Introducing Egnyte for Google Apps

I’m happy to announce that our Egnyte for Google Apps solution is now generally available in the Google Apps Marketplace. Based on customer requests, industry trends, and Egnyte’s strategy to meaningfully integrate with other cloud and collaboration ecosystems, our team has put together a solution that can bring value to any Google Apps customer.The new solution allows Google Apps for Work customers to extend the value of Google Apps’ real-time collaboration by combining it with the granular permissions and management from Egnyte. With this integration, we’re bringing together the best of Google Drive and Egnyte by providing an open architecture to seamlessly move files between the Google Drive cloud and on-premises infrastructure, keeping the same controls and folder structure to ensure there is no disruption. It also introduces a new admin-controlled environment for Google Apps IT and business users.Extending Google Apps with Egnyte offers the following benefits, which includes the ability to:

• Optimize existing investments by effectively storing and managing files in the Google Drive cloud and on-premises infrastructure. The solution provides enhanced flexibility and control for teams to access and collaborate on highly confidential files stored in the company’s corporate data center and from users’ private Google Drive folders.
• Add new levels of security to sharing and access where folder permissions are used to determine the level of access to Google documents. Users still get the benefits of being able to simultaneously work in the same Google document, but Egnyte automatically takes care of assigning permissions to the right people.
• Work with Google and non-Google users by managing different file types (e.g., Google documents, video files, PDFs, Word documents, design files) all in the same shared folder, and sharing these files with outside users, such as vendors, partners, customers, etc.
• Enable support for single sign-on to Egnyte with Google credentials. Users can simply use their Google credentials to sign into the Egnyte interface, having the flexibility of working in the environment of their choice.

Additionally, Egnyte for Google Apps allows admins to move away from a user-controlled sharing environment, where it’s up to each user to responsibly share and organize content in each of their Google Drive accounts. Instead, Egnyte offers an admin-controlled environment, where all users operate from a single centralized file repository with different levels of access, increased productivity and enhanced security.Time is saved because content is easy to find and reference when it’s all in one place. When someone finds useful content that is created by another business unit, time is also saved by preventing unnecessary re-work. When employees make reference to the Marketing folder, for example, other employees know exactly what they’re talking about because they’re looking at the same folder structure.Data is also secured because admins control what level of permissions users have to the central content repository. Users no longer need to be concerned about sharing content with the right people and can focus on creating content to drive the business forward. Even Google documents like docs, sheets and slides are automatically shared with the right people based on Egnyte’s folder permissions.

Ready to Get started?Admins can easily create a new Egnyte for Google Apps domain from the Google Apps Marketplace and manage permissions (from the Google Admin console or Egnyte) around users, groups, storage and collaboration. Line-of-business (LOB) users can still work from Google Drive or sign into Egnyte with their Google credentials for centralized file access and secure sharing with teams inside and outside of the company. Both IT and business users can easily move files between the Google Drive cloud and on-premises infrastructure based on different requirements (i.e., sensitivity, file size, bandwidth constraints, optimized performance).Interested in learning more? Visit here for more details. We’re also hosting a webinar on April 9 with our customer Designvox, a design firm that will showcase how it leveraged the Egnyte for Google Apps solution to eliminate downtime with its file server environment and to encourage a user-friendly yet IT-sanctioned approach to enterprise file sharing. You can hear first-hand from a customer with a complex environment about how this integration has greatly impacted their business. Be sure to register for this event today.