Posts Tagged ‘FTPX’

Get Ahead of the Curve with Cloud based Collaboration

Thursday, January 24th, 2013

According to analyst firm, Enterprise Strategy Group, the enterprise cloud based file sharing revolution is being driven not by IT, but by end users – individuals who need to access and share data across laptops, smart phones and tablets whenever the need may arise. And, it’s these individuals who often subscribe to consumer-based file sharing solutions on their own and then bring those tools into the enterprise to support business use – creating a data security nightmare for IT.

This situation has IT playing catch up, yet many organizations are hesitant to embrace cloud services. Why? ESG found that 43 percent of organizations are worried about data security and privacy concerns and 32 percent about giving up too much control. Ironically, without a proper file sharing solution in place, users are calling the shots, creating the same security risks and a lack of control that’s been holding them back from the cloud in the first place.

In a new white paper, Evaluating Cloud File Sharing and Collaboration Solutions, ESG advised organizations to find a single, secure file sharing and collaboration solution that they can confidently endorse and provides a checklist of what to ask during the due diligence process, including:

  • •Can we sync data across end point devices when offline?
  • • Can users easily search for files across synched directory trees?
  • • Can we support files of any size?
  • • Can we set group policies from a central dashboard?
  • • Is there Active Directory integration?
  • • Is it easy to de-provision accounts?
  • • Is data encrypted in transit and at rest?
  • • Are there remote wiping capabilities?
  • • Is the data center SAS 70 Type II certified?
  • • Is data replicated remotely in the event of site failure?

To help you make a smart investment that’s right for your company, download the complete recommended checklist today.

P.S. Accellion answers “yes” to all of the questions above.

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Posted in Accellion, BYOD, Cloud, Collaboration, Data Security, Mobile | No Comments »

Need for Mobile Productivity and Collaboration Driving Federal Cloud Deployments

Friday, January 18th, 2013

If you’re in the government sector, new cloud services and products are likely in the plans for 2013.  Cloud momentum continues to build according to InformationWeek Government’s third annual Federal Cloud Computing survey, which showed that half of its agency respondents are currently moving ahead with cloud adoption or are in the early stages of doing so – up from 40 percent last year.

So, what’s spurring this growth? According to the survey, the move to the cloud is being driven by three primary business objectives:

- Lowering the cost of ongoing IT operations (54%)

- Reducing capital investments in servers and data center equipment (51%)

- Supporting mobile productivity and collaboration within the agency and with other agencies (37%)

Number three on this list came as no surprise to us, as we talk every day with organizations – within the government and enterprise sectors – who are looking for more efficient, secure, and cost effective ways to access and share information on mobile devices with people inside and outside of the organization. That need leads them to Accellion.

For Accellion customer Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD), the ability to collaborate quickly and securely makes all the difference for the youth they serve. Operating dozens of treatment facilities, correctional institutions and halfway houses throughout the state, TJJD needed a way for its 2,500 employees to share confidential data efficiently and reliably between parents, medical staff and legal counsel.

Before switching to Accellion, staff members often turned to mailing hard copies of documents, burning CDs, or encrypting individual emails in order to work around a cumbersome file transfer and encryption mechanism. TJJD clearly needed a better option, fast.

The same could be said for other government organizations at the federal, state and local level that select Accellion. These customers include government agencies such as NASA, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the National Institute of Standards of Technology that have a need for the strictest security and compliance requirements for the sharing and collaboration of digital information.

If mobile productivity and collaboration are part of your cloud plans for 2013, we can help.

 

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Gambling, Dropbox, and Box Top IT’s Most Banned Apps List

Monday, January 7th, 2013

No one would be shocked to learn that organizations aren’t big fans of employees playing online poker or roulette on the job. Which is why, when 1,200 IT decisions makers at private companies were asked to name the top three worst apps that employees could download, gambling was at the top of the list, with 58 percent of responses.

Right behind concerns about bringing a bit of Vegas into the office are serious worries about certain online file sharing applications. But not just any apps – Dropbox and Box in particular. Fifty-one percent of survey respondents named these unapproved cloud file sharing apps as some of the worst offenders in the enterprise, earning the number two spot on the list. And, of the 45 percent of respondents who blacklisted apps, 57 percent named Dropbox and 42percent  named Box as the apps being banned.

What happens is that users genuinely need a way to share large files and when there’s not an IT-approved solution in place they find one on their own. Consumer-focused online file transfer solutions, such as Dropbox, are then used behind the scenes to send proprietary documents, creating security risks and headaches for IT. It’s this need for a Dropbox alternative – a secure, proven, enterprise-class solution – that drives organizations to Accellion.

Accellion customer, MiTek, a global construction company, had been there, done that, leading the company to ban Dropbox, deploy Accellion, and not look back. Here’s what Justin Daniels, Web Services/Software Engineering and IT Support Manager with MiTek had to say:

“With public cloud providers, there are so many unknowns when it comes to security: Where exactly are your files? How do you get them back if you change providers? How do you know where your employees are sending files? We weren’t willing to give up the rights to data that was sensitive, proprietary, and was rightfully ours. With Accellion, we know exactly where our files are, can track and monitor both senders and recipients, and enforce file sharing policies at a user- and corporate-wide level.”

When customers say “yes” to Accellion, it makes saying “no” to Dropbox and Box a no-brainer.

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Posted in Accellion, BYOD, Cloud, Data Security, Mobile | No Comments »