Cloud-based file sharing, storage and synchronisation services are at the forefront of the consumerisation trend. They enable employees to collaborate more effectively and boost productivity by using ­simple tools with interfaces they are familiar with.
基于云的文件共享、存储和同步服务处于消费者化趋势的前沿。它们能够让雇员使用简单的工具和熟悉的界面，更有效地协作和提高工作效率。
“We don’t think people should need different tools at work from those they use at home,” says Ilya Fushman, head of product for business and mobile at Dropbox, best known of the cloud storage providers.
Dropbox企业和移动产品主管伊利亚•富什曼(Ilya Fushman)表示：“我们认为，人们在工作中和家里没必要使用不同的工具。”Dropbox以提供云存储服务而闻名。
“As knowledge workers are becoming increasingly mobile, they’re searching not only for devices but also services that ‘just work’ and let them focus on doing their jobs,” he adds.
他补充称：“随着知识工人的活动范围日益扩大，他们寻求的不仅仅是移动设备，而且还有‘管用’且让他们专注于工作的服务。”
Typically, companies have had to choose between consumer services that are simple and elegant, or enterprise tools that are cumbersome and difficult to use but secure, says Aaron Levie, chief executive of Box, a rival provider.
Dropbox的竞争对手Box的首席执行官阿龙•利维(Aaron Levie)表示，通常而言，公司不得不在简单而别致的消费者服务和笨重难用但安全的企业工具之间做出抉择。
“What we did was to ­balance these two options,” he says, providing employees with easy to use tools that still satisfy enterprise security requirements.
他说，“我们过去所做的是平衡这两种选择”，为雇员提供简单易用的工具，但同时也能满足企业的安全需求。
Box has about 20m users in 180,000 companies who use the platform to upload files, collaborate, and share content online. “What we’re relying on is that we can build enough traction, get enough of the industry, that we become the de facto ­platform in enterprise,” Mr Levie says.
Box在18万家公司中拥有约2000万用户，这些用户使用Box平台，在线上传文件、协作和共享内容。利维表示：“我们所倚仗的是，可以创造足够大的吸引力，在行业获得足够多的业务量，我们已成为事实上的企业平台。”
“That gives us a launch-off point into a bunch of other services. It will be determined in the next year and a half to two years, because the market is adopting this right now. We need to grow as fast as humanly possible right now, because the opportunity is right now.”
“我们可以在此基础上提供其他许多服务。未来一年半到两年内将见分晓，因为市场目前正进行适应。我们现在需要尽可能快地发展，因为机遇就在眼前。”
Dropbox’s Mr Fushman agrees. Along with other services that began by focusing on the consumer market and have ridden the consumerisation wave into the heart of many companies, Dropbox has been investing heavily in its business offerings this year, adding features that enable corporate IT departments to oversee and manage file ­distribution and meet ­regulatory and other requirements.
Dropbox的富什曼对此表示同意。Dropbox一开始致力于消费者市场，并借力消费者化浪潮深入许多公司的核心。该公司今年还大举投资于企业级产品，添加了允许企业IT部门监控和管理文件分发以及符合监管等要求的功能。
Last month, (November)Dropbox launched Dropbox for Business, which added more controls for IT departments, including the ability to ­create team spaces for sharing and syncing documents and managing accounts through Microsoft’s Active Directory.
今年11月，Dropbox推出了给予IT部门更大控制权的Dropbox for Business，包括能够通过微软的“活动目录”(Active Directory)创建团队空间来共享和同步文件，以及管理账户。
Explaining the move, Mr Fushman says: “As we got more excited about building more features for Dropbox for Business, we kept running into the same problem: just as people often work at home, they also want to have their personal files with them at the office.
富什曼在解释上述举措时表示：“我们越来越有兴趣向Dropbox for Business添加功能，可总遇到同样的问题：正如人们往往在家工作一样，他们也希望在办公室带上个人文件。”
“With only one Dropbox, users wound up putting their personal files in their Dropbox for Business. We needed to build a way to help people keep their stuff separate, but still make both sets available from everywhere.”
“如果只有一个Dropbox，用户最终会把他们的个人文件放到Dropbox for Business上。我们需要设法帮他们把公私内容分开，但仍能随时随地找到这些内容”。
Now he says, a personal Dropbox can be connected to a user’s Dropbox for Business account on all their devices. Each Dropbox comes with its own password, contacts, settings, and files. “It’s like having your house keys and your company’s key-card on one keychain and with you at all times,” he says.
现在他表示，用户可以在他们所有设备上将个人的Dropbox账户与Dropbox for Business账户关联起来。每个Dropbox账户都有自己的密码、通讯录、设置和文件。他说：“这就像把家门钥匙和公司门禁卡放在同一个钥匙链上面，可以随时带着它们。”
In addition to single sign-on, two-step verification, sharing controls and the admin console, the new Dropbox for Business comes with a suite of new features including the ability for IT administrators to share audit logs and remotely delete a Dropbox folder from a computers and mobile device if the item is lost or an employee leaves the company.
除了单点登录、两步验证、共享控制和管理控制台以外，新版Dropbox for Business还开发了一组新的功能，包括如果某个文件丢失或员工离职，IT管理人员可以共享审计日志，以及通过一台计算机和移动设备远程删除Dropbox的文件夹。
IT staff can also transfer all the files from a former user into another team member’s Dropbox.
IT人员也可以将前用户的所有文件转移至另一名团队成员的Dropbox账户上。
“With your new Dropbox for Business account, you can know exactly what’s happening to corporate data, take action if something goes wrong, and easily continue your business when employees move on,” says Mr Fushman. “Most importantly, you can do all this without putting your corporate data at risk.”
富什曼表示：“有了新的Dropbox for Business账户，你就确信可以实时掌握企业数据的情况，并在出现问题时采取措施。你还可以在员工离职后轻松地继续你的业务。最重要的是，你做所有这些事情不会让企业数据出现任何风险。”
Not surprisingly perhaps, rival file sharing services, such as Intralinks, Egnyte and Workshare that were designed from the outset for business use, still express doubts.
或许并不令人意外的是，Dropbox的竞争对手仍表示怀疑，比如Intralinks、Egnyte和Workshare这些从一开始就开发企业级产品的文件共享服务提供商。
“Dropbox will find it difficult to shake off its reputation as a consumer storage application,” says Anthony Foy, chief executive of Workshare, a leading provider of secure enterprise collaboration application.
Workshare首席执行官安东尼•福伊(Anthony Foy)表示：“Dropbox将会发现很难摆脱消费者存储应用的名声。”Workshare是一家领先的安全企业协作应用服务提供商。
“B2B companies will not be shy in challenging them on the security and control of its applications,” he adds.
他补充说：“B2B(企业对企业)公司将不会害怕在应用安全和控制方面挑战它们。”
“There are so many cases every week where data has been leaked through a ­consumer storage or file sharing application,” says Mr Foy, whose customers are mostly in regulated or semi-regulated sectors, such as law, finance and pharmaceuticals.
福伊表示：“每周都有很多通过消费者存储或文件共享应用泄露数据的案例。”福伊的客户大多处于监管或半监管的行业，比如法律、金融和制药业。
Mimecast, which specialises in protecting data exchanged via email, agrees.
专业从事电子邮件数据保护的英国公司Mimecast对此表示同意。
“Sharing enterprise data over consumer cloud file share apps is a significant security, compliance and reputational risk for enterprises,” says the UK-based company. “These services may be good for consumers, but they have not been de­signed to match the ­security needs of CIOs. You can’t just bolt new ‘features’ on top of your consumer service and make them work for the enterprise.”
Mimecast表示：“对企业来说，使用消费者云文件共享应用共享企业数据是一个重大的安全、合规和声誉风险。这些服务可能有利于消费者，但它们在设计之时并未考虑如何满足首席信息官的(CIO)的安全需求。你不能只是将新‘功能’添加到消费者服务应用中，就让它们为企业服务。”
The battle lines for ­control of the corporate market for file sharing ­services are drawn.
争夺企业级文件共享服务市场的战事即将打响。