Your computer needs too long to start up. And you can’t connect to the network. You can’t get to your e-mails and your mouse battery is dead. There are so many IT barriers that can set your day back. All of them impede collaboration, but they can be prevented using the right technology.
But one big problem remains: data sharing. Even a lot of collaborative platforms that are designed as digital workplaces to make teamwork faster and more effective are not ready for Big Data. This is surprising, since data is now more valuable than gold. But we often overlook that in our daily work.
Problem area: finding data
The folders on your Intranet are chaos and there are problems with archiving. Every subsidiary and every department has its own structure, and somewhere in some folder, hidden away down some long and obscure pathway is the file you need for your project. You need it now for a customer meeting and you know that the file is not gone, it’s simply somewhere else. But where?
Employees are forced to spend an average of two hours a day looking for documents and folders on internal collaborative platforms and sharing them with others – often in vain. Unstructured data and missing information are the main causes of unsuccessful searching. This can be especially annoying when deadlines loom. And even more so when the job is already done, but the documents don’t get to where they need to be on time, because nobody can find them anymore.
Problem area: data access
Sharing a file can sometimes take longer than putting it together. The problem is often of our own making. Access restrictions and data protection guidelines can prevent files from being synchronised. GDPR has made businesses even more cautious when it comes to sharing their documents – even internally. Data security has to be maintained. This leads to strict access controls that can confront teams with major challenges in the way they collaborate.
The new world of work is dependent on flexible data access at all times. So why can you still only open certain files on your desktop, but not on your travelling laptop or smartphone? As a result, you carry your digital documents on countless memory sticks and external hard drives from one customer meeting to the next. But do you really have the right version with you? It’s pot luck.
Data access should at least be easy back at the office, shouldn’t it? Wrong. That’s where data management really gets complicated. Why can my colleague access the document when I can’t? We both need to get at it, so we get around the problem by e-mailing it to each other. Curiously enough, it works. But why is data sharing not much easier?
Problem area: data sharing
Upload files to an FTP server, send them by e-mail or carry them the conventional way using a memory stick or CD – the methods of getting files and information from A to B are as numerous as they are creative. But the obstacles get really big when it comes to sharing digital data outside the company.
Once all of the internal possibilities of sharing have been exhausted, free cloud services like Dropbox and WeTransfer can represent an attractive alternative. But that can be a negligent and impractical way of sending sensitive data. Those clouds soon reach their commercial limits, which can only be got around by going premium. What you need is something different. Why should you hand over data sovereignty and control to achieve only a certain level of data transfer and synchronisation?
Platform tools for synchronisation and data searching
Today’s data sharing has to be quick, easy, device-independent and – above all – controllable. Today’s files are placed on private clouds to make them easy to process and synchronise. The key to this is that the files remain in a single place. You no longer have to send them between computers. Anyone who needs to can be authorised to access them in the cloud. The system synchronises the data automatically to make sure they are up to date.
The benefits of cloud-based, automatic data synchronisation:
- easy to find documents
- clear access authorisation
- flexible access – internal and external
- edit simultaneously
- archive the right versions
- flexible data sharing
The solutions: dokoni SYNC & SHARE & dokoni FIND
You can use dokoni SYNC & SHARE and dokoni FIND for automatic synchronisation and searching for folders and files – and you can use them without losing control of your data on collaborative platforms. These software solutions can be operated and used on a range of devices by different users. They also support all file formats.
Finding documents
Unstructured data is no longer a problem: The enterprise search solution dokoni FIND adds all of your data to a universal index. You can even quickly and easily find documents stored in the wrong place using full text searching.
Securing data sovereignty
The dokoni SYNC & SHARE tool does not send data, it provides access to certain folders and documents. All of the data is stored centrally and remains on your own servers. A firewall safeguards company documents against disallowed data access from outside and a backup system protects against data loss.
Providing access
Internal or external? It doesn’t matter! Recipients don’t necessarily have to be in the same network to be given data access. You can give anybody access by sending them a link using dokoni SYNC & SHARE. Your staff can even share large quantities of data with ease, and can decide in each instance whether to grant read-only or editing access.
Synchronising data
No more sending new versions, no more double archiving on internal platforms, no more cryptic file names like ‘V2.1’ or ‘final_final’: dokoni SYNC & SHARE allows you and your staff to edit documents simultaneously. The software synchronises the files automatically.
Use on the move
All of dokoni SYNC & SHARE’s features can be used on mobile devices with a Web-based application. This additional flexibility gives you constant access to all your data. So for example, in a business meeting you can open the latest version of your presentation on a mobile device and share it with your audience after the talk. They are sent an e-mail containing a link, and can immediately look into the documents.
Synchronise now: profit from these software solutions.
By using the dokoni SYNC & SHARE and dokoni FIND software solutions, you will increase staff satisfaction and accelerate workflow on your collaborative platform. Users are given more freedom and flexibility in the way they manage and synchronise their data. You will also make collaboration easier and take the burden off your IT services, since they will no longer have to worry about data access or data sharing difficulties.
Data sharing is clearly regulated on the collaborative platform. The IT team can easily follow important facts about who is given what access and when, and all the edits made to a synchronised file. The dokoni SYNC & SHARE and dokoni FIND tools provide you with a complete, traceable overview of your most important currency: your data.