Coronavirus: How remote access and cross office file sharing would help your businesses during difficult times

There’s a growing global concern of Coronavirus outbreak that has subtly bringing unease upon Asia and devastated global economic impacts.

On 2nd of March, the head of the World Trade Organization said that he expected the coronavirus epidemic to have a ‘substantial’ impact on the global economy.

In the wake of these unfortunate events, the need for an efficient IT infrastructure that supports remote team collaboration and file syncing capabilities shall be examined and implemented to ensure stable performance and business continuity during difficult times.

Creating a More Mobile & Remote Workforce

According to a recent study by global research company IPSOS, over 57% of Indian employees telecommute on a frequent basis and nearly one-third work remotely every day. From employee’s perspective, cloud-based software benefits people to continue to work from any location, while solving problems like longer commutes and family commitment. From businesses’ perspective, the implementation of likes of Network Attach Storage (NAS) into the existing IT infrastructure can ensure effortless remote file sharing and syncing, data ownership and security, higher levels of communication and teamwork, and long term productivity.

A flexible and dynamic solution for collaboration & remote work - NAS

The remote access limitation has always been the obstacle for traditional file server that utilizes Windows SMB protocol. Businesses are unable to cope with the growing trend of remote workforce that requires dynamic remote team collaboration and file sharing capabilities, which the traditional file servers fail to deliver.

On the other hand, SaaS models that operate on clouds which answer to these challenges often face other backlashes including recurring subscription fees, data leak and security issues. To instill more complexity, the recent waves of ransomware, which threaten victims’ data and block their access via Windows SMB protocols, have been disrupting IT systems government bodies and corporate worldwide. Thus, a flexible and dynamic solution such as a Network Attached Storage (NAS) server that brings the best of both worlds shall definitely be looked upon.

An ideal modern day file server, in addition to having remote access to file services and dynamic team collaboration tools, should also have the capacity for cross office synchronization, self-serve IT, and compatibility with different devices.

As the scales of businesses grow, along with the BYOD and enterprise mobility trends, and ultimately the recent chain of unfortunate events and disasters, not all companies can have the luxury to have enough IT resources, and the IT environment can only get more complex and sophisticated.

Smart solution can help employees work smartly

The right solution should allow employees to safely handle many storage issues themselves including changing passwords or restoring lost files from backups, access files that are synced across the offices from all over the world, and give users the ability to access files from anywhere across multiple devices. That way, employees can easily access or share files from outside the office with the benefit of keeping sensitive data stored on the company’s own equipment without needing to relying on IT personnel heavily.

Many businesses are still hesitant to move on from conventional file server that may pose potential risk to data security and performance issues in the long run. In the wakes of many global hazards and incidents, by implementing a more dynamic modern day file server infrastructure, businesses can better manage risks, establish more robust file management rules, streamline team collaboration in order to ensure business continuity and productivity.

Tony Chu, Synology Inc.