A person using Google Drive in the enterprise faces a paradox: Google Drive wasn’t built from the ground up for the enterprise. It’s just not secure enough below the file level. That’s where Egnyte and its file-server technology enters the picture. Egnyte and Google are teaming up to make Google Drive more accessible as a platform that a company can use across the organization.
The Egnyte file hub now reads Google documents in the cloud or on-premise and secures them down to the folder level. That means a company can have a folder for finance and secure it. Permissions are granted for sub-folders, which may be for accounting or finance matters related to a product group or other part of the organization. Documents are synced through the Egnyte file hub. Security is extended externally with business partners by providing it as a PDF. Egnyte provides a complete audit trail — who sent it, when it was received, what time, etc.
The central file server solves the paradox that users face, making Google Drive a service that can be integrated into an enterprise setting. This solution works with any browser but if you need off-line access capability for Google Drive files stored on a network attached storage device, then there is a weakness to the solution. This only works if the user is on a Chrome browser and it also requires a Chrome plug-in. There are efforts underway to open it to other browsers, but the support for just Chrome is a hindrance for adoption.
The Egnyte service shows why companies building ground-up for the enterprise can do so well. They are ready-made for the requirements that come with serving not just one user but everyone in the organization.