In Australia, cloud computing solutions are rapidly revolutionising the way we work. It provides individuals, teams and businesses with greater flexibility and increased productivity being just a couple of the benefits. Improvements in productivity since using cloud services have been reported by 78% of users in Australia. A recent study conducted by Deloitte analysed the economic value of cloud services in Australia and it revealed that close to half of Australian businesses are using some form of paid cloud services, with key drivers for shifting to the cloud being:
- Improving customer service
- Keeping up with competitors
- Seeking to adopt innovative technology
Which Cloud Services are actually suitable for your business needs?
Let’s look at three of the most popular cloud computing solutions on the market:
- OneDrive (Microsoft)
- Google Drive and
- Dropbox
To help you figure out which cloud service may be best for your business, we’ll compare these options when it comes to:
1. Accessing Documents with different Cloud Services
All three IT solutions allow you to access your documents, wherever you are, as long as you have internet connection.
Can I access documents from all devices with a cloud service?
Dropbox has limits on this front. If you have signed up for a free account, you can connect to a total of three devices. But note that it isn’t counted as a device if you open Dropbox in a web browser or access it via a third-party app. You can sync files across devices using the Dropbox app.
OneDrive on the other hand gives you access via any device with a web browser and there is no limit on how many devices you can connect and sync to. Same goes for Google Drive.
Is it possible to work on cloud documents when I’m offline?
Yes. All three cloud solutions offer the option to work on your documents when offline. The only requirement is that you make the documents accessible for offline use beforehand, which is something you’ll have to do whilst online.
You will also need to ensure that you have ‘synced’ the documents you want to work on with the device/s you want to access them with.
2. Editing Documents on a Cloud Service
Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive all offer users the ability to edit documents with relative ease in real time. All edits made are saved automatically, as long as the user is online with an active internet connection.
Can I view previous document versions?
All three solutions also enable you to view previous versions of the document (the ‘edit history’), which will allow you to view every change that has occurred, along with who made the changes and when.
3. Collaborating using Cloud Services
When it comes to cloud collaboration tools, we think it’s Microsoft’s OneDrive that is the stand out shining star.
OneDrive comes bundled with the offline versions of the Office suite. This means it works seamlessly with other Microsoft apps, enabling you to work easily between Outlook email, PowerPoint and everything else that’s included in the Office 365 suite.
The other big perk of OneDrive, is that if you are also using Microsoft Teams, you can share any document from Office with others and it is possible for all of you to be working on it at the same time, while also being able to communicate as you go via the chat feature in Teams.
Everyone working on the document can see who is ‘live’ making edits, you can see the changes they are making and it’s all automatically saved. There is also the ability to ‘tag’ people in the comments so they receive an alert in their inbox if they aren’t already viewing and editing the document.
Google Drive enables collaboration in a similar way, with Google Meet being the Microsoft Teams equivalent, however we don’t think Google Meet is as flexible as Teams, hence us rating OneDrive in the leading spot for collaboration.
Dropbox scores points in that it works with files across both Microsoft and Google. You can collaborate in real time using a program such as Dropbox Paper, but it lacks any built-in chat function for real-time discussion while you work together.
4. Storage Solutions with Cloud Computing
It almost seems like there can’t be enough digital storage created at the moment and similar to a physical hard drive or server, this storage costs money. But, a lot of these cloud services have free plans with limited storage and functionality which allow you to try them out and see i they’re right for you. At the time of reviewing these tools, Google Drive has the largest free plan and most affordable paid storage of the three.
- Google Drive: 15GB free storage, with up to 30TB of storage if you upgrade to the premium paid services.
- Drop Box: 2GB to all users, with 500MB for every mate you successfully refer, up to a maximum of 19GB of ‘free’ storage, but you have to work for it. When it comes to the paid version, you can purchase up to 3TB (3,000GB) as an individual on a business plan, or as much space as you need with the advanced teams plan.
- OneDrive: 5GB on the free consumer version, with paid versions offering up to 1TB file storing and sharing space per person for those who opt for business packages. To access the highest amount of storage available you will need to have a Microsoft 365 plan.
5. Security Features of Different Cloud Computing Solutions
While all of these cloud solutions include industry standard security levels, none of them offer what is known as ‘zero knowledge encryption’. For this reason, whether your a based in Melbourne, or half way around the world, it is widely suggested that users add on third party encryption software to beef up on this front.
On the plus side, OneDrive provides customers with a secure folder which requires two-factor authentication to access the contents. With Dropbox and Google Drive, as soon as you share a file link, anyone who gets access to that link can open it, with no requirement for a pin or passcode.
It’s for this reason, we’d give OneDrive a big thumbs up for additional security.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are advantages to all three of the biggest players in cloud service across all categories, with the ‘winner’ truly depending on your business cloud storage needs.
At Discover, we specialise in providing managed cloud services using Microsoft OneDrive and in our experience believe it to be the most holistic solution for business I.T, offering more value than Google Drive and Dropbox.
If you’re considering making the switch to managed cloud services for your business IT set up but would like support with the transition, we are ready to help.
As Melbourne’s leading managed IT services provider with over 20 years experience providing personalised and cost effective IT support locally and nationally, we let you focus on your business while we handle your I.T.
Contact the team at Discover to discuss how we can help you implement Office 365 managed cloud services for your business.