Comparing Dropbox and Egnyte White Paper Revised June, 2013
Table of Contents Introduction 3 Egnyte Security 3 The Consumerization of IT 3 The Challenge to Regain Control 3 Dropbox: Developed for Consumers Nightmare for IT 4 Egnyte: Developed for Business - Centralized Control 5 Accessibility from Anywhere 6 Remote File Access Workplace File Access FLEXIBLE DEPLOYMENT CLOUD, ON-PREM OR HYBRID 7 Cloud ONLY With Egnyte Cloud File Server On-prem ONLY With Egnyte Storage Connect Hybrid with Egnyte Storage Sync Egnyte v. Dropbox Comparison Chart 7 Summary 8 2
Introduction Consumers are embracing cloud storage solutions as a central place to store and access files from any computer or mobile device. Many of these consumers are business users who bring these tools into the workplace for mobile access to business files. This trend is an increasing concern for IT departments who must ensure data security and maintain control. This whitepaper explores trends and services available from Dropbox and Egnyte. The issues of control, security and accessibility will be examined and compared between the two services. Mobility is Transforming the Workplace As organizations expand geographically and employees spend more time on the road or telecommuting, IT teams are challenged to deliver the same level of accessibility in all locations. Mobile devices enable productivity on the go, yet require applications that support file access and sharing. Many large organizations also need to extend collaboration beyond distributed offices to include business partners and customers. The Consumerization of IT Until recently, employees had to make do with what was supplied by their IT department. Employees used tools that were approved by IT in-spite of them being cumbersome or restrictive at times. But the tables are turning on IT departments. Employees are bringing tools they use at home into the workplace to stay productive when they are on the go. A recent Forrester study found that 41% of US information workers are using one or more personal cloud services at work rather than IT s offerings. 1 The Challenge to Regain Control Corporate IT faces the challenge of embracing this revolution, while taking back control of sensitive corporate data. Most cloud services such as Dropbox were developed for consumers, not for businesses. While individual users can easily share and access their files with such tools, security and centralized control is often compromised in the process. Consumer services do not support key features required by enterprises, including sophisticated permission management, synchronization of shared storage devices, and robust centralized administration capabilities. Businesses increase the risk of data leaks and regulatory compliance violations when employees select their own consumer-grade rogue cloud solutions. 1 Source: The Personal Cloud: Transforming Personal Computing, Mobile, and Web Markets and Foresights Workforce Employee Survey, Q3 2010. 3
Dropbox: Developed for Consumers Nightmare for IT Dropbox is a popular solution broadly adopted by consumers. The base offering is free, with the option to pay for additional storage. The product has a streamlined user interface and desktop sync capability that makes it ideal for individual users. Dropbox for Business, which is aimed at businesses, provides a good way for enterprises to share and collaborate. However, because Dropbox was developed as a solution for consumers, it fails to provide scalability, enterprise grade security, and auditing which are all crucial for businesses. Dropbox has been designed without a centralized administration philosophy, which puts the individual in control of file access rules. The files and folders in user s Dropbox for Business account are not accessible to teammates or IT unless they are deliberately shared. Source: Dropbox Forums https://www.dropbox.com/help/218/en What happens when employees bring in their individual Dropbox accounts to access company data and IT is left in the dark? With dispersed individual Dropbox accounts littered throughout the company, IT has a difficult time controlling the flow of important business data. Files could easily become visible and accessible to outsiders and leave the company vulnerable to data intrusions. 4
Egnyte: Developed for Business - Centralized Control Unlike consumer cloud solutions, Egnyte is designed for businesses. Users can easily store, share and access files, from anywhere, with any device - without compromising control. IT retains central administration and visibility to ensure that business data is controlled under the most stringent security and privacy guidelines. 2 Egnyte's robust centralized administration platform provides businesses with the ability to manage user permissions at any level (top level shared folder, parent folder, or sub-folder). Any user with owner permissions can assign read/write/delete access for every employee, ensuring that only the right users have access to the right files. Egnyte also supports automated permission and data ingest to support already existing access controls. Example: The Finance parent folder has 3 sub-folders: reports, budgets and payables. The entire finance team needs access to the Finance folder, with the exception of the budgets sub-folder. The budgets sub-folder should only be accessed by the Corporate Controller. Dropbox takes a different approach to permission controls. When a file is shared through a public shared folder, there are no subfolder controls - when files are added to the shared folder, everyone has full access to the files within. 3 While this approach is acceptable for consumer use, for businesses this could mean compromising the security and privacy of important business data. 2 Egnyte's security and privacy policies adhere to HIPAA, FINRA, and EU Safe Harbor compliance 3 Source: Dropbox Forums http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=57672 5
Accessibility from Anywhere The driving force behind the IT transformation is the need for simple remote file access for employees. This need is met by the adoption of cloud services which allow users to access and share files from anywhere, with any computer or mobile device. Remote File Access The basic benefit of cloud storage is to provide file access, sharing and storage from anywhere. Dropbox and Egnyte both allow accessibility through any web browser, mobile device, and desktop sync. Web browser - Users have the ability to access, share and store files from any standard web browser into one central repository Mobile device - Native mobile application allows users to access and share files directly from their smartphone or tablet Desktop sync - Desktop application automatically syncs files between the personal computer and the cloud, providing file access online or offline Workplace File Access Business cloud solutions have taken accessibility to the next level, providing employees with the ability to access and share files through existing workplace platforms such as Salesforce, etc. Egnyte offers employees a wide range of familiar workplace access methods, allowing for uninterrupted workflow under any IT infrastructure. Mapped drive - Users can access files directly on their desktop through a mapped network drive 4 FTP - Integrated FTP server allows large file transfers with any FTP client 5 Third-party integrations - Integration with workplace productivity platforms such as Google Docs 6, DocuSign, Salesforce.com 7 and many others 4 Source: Dropbox Forums http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=49687 - post-374848 5 Source: Dropbox Forums http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=58685 - post-424005 6 Source: Dropbox Forums http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=40967 - post-333294 7 Source: Dropbox Forums http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=9820 - post-61005 6
FLEXIBLE DEPLOYMENT CLOUD, ON-PREM OR HYBRID When it comes to file access, sharing, or collaboration, the size, sensitivity, or data type dictates where the files are located: in the cloud, strictly on-prem or using a hybrid approach. As compared to Dropbox s Cloud ONLY approach, Egnyte supports multiple deployment options to address all use cases in an enterprise: Cloud ONLY With Egnyte Cloud File Server Egnyte Cloud File Server provides robust online storage and collaboration without sacrificing security, compliance, and control. Egnyte Desktop Sync offers cloud sync for individual users on their PC or Mac. Egnyte sync scales to millions of files, provides subfolder sync capability and enforces access permissions uniformly on local files. On-prem ONLY With Egnyte Storage Connect Given the recent concerns around cloud security and government spying, enterprises are not comfortable putting mission critical information in the public cloud. Egnyte Storage Connect enables secure remote access to data behind firewall without replicating or passing any files through the cloud. Dropbox DOES NOT have anything to match this capability. Hybrid with Egnyte Storage Sync In addition to Desktop Sync, Egnyte Storage Sync automatically ingests data and permissions and bi-directionally syncs chosen set of storage systems/servers with the cloud, enabling employee access to any file in the company that they have access to without manually replicating the data or permissions. Files can even be replicated across multiple, diverse storage systems for cross-office file sharing and data redundancy. Dropbox DOES NOT have anything to match this capability. Egnyte v. Dropbox Comparison Chart Feature Egnyte Dropbox Flexible Deployment Cloud Only YES Yes On-Prem Only YES NO 7
Hybrid Only YES NO File Access Web Browser YES YES Mapped Drive YES NO Mobile Support YES NO FTP Support YES NO Authentication SSO, SAML YES YES Native AD Authentication YES NO Password Policy Controls YES NO Desktop & Server Sync Desktop Sync YES YES Local Storage/Server Sync YES NO Folder Controls Grandular Folder Permissions YES NO Source: https://www.dropbox.com/help/362/en Summary Egnyte offers a more comprehensive cloud solution for businesses when compared to Dropbox, a cloud solution that is designed for consumers. Egnyte provides all the scalability; security and collaboration that IT departments need to maintain control over employee file sharing. This enables accessibility without compromising data safety and privacy. 8
About Egnyte Over 1 billion files are shared daily by businesses using Egnyte s unique technology, which provides the speed and security of local storage with the accessibility of the cloud. Users can easily store, share, access and backup files, while IT has the centralized administration and control to enforce business policies. Founded in 2007, Egnyte is based in Mountain View, California and is a privately held company backed by venture capital firms Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Floodgate Fund, and Polaris Venture Partners. For more information, please visit http://www.egnyte.com or call 1-877-7EGNYTE. 9