WHITE PAPER Thru for Enterprise File Sync and Sharing

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1 WHITE PAPER Thru for Enterprise File Sync and Sharing Thru, Inc. All rights reserved

2 Table of Contents Introduction...3 Challenges of Mobile Business...4 The Enterprise-Liable Approach...4 The BYOD Approach...4 Security Management...4 Data Breaches...4 BYOD and Enterprise File Sync and Sharing...5 The Thru Enterprise Mobility Solution...6 Mobile Security...6 Auditing and Reporting...6 Improved Business Processes...7 Conclusion...8 Contact Thru...9 Thru for Enterprise File Sync and Sharing Thru, Inc. All rights reserved Page 2

3 Introduction Mobile devices have changed the landscape of business. Consumer technology advances including laptop computers, mobile phones, and tablets have changed the way people interact with data. Why wait to get to a computer to check for important or view or modify documents when you can easily use a tablet or smart phone? Most people carry a mobile device with them everywhere. Furthermore, tablets are increasingly used not just as viewing devices, but also content creation devices, thanks to keyboard covers and improved productivity software. This increase in connectivity now allows mobile-users access to the internet from any location capture business content, such as photos and videos, making mobile devices extremely useful. Consumers rapidly and enthusiastically adopted these new mobile devices for personal use. They were awed with the new ability to rapidly access their personal accounts, listen to music, bank online, and perform an infinite number of other operations via third party applications. With such an enormous increase in efficiency in their personal lives, many business workers began to feel cheated on the job. It didn t make sense that tasks they would perform seamlessly at home using consumer technologies and applications would be so clumsy and time-consuming at work. In an effort to improve work performance, employees began to use their personal devices and applications on the job, whether approved by the organization or not. Though many organizations ignored the issue for a long time, companies eventually had to choose whether to outlaw all personal devices without providing a replacement, issue corporate mobile devices to employees, or allow employees to use their personal devices under a certain set of policies. Thru for Enterprise File Sync and Sharing Thru, Inc. All rights reserved Page 3

4 Challenges of Mobile Business When faced with a quickly changing mobile landscape, companies must consider the how to provide functionality and maintain a competitive edge with efficient business practices. The Enterprise-Liable Approach When considering issuing corporate owned devices to employees (the enterprise-liable approach), cost was a great factor. Mobile devices can become expensive, especially when considering the rapid advancements in technology. A new phone or tablet may be considered ancient in a year or two, and employees will want new devices that take advantage of new technologies. If corporations do not issue new devices, consumers will simply take their newer and updated personal devices and resume using them, which puts the company back where they started. Though many companies have taken this approach at least for a time, this was not the most accepted choice. The BYOD Approach Some of the more advanced organizations began to develop Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, governing standards, procedures, and restrictions for employees to use these devices with enterprise data. A BYOD policy adds possible endpoint data protection issues and data backup functionality to IT complexity. Security Management Security is an important when considering a BYOD approach. As BYOD policies have become more prolific, use of third-party file sync and sharing offerings have also grown. These are sometimes endorsed and managed by IT, but more often are not. Many free consumer solutions can improve productivity but lack basic security features that are necessary to conduct business, such as virus protection, administrative features, and other security functionality. According to Osterman Research, the absence of IT security in BYOD is having a negative impact: between 12% and 33% of organizations (depending on the number of employees) report that the use of smartphones is impeded because IT cannot manage them to the extent they would like; 20% to 42% of organizations report the same for tablets. Data Breaches Another challenge of mobile enterprise is the threat of potentially comprised files when users open files in thirdparty applications. Unregulated use of corporate intellectual property is unacceptable from a security standpoint, and before long, IT departments have to take notice of these personal devices. Additionally, if an employee loses a personal mobile device, without some kind of IT control, there is no way to remotely wipe sensitive content or prevent the disclosure of confidential information. This increases the risk of data breach and loss of intellectual property greatly. Organizations must take a stand about how they want to deal with possible data breaches. Thru for Enterprise File Sync and Sharing Thru, Inc. All rights reserved Page 4

5 BYOD and Enterprise File Sync and Sharing As BYOD programs have grown in popularity, so has the adoption of enterprise file sync and sharing (EFSS) applications. Unsanctioned adoption of third-party consumer cloud applications has driven investments in EFSS. IT organizations demand EFSS features to improve employee productivity while also limiting security risks and compliance issues. EFSS applications let employees access corporate files via their mobile devices or store documents in the provider s cloud, on premises, or a combination of cloud-based and data repository storage. EFSS maintains both IT control and enhances user experience and productivity through mobile collaboration capabilities. Organizations considering a BYOD program should implement EFSS with their mobile device management (MDM) solutions to let IT contain potential risks while also improving collaboration and productivity. EFSS allows employees to: Sync and store documents, photos, videos, or files from multiple endpoints Share files among multiple endpoints Share data among applications on a single device Share data with colleagues and customers Access files securely from a mobile device Thru for Enterprise File Sync and Sharing Thru, Inc. All rights reserved Page 5

6 The Thru Enterprise Mobility Solution Thru s Managed File Transfer services have enhanced business productivity for over 10 years without a single security breach, and Thru s mobile applications assume the same security approach. Rather than offering applications that require third-party security, Thru Enterprise Mobility has built-in security features to improve and streamline business practices while also functioning as a viable mobile application. Mobile Security Security is a key concern in managed file transfer, especially with the rise of BYOD. Thru Enterprise Mobility provides granular control to regulate access by role, group, and access control, and also according to device and application. This feature is particularly useful if a mobile device is lost or stolen. Administrators can enable or disable access for: Unique MAC addresses Using MAC filtering on a network permits or denies access to specific devices based on unique MAC addresses for each user to secure a network from unwanted devices and disconnect lost or stolen mobile devices. Web application from mobile Disabling internet-enabled apps ensures access is limited to users with the Thru Enterprise Mobility application. Open in functionality Disabling open in functionality limits users to opening files in the Thru Enterprise Mobility application itself and prevents transferring files to unsecure third-party applications. Thru Enterprise Mobility files and folders are not stored locally on each mobile device. Instead, files are retrieved from Thru cloud servers upon user request and held in a secure cache, which is routinely cleared. This approach is practical because mobile internet access is available now from pretty much any location. Auditing and Reporting Every action taken on any file in the Thru system is recorded and stored in a database for auditing purposes. Multiple data fields retain the following data: Who performed the operation Type of operation The mobile device used Thru for Enterprise File Sync and Sharing Thru, Inc. All rights reserved Page 6

7 Improved Business Processes Employees want to complete tasks efficiently and without a change in normal workflow, and Thru s mobile application embraces this concept. Users access the application from different locations, networks, and devices to download, upload, or view a wide variety of documents and files, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents and PDF, JPEG, and PNG file types. With Thru Enterprise Mobility, users can complete tasks more efficiently by: Browsing, viewing, editing, sending, and sharing files Saving files to a mobile device for offline use Uploading files from the device to a secure workspace Sharing links to files or folders with internal and external users Subscribing to notifications to learn when users add files Thru for Enterprise File Sync and Sharing Thru, Inc. All rights reserved Page 7

8 Conclusion Today s mobile workforce needs to securely access enterprise content from mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. However, when organizations implement a BYOD approach using popular consumer cloud-based storage applications, companies are exposed to risks such as data breaches and security and compliance issues. Thru Enterprise Mobility combines the improved efficiency, business process, and user experience of mobile access with advanced security and administrative controls. Thru for Enterprise File Sync and Sharing Thru, Inc. All rights reserved Page 8

9 Contact Thru To learn more about how Thru can enable your software customer support or other file transfer needs, please contact us. Speak to Sales Schedule a Demo Corporate Headquarters 909 Lake Carolyn Parkway Irving, TX United States Telephone: Toll Free (US/Canada) info@thruinc.com California 919 Alameda San Jose, CA United States Telephone: Europe Level 17, Dashwood House 69 Old Broad Street London EC2M 1QS United Kingdom Telephone: + 44 (0) Asia Pacific Level 26, 44 Market Street Sydney, NSW 2000 Australia Telephone: Thru, Inc. All rights reserved. The Thru name, products, and logo are all trademarks of Thru, Inc. All other company and product names, brands or service names are trademarks of their respective owners. Thru for Enterprise File Sync and Sharing Thru, Inc. All rights reserved Page 9