Hybrid working is currently extremely popular. Many employees like the independence from a single, stationary workplace and the associated flexibility. Companies rely on cloud content management solutions to enable employees to exchange data as easily and securely as possible.
In the course of the corona pandemic, many companies had to ensure their employees’ protection in a short time and keep their business processes alive. In the meantime, the situation has eased at least a little.
However, the consequences of the past two and a half years are noticeable: Many employees have found pleasure in hybrid work between their workplace in the company, their home office or location-independent via mobile systems.
An important part of this development is solutions for file sharing and collaboration. Many providers now go beyond the basic functions and have added additional services to their products. These include management options, workflow tools and security services.
For this reason, we summarize the solutions under the generic term cloud content management.
The bandwidth ranges from classic e-mail and telephony systems to messaging, video, file sharing and UCC platforms (“Unified Communications & Collaboration”) to complete EFSS solutions (“Enterprise File Sync and Storage”).
Flexible Access, Maximum Protection
A core function of current cloud content management solutions is allowing users location-independent access to relevant business data. It must ensure that company data is protected against unauthorized access and that compliance rules and data protection regulations are observed.
Public and private clouds, hybrid environments and on-premises systems can serve as data sources. The actual access is browser-based or via clients installed on notebooks, smartphones or tablets. The range of functions of current cloud content management platforms is extensive: it includes, for example, versioning and commenting on documents and files, collaboration functions for optimal collaboration or the management of complete workflows.
Integration into existing environments is often possible via APIs (“Application Programming Interface”) or corresponding plug-ins. Security features are also mandatory and can consist of, for example, end-to-end encryption, data loss prevention (DLP), authentication, containerization or access control policies.
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Control Instead Of Wild Growth
Cloud content management solutions prevent employees from simply resorting to familiar consumer tools for data exchange. Otherwise, this obvious behavior harbors the risk that the dissemination of possibly sensitive company data can no longer be controlled.
This is also an important factor in complying with legal data protection requirements, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR ): Among other things, it stipulates that companies must make the collection, processing and storage of personal data transparent and verifiable. A server located within the EU is also specified.
By using modern cloud content management systems, all of these requirements can be met. For example, companies can use appropriate clouds or leave business-critical data in their own data center. Remote wiping, device locks, file blocklisting, allow listing, and expiration dates provide additional security, as do access restrictions and authorization policies.
Some solutions also enable real-time monitoring and auditing of user activities. This ensures that only authorized users have access to data and information relevant to them. The solutions can be used comfortably in everyday work thanks to mostly comfortable user interfaces, flexible application options and uncomplicated operation.
Stable Growth Expected
The market prospects in cloud content management are also rosy: the market researchers at Mordor Intelligence expect the total market to grow to 21.27 billion US dollars by 2026. This would correspond to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.3 per cent.
The main drivers are the BYOD trend (“Bring Your Device”) and the increasing demand for the security of content and information. The COVID-19 pandemic has also fueled development around enterprise data synchronization and sharing solutions.
