We have been discussing internally the need for a follow me data solution that has the ability to work in larger team environments. We found that several of us had Dropbox accounts and other such solutions and we also had a mix of iOS, OS X, Windows and Android platforms. The Dropbox thing was pretty convenient and we found our users were not using Sharepoint due to the lack of simplicity, mobility and multiple platform support. We are also into an implementation of Docushare to replace Sharepoint, but again, it didn't solve the same problems that something like Dropbox might solve. We do see a need for both ECM and follow me data solutions as we see the ECM tool being used for company records especially when compliance is needed and also incorporates many other features like electronic document signing and workflow routing. We see the follow me data solution aimed more at unstructured data that is more transient in nature or aren't considered formal company records. It also addresses the need for having mobile copies of data that may reside in the ECM, e.g., marketing slicks and presentations that its nice to have local for ease of presentation.
So, what we did was a formal evaluation of some platforms that had team oriented features and also checked for enterprise class security features. We looked at ECM platforms and follow me data platforms. As noted earlier in this post we saw a need for ECM solutions but we couldn't find one that addressed both the ECM and follow me data needs we had. After eliminating those solutions from the follow me data choices we narrowed the field to Dropbox and Sharefile. Being a Citrix Platinum partner some of our guys had been demoing Sharefile and most of us also had Dropbox accounts as well. Sharefile won hands down when considering auditing and security controls and the ease of use was on par. Sharefile also has the ability to create storage zones that can reside behind our firewalls in our datacenter if we so chose, so we gained more control as well.
