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The recent world situation has underlined the impact that technological progress has had on business over the last 10 years. Once upon a time, project management was about bundles of paper, fax machines and gathering around huge tables for hours on end in creative meeting rooms. Now, a project can effectively be managed from a single workspace, sharing digital files and communicating via video links with people all around the world.
Indeed, sustaining sectors that can function online is vital for the preservation of the world economy. That spells good news for companies that deal in communication software and tools that facilitate such patterns of work. Businesses that can operate remotely benefit from using the latest products from the fields of video conferencing and file sharing as a key part of a centralized workspace. Box explains how project management software acts as a centralized workspace that can streamline any project management process, as team leaders will be able to deliver instructions and important files quickly and effectively. However, file sharing is just one area of remote working, which was problematic.
With limits on how much can be sent via a single email, businesses are having to investigate file-sharing options that allow them to pass multiple files across a range of formats to each other quickly. It is all well and good being able to have business video chatting communications across three continents, but that can be hindered by the inability to send a vital 120-page PDF report around which the meeting is based. So, we have selected five of the best file sharing methods that your business can implement as part of a centralized workspace that efficiently manages projects remotely.
Google Drive
Google Drive is perhaps one of the most popular file-sharing options out there and it is especially useful if you are firmly a part of the Google world, as it links easily to Gmail accounts, Google Chrome and their other ancillary products. It offers users 15GB free storage, or has a competitive plan for 200GB at around $30 per year, which should be both affordable and sufficient for any medium-sized business. There is also an option to collaborate on documents in real-time, using Google documents, which is especially slick.
Box
You have most likely heard of Dropbox, it is a popular option for casual users to share files such as photos or one-off documents, but Box is the business-centric alternative which is often cited as a competitor to the former. Box has benefitted from a recent refresh and offers a competitive 10GB storage on a free plan, which should be sufficient for small business needs. It also has paid for products which cover a range of business needs based on users and storage required. With these competitive options, Box presents excellent solutions for scaling your data storage.
Citrix ShareFile
Citrix ShareFile creates a custom workspace in which you and your team can share documents from a wide range of applications with co-workers and clients. It has the needs of business users at its heart and has an assortment of tools and features directly aimed at the needs of a certain industry, rather than dabbling with the general public’s needs too. It has customizable permissible settings and a strong focus on security, making it one of the five file-sharing platforms we think are worth checking out. With this solutions deployed, you can enhance your small business security practices across your organization.
Hightail
Hightail was formerly known as YouSendIt, a name users of a certain vintage will instantly recognize. YouSendIt was one of the primary file-sharing programs just after the turn of the century and as such, Hightail has a lot of experience in understanding what a business user needs from such a platform. It allows a user to create a space and define which types of file can be sent, as well as offering some project management options and the ability to save drafts without sending. These advanced features can help you navigate through the phases of project management and develop a solution that meets your organizational needs. It also interacts nicely with some other file-sharing programs too, such as Google Drive, making it flexible as well as user-friendly.
Microsoft One Drive
Users who commonly deal with Word and Excel documents will likely already be familiar with One Drive and, despite a patchy history with many different rebrands, it is now a strong competitor in the file-sharing field. The free plan gives you 5GB of storage and rather unsurprisingly, it interacts well with any Office program, allowing real-time collaboration and 5GB of storage on the free plan.
These are some of the top options for sharing documents and files within a business. Depending on your current software systems, files sizes and collaboration, you can use one or multiple of these methods. In fact, you might want to use certain file sharing software strictly for storage. Meanwhile, you can have others for collaborating with your remote team. As you continue to work and collaborate across different platforms, try out these options for file sharing software available to businesses.
