The shift to more flexible work environments has exposed the limitations of using a traditional file server. Namely, that they require a VPN for remote access, which comes with its own set of challenges.
As an example, imagine an employee that has to unexpectedly work from home to care for their sick child. Unless this employee is already set up to work remotely, there are several things that the IT service provider would need to initiate quickly:
- Identify any spare VPN licenses
- Provide VPN access to the user
- Ensure the VPN client is configured correctly
- Provide the user instructions for how to use the VPN
- And troubleshoot. For example, when the user cannot get their VPN working or helping sync files when the VPN randomly disconnects.
Now not all these issues occur every time, but it’s quite common for many of them to happen—particularly during one-off scenarios. And users only tolerate a certain amount of frustration before they take it upon themselves to find an alternative solution—usually in the form of a free consumer file sharing solution.
Egnyte was designed to replace the traditional file server with a cloud-first architecture, and to eliminate the pains of VPN management. Let’s take a look at how cloud file sharing and collaboration works with Egnyte.
Using Egnyte To Provide Remote File Access Without a VPN
Returning to the example of the employee that needs to work from home on short notice. But this time, the client is using Egnyte. If the user has a company laptop, then they access and edit their files exactly as they would when in the office.
The user can still have drive-letter access just like a file server if they are using the Egnyte desktop app.
And if they lack solid internet connectivity at home, they can sync folders for offline access on their desktop. Users get fast access and file changes are synced back to Egnyte in the background.
Even if they don’t have a company laptop or forgot to bring it home, they can still securely access and edit all of their files from any device using a web browser. Let’s look at how easy it is to access and edit a file with Egnyte.
Accessing and Editing Documents via a Browser
The quickest path to file access is often for the user to directly open their browser, go to their Egnyte domain, and navigate to the files they are looking for, just as if they are in the office.
They can right click on a file and edit it in its native application, whether they’re using Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or any other file type. They can also co-edit documents with co-workers and third-parties with appropriate permissions.
When done, the user saves and closes the file. Files are all saved to the Egnyte cloud, so users don’t have to worry about taking up space on their local hard drive.
Interested in Learning More?
Visit the partner portal to find out more about how Egnyte can replace on-premises file servers and provide secure access to files without a VPN.
If you are new to Egnyte and are interested in learning more, or joining the partner program, check us out at egnyte.com/msp