Email was not designed for collaboration on projects or documents. It is cumbersome, cluttered, and often creates versioning issues. Non-profits and corporations seek out document repositories to help reduce these issues and helped them record, organize and develop a knowledge database. There are however a few different types of document repositories.
The first is FTP or File Transfer Protocol services. File transfer services operate like a FTP server with some upgrades to their document compliance and privacy options. They are priced based upon the amount of data being stored or transfered. Many have SSL-digital certificates.
A cloud based file transfer service is the second option for those businesses looking for a document repository. To be called "Cloud-based," which is a new buzzword in the business community, a service must be completely web based and not require the user to install any software on their computer in order to use the service. Cloud Based FTP is similar to a FTP service but requires no software on the part of the user. It is priced very similarly to traditional FTP services.
Although certainly better than email, both of these systems have several drawbacks for companies looking to allow telecommuting, telework, or work-from-home scenarios. First, they have little to no technical support. Secondly, they have little to no audit capacities. Third, to access a file you must know its file name, and the systems do not provide robust word-for-word indexing of the files content. Fourth, they have limited security levels, at most consisting of the user being able to access a file or not even know it exists.
The third option is a virtual data room, which is a file and folder based document repository that enables to store, sort, and search for documents in an ordered way. Virtual data rooms are also equipped with online banking level encryption and full search capabilities.
Tracking user and file activity is important, so virtual data rooms develop reports that show administrators who accessed a file, from where, for how long, at what time, and logs and changes they made. They also have more than two security levels which allows administrator to specify whether users can view, change, print, or download files. Some virtual data rooms also feature customizable watermarks that can be enabled which show a user's name, ip address, date, and login info so that users can print a file but be able to be tracked should they distribute it.
In concussion, email is an inadequate solution for document collaboration among multiple parties. File transfer protocol services offer many benefits to emailing by getting rid of versioning issues, but have their own security risks and lack of accountability. The best solution is a virtual data room. - 30200
The first is FTP or File Transfer Protocol services. File transfer services operate like a FTP server with some upgrades to their document compliance and privacy options. They are priced based upon the amount of data being stored or transfered. Many have SSL-digital certificates.
A cloud based file transfer service is the second option for those businesses looking for a document repository. To be called "Cloud-based," which is a new buzzword in the business community, a service must be completely web based and not require the user to install any software on their computer in order to use the service. Cloud Based FTP is similar to a FTP service but requires no software on the part of the user. It is priced very similarly to traditional FTP services.
Although certainly better than email, both of these systems have several drawbacks for companies looking to allow telecommuting, telework, or work-from-home scenarios. First, they have little to no technical support. Secondly, they have little to no audit capacities. Third, to access a file you must know its file name, and the systems do not provide robust word-for-word indexing of the files content. Fourth, they have limited security levels, at most consisting of the user being able to access a file or not even know it exists.
The third option is a virtual data room, which is a file and folder based document repository that enables to store, sort, and search for documents in an ordered way. Virtual data rooms are also equipped with online banking level encryption and full search capabilities.
Tracking user and file activity is important, so virtual data rooms develop reports that show administrators who accessed a file, from where, for how long, at what time, and logs and changes they made. They also have more than two security levels which allows administrator to specify whether users can view, change, print, or download files. Some virtual data rooms also feature customizable watermarks that can be enabled which show a user's name, ip address, date, and login info so that users can print a file but be able to be tracked should they distribute it.
In concussion, email is an inadequate solution for document collaboration among multiple parties. File transfer protocol services offer many benefits to emailing by getting rid of versioning issues, but have their own security risks and lack of accountability. The best solution is a virtual data room. - 30200
About the Author:
This article has been constructed by V-Rooms.com. V-Rooms has been providing secure document management systems and document repositories for corporate communications for the last 5 years.
