Recent research of 1,000 American employees found that 73 percent of them preferred email to dedicated file-sharing options. If that wasn’t startling enough, only 47 percent used file-sharing options at all—a 6 percent drop from 2013. Workers are surprisingly not embracing the technological advancements intended to make their jobs easier and more efficient.
Another surprise is that the file-sharing options that are out there, such as Box, aren’t providing the capabilities companies need for their mobile employees. Though the deficiencies aren’t necessarily causing the statistics mentioned above, they might be indicative that, at least for tablets and smartphones, cloud-based services aren’t setting the business world on fire. Here are some reasons why Box doesn’t mix with mobile devices:
Lax Security
Box does include security features such as password protection, but they are better geared toward computers that either reside on a desktop or are not easily forgotten or lost. On mobile devices, files might be much less secure. For starters, tablets aren’t often loaded with security software like a laptop is, meaning motivated hackers will have little trouble gaining access. But that might not make a difference if users don’t bother to password-protect their devices or the directories contained within—and for many people, they don’t. A stolen iPad can potentially give the thief unfettered access to the files of an entire company.
Too Many Files
Cloud-based file-sharing options such as Box store and offer access to files in directories similar to what employees might be used to on PCs or Macs. On those platforms—and on a departmental level—these services might work well, but on tablets such as an iPad or Surface, it is often overkill, particularly if a worker only needs a few files but must search through hundreds or thousands to find them. Dedicated content delivery solutions avoid this problem by sending to tablets only the files employees need. The documents are easier to find, and workers can’t go snooping around directories they shouldn’t have access to in the first place.
The Need for a Constant Internet Connection
Files that are uploaded to Box will show up on others’ devices around the company—provided there is an Internet connection. Without one, documents won’t move to tablets when they are needed. Yet, a continuous connection is often not possible. Stores and restaurants need their precious bandwidth for other functions (e.g., cash registers, customer Wi-Fi, manager computers, and so on), and subscribing every iPad with a 4G connection is prohibitively expensive. Tablet-based file-sharing options solve this dilemma by only using Wi-Fi when necessary, rather than whenever an irrelevant document or folder is even slightly modified. This way, files are automatically delivered to devices, where they reside locally and can be accessed whenever or wherever convenient.
Video Issues
This may seem blunt, but it’s true: Box does not handle video well on mobile devices. Such files exist in their original form—almost always big. From an iPad or Surface, video must either be downloaded (which takes time, bandwidth, and massive storage on the tablet that it often can’t afford to spare) or streamed (which requires even more bandwidth and can frustrate users with buffering). A better solution can be found with content delivery systems that automatically compress video to up to 97 percent of their original size, then push the svelte files to reside locally on a tablet. The video doesn’t subsequently require as much space to store and no bandwidth to view.
What file-sharing options do you use for your mobile devices?
