Why "Thou shalt not use Dropbox" doesn't work

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s been a revolution in how people work. We work from home, in cafes, at rented desks or all of the above. Simply put, we’ve become a truly mobile workforce.

How did this happen?

One key factor has been consumer services like Dropbox and Box. Employees can store data in the cloud and easily work and collaborate with anyone from any location. Meanwhile, the adoption of smartphones, tablets and lighter laptops has unchained us from those prehistoric cubicles.

These new services and devices have reduced inefficient processes and brought about a boom in productivity. From anywhere, employees can share files with partners; the most up-to-date files are accessible wherever there is an internet connection; and data is saved on off-premise servers regardless if hardware is destroyed.

This is all well and good, but it has also led to a serious loss of control for companies - namely their IT departments - when it comes to keeping data locked down. Data, after all, is most companies’ lifeblood, and this revolution in how we work has brought that data well beyond the safe confines of a company’s internal network.

We all know Dropbox can be breached, and a top priority for IT managers is knowing who is accessing what files and with whom they are sharing them. IT has to preserve security and, for many, make sure they’re complying with various regulations. Losing control of data could mean disclosing client financials, health records or your own competitive, proprietary information.

Typically, IT has used VPN and oftentimes-restrictive security tools to give access to employees, but the issue is: with so many consumer cloud services available and employees bringing their own devices to work, employees can use whatever tools they want to get their job done.

Today, if you want your employees to use secure tools, you need to be sure those tools will be convenient and help them do their jobs better, too.

Draconian anti-BYOD policies were never a good idea, but today they’re downright impossible to enforce. So instead of trying to shoehorn your employees into using yesterday’s outdated and ineffective tools and services, focus on creating a user experience and workflow built around popular tools that people will not just tolerate, but love using.

Here are four steps to consider:

Pick applications that don't need heavy training. If you have a tool that’s intuitive, you won’t need extensive training. Plus you won’t waste your employees’ time putting them through endless training for tools they won’t enjoy and will avoid using.

Give employees access to all areas they need on the go. Whether it’s an enterprise file server, network-attached storage or SharePoint, make sure employees can get at the data they need anywhere, so they can do their jobs everywhere.

Provide access across the devices your employees use. If employees want to work on a PC, MacBook, iPhone, iPad or Android, etc ... let them. As long as they can get the job done on these devices, you should build the processes and tools that let them work how they want, in a secure environment, so they can be as productive as possible.

Make security invisible. Dropbox and Box work because they are so easy to use, whereas some enterprise collaboration tools make security the focal point. Security is important, but don’t let it trickle into the user experience. The experience should be seamless.

Worker satisfaction and security don’t need to be at odds. In fact, I’d argue they could be complementary. Employee error or misuse is more often than not the hole that causes a security breach. Giving employees secure solutions they’ll actually use is the best way to keep a secure and productive work environment.

Image courtesy Marcin Wichary under CC.