The modern workplace

The cloud offers several applications, features and cost benefits, but there are some important facts that most clients oversee when moving to a cloud platform such as Office 365 and Google GSuite. These cloud platforms promote the idea of the modern workplace, which moves away from the traditional way of working to increase productivity, collaboration and security.

Humans are creatures of habit and tend to be somewhat sceptical, and sometimes even resistant, of new ways of doing things. Users should have the courage to explore new features as they will certainly be beneficial, facilitate collaboration and improve the way we do business. But what if there is an easier and more secure way to do this?

Cloud Platforms offer a lot in this regard without compromising productivity.

We all know the traditional way of working - creating documents and emailing attachments to all the parties involved in the project or task. We all know the dilemma of such a way of working, the problem of centralisation and version control.

Emails
Versioning
Collaboration
Automation

Emails

With data stored in the cloud, we can simply share the link to the file with the people involved and even give those users permission to edit or just view the file. The recipients do not receive an email attachment, but only a link to the file. This drastically reduces the storage space in our mailboxes, as only the link is shared.

Security is often breached by a user unintentionally exposing data by sending an attachment to the wrong person, and there is no way to recall it, preventing it from being viewed. On the other hand, if a link is sent to the wrong recipient, there would be time to revoke their permission so that although they receive the link they cannot open it.

Versioning

When working locally, there is a tendency to create duplicate files for version control purposes and end up with multiple copies of the same file and the possibility of someone editing a different version, making it impossible to track.

Cloud platforms have automatic versioning built in, where the owner of the file has full control over all versions of the same file.

Collaboration

In a local environment, if someone starts editing a file on a file share, it is locked for that user and cannot be edited by anyone until the file is closed.

Cloud Platforms offer the possibility of co-authoring. This means that if a file or folder is shared with multiple users, the file is not locked, and everyone involved can work on the same document at the same time. This way, the final product of the document and any corrections are done instantly and faster while collaborating on the same document. While it may sound confusing to have multiple users editing the same document, there are features that allow you to track all changes and record versions per user.

The cloud offers virtual workspaces where users can form teams to work together on a specific project or task. This facilitates the centralisation of documents, videos, meetings, meeting recordings, shared mailboxes and calendars, and other things that can be integrated into a simple and familiar interface. This also provides centralised security and access management as when a user is added to or removed from a group, access to all features and applications associated with that group is automatically granted or denied.

Automation

The cloud offers several advantages and different applications. Repetitive tasks can be automated through the use of technology to produce and deliver goods and services with minimal human input. The implementation of automation technologies, techniques and processes improves the efficiency, reliability and speed of many tasks that were previously performed by humans.

Such actions may include creating files and folders, moving a file to a folder or sending a push notification.