders that are created by team leads or administrators (and are accessible to anyone on the team). Some version of team folders should be considered a necessary component of any business-grade cloud storage app. By creating central points of collaboration that don't originate from any one user, it becomes easier to grant and revoke access as well as pass on ownership when an individual leaves the organization or changes divisions. Several solutions go above and beyond the call of duty and incorporate tight integration with popular office products such as. Users can, in many cases, view and edit the same document at the same time.
While there isn't a perfect solution yet, situations where the last user always wins may go away in the near future. Keeping data safe is a bigger challenge today than it's ever been. What were once considered 'advanced' data safety features, such as enterprise-grade, redundant storage layers, and encryption both at rest and in transit, are no longer optional.
These are now basic requirements for you to even consider spending money on a service. Fortunately, cloud storage providers seem to agree, which is evidenced by commonly available features and the fact that most IT professionals trust cloud security as much or more than what's available on-premises (64 percent according to a 2015 survey by the ). The logic is fairly simple.
Most IT professionals simply don't have the budget to research, deploy, and manage the advanced security capabilities that cloud service vendors can provide because it's key to their primary business. That's upped security in the cloud significantly over the past couple of years, which has had the pleasant side effect of letting many cloud services successfully comply with standards such as the (HIPAA) and ISO 27001. Ensuring that information is auditable is paramount to meeting corporate obligations. Losing mission-critical files due to mistakes or misconduct can often cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in reparations or lost capital.
Document retention is often a requirement in legal matters as well. In heavily regulated industries, having the right information on hand can often mean the difference between being in or out of compliance with federal or industry-specific regulations. All of this means that, before you purchase any cloud service, you need to sit down with your IT staff and your compliance expert, and then map out exactly where data and apps need to be located in order to pass the compliance regulations that are important to your business. Personal mobile devices, especially when used in (BYOD) scenarios, add new challenges to controlling the flow of sensitive documents and information. Capabilities such as remote wipe or digital rights management can go a long way in limiting how far information can spread outside of the organization, especially when these devices are lost or compromised. Some products offer these features out of the box, while others use third-party offerings to close this gap, such as.
Controlling permissions varies from product to product. Some solutions offer a highly granular hierarchy of permissions. In addition to the ability to define job roles and assign access based on that, multiple nested groups can be established.
Adding or removing permissions is an easy affair once they're properly defined. Other products opt for a more simplified approach. It's a daunting task for a user to keep up with the litany of passwords required across all apps without reducing security in some way. (SSO) solves some of this by having one secure password, such as the one used for a or Google account. Some solutions offer this capability as a first-class citizen while others have partnerships with third-party products. Either way, from a small business perspective, this is an important feature since password management is often given low priority when compared against getting business done.
Locking data away doesn't end with just, either. In addition to having something you know, it's better to pair it with something you have. Two-factor or even (MFA) is becoming a more commonplace option, and cloud storage companies are getting onboard. Mobile phones, or specially prepared USB fobs, are typically the default option as the secondary authentication source.
But other forms of tokens exist, including and biometrics. Platforms Almost as important as keeping information safe is making information accessible across the diverse landscape of devices that users bring to the mix. The primary candidates are the typical: Microsoft Windows, Linux, and a variety of Android flavors, as well as Apple's iOS and OS X. For any platform to be effective in today's business landscape, web access is a must.
In some cases, an authorized device is not always available. Being able to grab a quick document for a meeting or push a business-critical document from a remote computer can be a lifesaver for an ever-increasing distributed workforce—a lifesaver that users expect to be available to them. Mobile compatibility has gained a place in the ecosystem of business. This especially applies to road warriors who frequently work in planes, cars, and subways. Space is often at a premium, and the ability to prepare for a meeting or analyze a spreadsheet on the go is a necessity. Having a cloud storage solution that can provide these capabilities to users via a software client optimized for their particular operating system (OS), be it Android, iOS, even Windows Phone, is a feature you should look for in a competitive service offering. For example, Dropbox Business recently added some that let users see file activity and team feedback in file preview.
Integration and APIs One of the primary benefits of having information in the cloud is that it can be part of a larger ecosystem of connected apps. This capability lets businesses create custom workflows and business processes, often without having to hire contract programmers. For example, it's not unusual or difficult to configure your employees' note-taking apps to automatically drive input to task-tracking apps. That way, decisions made in meetings are automatically reflected in your toolkit. Those apps might, in turn, drive a need to store reference material. Integration-oriented (APIs) help reduce the barrier to making apps work together, especially when your IT staff has some development talent.
While many the most popular cloud storage solutions, such as Dropbox Business and Box, offer a rich set of integration options, some others, such as Jungle Disk, opt to primarily focus on the storage aspect. So, before buying, consider exactly how you want these solutions to fit into your business and what it will take to make that happen. Choosing a cloud storage product for your organization can seem like a daunting task when you first consider all of the variables involved. Striking a balance between usability, security, and customization ultimately needs to be driven by business requirements, but understanding exactly what those requirements are is a serious task that will require real work; it's not something you want to come to with a snap decision. Planning is the key. So sit down with business leads, IT managers, and even a rep from the cloud provider under consideration. Make sure that all parties are getting what they need.
Only after going through that step should you pull the trigger on a provider and start the migration process. Pros: Provides client-controlled encryption keys. Offers server backup capability.
Its shared drive approach is intuitive. Nicely priced. Cons: No system-level imaging capabilities. Very lean set of backup options. Storage is somewhat limited. Storage volumes aren't controlled by Jungle Disk. Bottom Line: Jungle Disk lacks some of the native business application backup features that other services have.
But it maintains a high level of encryption, which helps keep it compliant with HIPAA and other regulations. Pros: Built-in options for backing up Microsoft Hyper-V, Exchange, and SQL Server. Cost is based on storage space and not user count.
Strong encryption is utilized. Cons: Lacks native support for VMWare products. No team collaboration features offered. Multifactor authentication isn't supported. No options for backing up cloud-based services. Bottom Line: MozyPro for Business a solid, reasonably priced, no-fuss option for backing up your company's systems. It excels in personal storage, data retention, and security but lags a bit when it comes to backing up non-Microsoft virtualized environments and cloud services.
Pros: Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Multiple methods of transfer (FTP, SFTP, and WebDAV) are available.
Continuous backup. Cons: No security certifications are published. Features seem geared toward the consumer. Price is high for the limited feature set and lack of data protection assurances. Buy cheap weblight 5.0.16 for macbook pro. Bottom Line: Livedrive for Business shows promise and offers many of the features you'd come to expect from an entry-level cloud storage solution. However, the lack of assurances regarding data protection may steer more risk-averse business users elsewhere.
Get better security for the files that you share, right from your inbox. Include attachments of up to 5GB from Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint or your local drive and overcome inbox file size restrictions. Control documents before and after sharing.
Restrict forwarding or downloading of information, limit the viewing time of sensitive information and recall documents after they have been shared. A full timeline of activities for each file supports audit, legal and regulatory requirements. Get better security for file sharing. Share files of up to 5GB from Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint. Control files after sending. Monday.com is a project management tool your team will actually enjoy using. It makes it fun and easy for everyone to collaborate, focus on what's important, and get more done at work.
It's the first visual tool of its kind and shows you exactly where things stand at a single glance. Finally get rid of painfully long email threads, cut down on meetings, and experience the satisfaction of turning things green when they're done. Monday.com lets you easily share files, sync, and collaborate. Don't waste time on messy folders.
Keep files in context. Find any file, regardless of where its stored with Digitile's cross-platform file search platform. Digitile centralizes search results across Google Drive, Gmail, GSuite, Dropbox, OneDrive, Slack and Trello all in one place so you don't have to sign in and out of different accounts. Digitile complements your existing software solutions. We are not asking you to stop using them, we just want to help you find assets scattered across all your cloud platforms.
File search engine that centralizes results across cloud platforms such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Slack, Trello and Gmail. Steamline team communication with Flock! Email less and get more work done. From instant messaging and file sharing, to integrating with your favorite external apps like Google, MailChimp, Dropbox, Jira, Trello and more - organize all your work streams with Flock. Flock is a powerful work tool that comes loaded with built-in features like Shared To-Dos, Reminders, Notes, Polls and more! Start for FREE Flock is a team communication tool that helps you get work done, only faster!
Web conferencing, instant messaging, file sharing and mor. Realtime messaging & file sharing - Realtime messaging allows for instant decision making. Files of any format can be shared via the chat window in seconds. Channels - Individual channels can be created for individual teams or for projects, discussions, or fun chat rooms. Audio and video calls - Start audio/video calls right from your chat window. Secure and searchable history - Advanced search lets you search and find anyfile orpiece of textin your chat history in seconds. Cliq will help you communicate, collaborate and reach consensus without any hassles.
Catch up with your team no matter where you are. Make work easy with MangoApps Content & Knowledge Management Platform - a central place to store, share, find documents & other company knowledge. With an intelligent employee platform at its core, MangoApps is designed for & serves organizations with 50-50,000 employees in a broad range of industries from retail, healthcare, manufacturing, not-for-profit, professional services, financial services, media, technology and the public sector.
Make work easy with MangoApps Content & Knowledge Management Platform - a central place to store, share, find documents. Zoho WorkDrive is an online file storage, sync and collaboration platform for modern teams, small businesses and large enterprises. It introduces Team Folders, which enables teams of any size to work together securely like they're right beside you. Besides, you get the Zoho Office Suite Editors, and complete access stats at the team level and the team folder level. TeamDrive takes complete care of your mobility needs with the Android and iOS mobile apps and the desktop sync application. Zoho WorkDrive is an online file storage, sync and collaboration platform for modern teams to work together.
Bitrix24 is a free file sharing and document management platform used by 4 million companies. You can also deploy Bitrix24 on premise, install it on your own server and alter source code, if necessary. Regardless if you choose free or paid editions, cloud or self hosted, you get the same set of features - desktop apps for PC and Mac, mobile apps for iOS and Android, online and offline editing, document management with flexible access rights and more. Bitrix24 #1 free team file sharing for 12 people.
From 5GB to unlimited (yes, unlimited) storage. Wimi is a project management tool that helps you stay organized and make teamwork more efficient. Wimi goes beyond typical PM software by enabling teams to track everything they're working on. With messaging channels, files & drive, tasks, calendars and video conferencing, Wimi lets your entire team collaborate effortlessly and work smarter on projects. Thanks to Wimi refined access-right management, you can also bring your clients on board and share specific data with them. Wimi is the most user-friendly and comprehensive project management tool for SMBs.
Samepage is award-winning online collaboration software designed to keep your team, consultants, customers, partners, and vendors working together smoothly and efficiently. Combine files, tasks, calendars, maps, videos and team conversation together on one page. Edit a page simultaneously with anyone you choose. Chat in real time with individuals or teams without having to switch to another chat platform. Everyone is in the loop without email overload.
Best Cloud File Sharing For Mac
Collaboration software designed to help teams share files, collaborate on content, communicate faster, and get more done.