Your data have their natural place on the cloud with Google Drive
Cloud computing has meant a noticeable paradigm change for the information managed by organisations. And the thing is, that faced with the limitations of classic local ECM solutions, information management solutions on the cloud offer many advantages: they facilitate 24x7universal access to the information, they promote collaborative work, guarantee maximum security and privacy, they are very low cost… With G Suite, and particularly with their Google Drive tool, companies can make the most of all these benefits.
Google Drive: the features that make it ideal for storing your data on the cloud
Google Drive stands out within the G Suite tools. It is a cloud storage service for files of all types (Spreadsheets, Documents, Presentations, photos, videos, PDFs, and even emails).
Among its advantages, the following are stand out:
- Compatibility with Microsoft Office. Google Drive manages the G Suite files, the Google office IT solution, and it is fully compatible with Microsoft Office. Examples: it is possible to store your Microsoft office IT files in Drive, and even to export them easily with a Google format to Office.
- Collaboration in real time. The contents placed in Google Drive may be shared with any user, and you can manage the privileges that the user will have: full reading and writing, partial reading and writing, or just reading. Shared content has only one updated version, although there is a full history of the changes made. You can also communicate changes to the other users with access to the document via chat, which will do away with the need to send out many emails with attachments.
- Synchronisation of files on multiple devices. Whether from a desktop computer, a laptop or a Smartphone, an employee using Drive accesses and manages the same information. Any change made to this information (for example, an edit, an addition or a deletion to files or folders, etc.) can be viewed instantly on all devices.
- Advanced security controls. Google guarantees maximum security for the information stored on Google Drive. This is a service whose security, privacy and compliance with regulations is regularly and exhaustively controlled by external independent consultancies. For its part, Google applies coded SSL to the files contained on Google Drive, and guarantees that the data centres offering this storage service are certified by ISO 27001 regulations and that they comply with standards SOC 2 and SSAE 16 / ISAE 3402 Type II, among others.
Benefits of managing your data on the cloud with Google Drive and G Suite
A recent article on the Google corporate blog clears up any possible doubts about transferring a company’s data from a traditional environment to the cloud. In the blog, the Product Management Director at Google Drive clearly demonstrates the benefits of storing and managing your data on the cloud as opposed to the classic local ECM solutions.
The Google expert based his article on 3 questions directed at businesses that still use local ECM solutions to manage their information, stressing the significant difference between these solutions and their equivalents that function on the cloud, as is the case for G Suite and Google Drive.
In a summarised manner, the benefits of using content management solutions on the cloud are:
- A revolution in ways of working and an increase in productivity. G Suite tools, like Google Drive and Google Docs promote collaboration among employees. Right from the start, they were designed so that different work teams could be connected and share updated information in real time, working with a single file which is constantly being updated. This way of working has very positive repercussions on company finances by increasing user efficiency and significantly improving a business’ capacity to react when faced with any situation.
- Easy migration to the cloud. Transferring the management of corporate information does not imply an abrupt change from the environment used until now (for example, Google Drive integrates with tools like Microsoft Office, Outlook and Slack, that allows you to retain your corporate email solutions). Data can be moved to the cloud easily with tools like G Suite Migrate and you can store all the attributes for the information (metadata, hierarchies, permissions, etc.) on Google Drive. In this way, the user can continue to manage the information using the same criteria.
- Maximum security and quick user-adoption. Unlike the classic and complex local ECM solutions, their cloud equivalents are characterised by their ease of use (which facilitates their use by all employees) and by the high levels of security applied. Google Drive facilitates the complication-free application of advanced security controls based on artificial intelligence to avoid loss of data and to manage both the user privileges and access from mobile devices, among others. In the same way, it offers a control framework that centralises the main security processes and offers accurate information about the shared use of external files or selected security metrics.
At Intelligence Partner we have a broad experience of supporting businesses who decide to transfer their data from a local environment to the cloud with tools like Google Drive.
Our consultants will study the characteristics of your organisation and of your current ECM solution, and will show you the best way to take the leap to the cloud with G Suite and Google Drive.
Are you ready to go up to the cloud?
