File sharing tools have changed our workplaces and enabled greater collaboration. But as more and more tools enter the market, we’re faced with the challenge of choosing the right tools that best meet our needs.
How many tools do you use? I previously used three. Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive. My files were scattered across all the tools. The reason I had different tools was because I needed different ones for different groups of collaborators. My friends wanted to use Dropbox, some work colleagues liked OneDrive others like Google Drive.
It wasn’t an ideal situation, so I consolidated and started using the one tool that met all of our needs. Let’s look at how you can pick the best file sharing tool for your needs.
Understanding your needs
Before you race off and start trialling a file sharing tool, you need to understand why you want one. Often times, you’ll use file sharing for at least one of these reasons:
- You need to share files with your team.
- You need to share files between your devices (pc, mobile, tablet, etc.).
- You need to collaborate on documents with your team.
Which of these situations can you relate to?
Evaluating the three leading file sharing tools
Once you know why you need the tool, you can evaluate which one will be best the best fit for you and your team. The three tools I recommend are OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive.
These are the big-hitters. Let’s look at pros and cons for each.
OneDrive:
- Pro: Syncs well Microsoft’s Office 365 suite.
- Pro: Works well with Microsoft devices - e.g. Windows 8, Microsoft Surface, Windows phones, etc.
- Con: Microsoft has just gone through a rebrand so the OneDrive business solution is quite new and still a cloudy option for organisations.
Dropbox:
- Pro: An established player in the market. Easy to share files and folders with other people.
- Pro: Seamless syncing between devices.
- Con: Dropbox has millions of personal uses, but their business offering is still finding its feet.
- Con: All data resides outside Australia which can pose data sovereignty issues.
Google Drive:
- Pro: Makes document collaboration really easy with seamless integration with Google docs.
- Pro: Works well with Google Apps and Gmail.
- Con: To get the most out of Google Drive you really need to switch over to Google Apps. This change can be hard for you and your team.
Choose one tool for the whole team
File sharing tools are designed to increase collaboration and enable mobility. No longer do you need to be tied to your desk or stuck in physical meetings to be a productive and collaborative member of your team.
All of the tools we’ve reviewed here do a good job of storing files in the cloud. The big differences lie in what you want to do with those files once they’re up there.
If you’re looking to do lots of collaborating on documents with your team, you’re best to go with OneDrive if you’re currently using Microsoft office suite or Google Drive if you’re using Google Apps.
If you don’t need to collaborate on documents and instead need to share lots of big files (websites, graphics, video, etc.), then Dropbox will be a better fit.
It’s a team decision
Don’t make this big decision on your own. You should bring your team into this discussion because you need buy-in from everyone. As a team, agree on which tool will meet all of your needs and make sure everyone only uses the one tool moving forward.