All good things
The Windows file server has been a core technology of businesses for decades. It’s been a huge corporate asset for years – I still remember my first experience with this service at Cerner Corporation. Our small team quickly learned the ability to leverage this resource more effectively than our peers could be a competitive advantage. Soon we were teaching other teams hows to more effectively navigate and search these vast repositories of content. I loved it.
As technology changes, your Windows file server might be ready to migrate elsewhere. Some might try to migrate to another on-premises server; however, many teams across the nation are trying to figure out how to migrate their file server to the cloud.
Window server in the cloud
Can you simply run a Windows server in the cloud? Yep. However, Windows server was designed and built for the on-premises world. We can make it work in the cloud, but it’s not much fun. Getting the server running is the easy part – connecting our people and their devices to this resource? That’s much more difficult. Windows Server never expected us to all leave the office – fast home internet service, tablets, and smartphones didn’t even exist. Windows server was built for a world which, in large part, no longer exists.
Cloud-based content management systems are the most mature cloud-services after email and CRM systems. We can have everything we like about our Windows file server in the cloud.
Options
You have many. The best option depends upon your goals – both today and in the future. Umzuzu was born in the cloud in 2008. At that time, there was only one option. Google’s G Suite. We never looked back. Today this is still our most popular service. G Suite provides a tremendous bang for your buck. Their technology can truly transform an organization in ways unimaginable only a few years ago. Microsoft took notice and has been working hard to catch up and differentiate – on-premises software licensing still drives Microsoft’s revenue. That being said, their cloud-based Office 365 services are incredibly popular and the most common way clients obtain their Office licensing. The OneDrive & SharePoint services come along for the ride, included at every level of Office 365 service. Dropbox Business is extremely popular across all industries thanks to its usability, strong sync technologies, and differentiating features like Transfer, File Request, expiration dates, etc. Egnyte started around the same time as Umzuzu – they’ve won over thousands of customers and hundreds of thousands of Users with their laser focus on the enterprise. They offer all the controls of the legacy on-premises environments with none of the downsides.
The Process
Introducing Smart Sync: Get access to every file in your Dropbox and every folder that’s been shared with you, right from your desktop, exactly when you need…
