From Egnyte Partner Softchoice Cloud: The 4 Musts for Business-Class Filesharing SaaS

Getting ahead of consumer SaaS applications like Dropbox puts IT leaders on the search to provide file sharing mobility within the context of an internal cloud services brokerage.

Softchoice and Egnyte share a common belief. The cloud alone is not enough. Together we bring together enterprise grade-mobility file sharing with Egnyte and the ability to accelerate internal cloud brokerage delivery with Softchoice Cloud.Below, we identify the four major recommendations for file sharing evaluation and illustrate where Egnyte provides a specific response to the most common requirements.#1. SaaS Provider HeritageThe heritage not only defines the architectural model but provides insight into where licensing and overall management will stack up when compared with alternatives. Egnyte, founded in 2008, focused directly on the enterprise space, building direct integration with enterprise NAS appliances and designing the architecture to address the needs for centralized administration. This fundamental product direction provides support for managing more complex scenarios such as multi-office synchronization.#2. End-User AdministrationLook to the end user administration experience, it should provide a balance of control and enablement to the individual contributor while providing an equal balance of broad governance for IT. If we look to strike the perfect balance of end user empowerment and centralized control – Egnyte offers some interesting approaches. First, end users are enabled with the functionality one would expect  such as sharing via link or shared folder while expanding the use cases to include large file scenarios via FTP. On the flip side, administrators are able to centrally report on all users and enable corresponding permissions, monitor active & expired file links and most importantly generate complete audit trail of all file activities.#3. File Sharing Permission StructureEnsure the security limitations managed at the end user matches up with the scenarios for use as well as corporate and IT policies. Egnyte administrators have the ability to create multi-tiered users and control folder/sub-folder permissions, ensuring that files are only accessible by authorized users. Administrators can also customize the web interface to present consistent branding for employees, customers and business partners.#4. Cloud vs. On-PremConsider how traditional file shares fit into the picture and how much of a gap will exist if this isn’t addressed as part of an overall mobility strategy. Egnyte blends the traditional file sharing workflow and cloud capabilities with a simple way of connecting on premise infrastructure with the Egnyte cloud environment. Multi-office and enterprise sites can be bidirectionally sync’d for backup to the cloud and provide access to files from anywhere, with any device as an example. The solution also offers multiple direct integration with traditional NAS devices and VMware virtualized architectures.Using this four part checklist, organizations can begin to evaluate their file sharing needs and the shortfalls of existing legacy or consumer-based solutions.To learn more about how Egnyte can help you deliver on collaboration and mobility, Softchoice and Egnyte are offering a complementary 30 minute cloud file sharing assessment  to help identify key areas of cost recovery available until December 30th, 2012. During the session, you’ll gain a clear picture on some of the most important areas to address first and understand other dependencies within your infrastructure that may support an immediate business case for mobility.Originally from the Softchoice Cloud Blog, written by Richard Carson