File Sharing Increasing in Popularity

You may hear about file sharing frequently in the news, on tech blogs and even in the classroom or work environment, but how popular is it, really? As it turns out, it’s extremely popular and this popularity is expected to increase as users want access to their files from all of their devices. Online cloud storage services have made it easy to store, access and share documents, photos, video, clips and data. They’ve also made it incredibly easy to share this information with others. Why has file sharing become so popular? Let’s take a look.
Collaboration
The biggest perk to file sharing is that it enables collaboration between users in even the most remote locations. If you have a writer in California and a web designer in India, both can have access to the files needed to create your website for you. File sharing platforms allow multiple users to access files, and with real-time synchronizing, you can be sure that each person working on a file has access to the latest version.
Accessibility
Employers are latching on to the file sharing concept to allow their employees to have access to files anytime, anywhere. If an employee travels for business and forgets those financial reports, for example, file sharing enables him to still go confidently into that investors meeting because he was able to retrieve those reports from the cloud. Files are accessible whenever they’re needed as long as you can get to a computer or use a mobile device.
Reliability
Have you ever waited for a long time for an email to go through only to be told that your file attachment is too large? That wouldn’t happen with services like ShareFile.com. Have your emails just disappeared sometimes? Email, removable storage and other methods of sharing files are just plain unreliable. With file sharing networks, you can immediately see if your file is in the cloud, and if it is, it is readily viewable by other authorized users. There’s no guesswork involved.
Security
While accessibility, reliability and collaboration are certainly part of the appeal, most users like the fact that file sharing is now more secure than ever when you do it smartly. Cloud file sharing services allow you to not only authorize users, but also control the permissions that each authorized user has. If you want a user to just be able to read a document, select the “read only” setting. You can also authorize users to be able to edit, add and delete files. This ensures that only trusted people have access to your confidential information and data.
These are just a few of the many benefits of file sharing. Mobile internet access from tablets and smartphones is increasing every day and is estimated to overtake fixed-line internet by 2014. With these advances, the ability to access, retrieve and share files wherever you are will be paramount. You can expect to see an increase in the number of mobile apps available for your favorite file sharing services in the coming year.
 
This article has been brought to you by ShareFile.com.