The Top 10 Problems With Sync

Posted by billy in Blog

Creative Commons: Attribution by Flickr user Alex E. Proimos

According to a new study  77 percent of employees require access to work documents outside of their office – especially those who work in financial services (89 percent), professional services (96 percent) and healthcare (70 percent).  The overwhelming majority of them (66% and up!) use commercial, B2C file sharing systems like Box.net, YouSendIt, Dropbox, Carbonite, CrashPlan, Evernote and a litany of others to make their work available.

The ease of sharing information in an age when work is increasingly something that we do and less a place that we go is undeniable.  It facilitates collaboration, productivity (ability to work anywhere with an internet connection) and it hedges against the little disasters we all encounter once in a while (ever left your laptop in the taxi?).

The issue is that file sharing, backup and sync programs that were designed to store and share your photos, music and movies are ill equipped for the business world.  The B2C model simply doesn’t meet the needs of the B2B world.

1. File synchronization between many devices means eDiscovery must find not only the relevant files but also all the locations where those files *might have ended up*.
2. File synchronization effectively kills meaningful legal holds and freezes.  There is no way to ensure that the single, authoritative version of the file is the one that is actually frozen if it exists and can be copied, edited and modified on any number of sync nodes.
3. File synchronization kills any concept of content disposition.  How can you ensure that files are deleted when they have been synchronized to any number of on-premises and off premises?  Were those old budget files really digitally deleted?  Or do they still exist out on some node somewhere?
4. B2C sync and share systems do not natively integrate with corporate security like Active Directory or LDAP
5. B2C sync and share systems have no GRC features to allow an enterprise understand what all the individual clients are sharing and sending.
6. B2C sync and share systems do not provide true backup and disaster recovery.  Sure the files you choose to share are backed up, but you’re not sharing ALL your content this way.
7. B2C sync and share systems don’t automate sync and share.  You have to disrupt your work to decide what to sync and share and with whom.  They are designed for sharing of one or a few documents at a time with yourself or a small group.
8. B2C backup systems fail to index, allow you to search or give you *active* access to your backed up content.  Want it back?  Better restore it first.
9. B2C backup systems don’t allow sharing.  Want someone else to collaborate with you?  Tough luck.
10. B2C backup systems don’t backup your email systems as well.  What business can live with that?

The problems are widespread.  They exist for sharepoint users when they have PST files that sync back to sharepoint libraries.  They exist for all B2C file sharing systems and hands eDiscovery lawyers a windfall while handing CIOs a headache.

It is indisputable that users want convenience and sharing is vital for modern business. But businesses need to use a solution that combines two things:

1. Frictionless storage management for active, always-available access of all backup files 
2. Active information management that incorporates secure sharing, version control, active GRC, DLP and Compliance monitoring, full text indexing, rich search, instant retrieval and enterprise security integration.

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