“I love VPN and FTP,” said no one ever.

For many of today’s employees, accessing the file server remotely is the bane of their existence. Unfortunately, millions of businesses still rely on the file server as a central repository, leaving employees to deal with cumbersome VPN and FTP protocols or, as is now common, devise their own (rogue) methods for accessing files while out of the office.

File sync emerged to help employees access their files remotely, but most file sync companies still do not have technology that is sophisticated enough to deal with the file server. Dropbox’s advice to companies: Abandon the file server and move everything to the cloud. For companies that have invested thousands of dollars in their file server and network, and have terabytes of local data securely stored, migrating their entire file server is neither a reasonable or attractive proposition.

It was this exact problem that inspired the development of eFolder Anchor’s flagship feature two years ago: File Server Enablement. File Server Enablement uses advanced file sync technology to cloud-enable the file server. This is made possible by mapping the file server directory to a Team Share within Anchor, and thus, giving employees secure, remote, real-time access to the file server. Employees can access the file server easily and can collaborate on files like never before. Besides automatically syncing files and folders to and from the file server, File Server Enablement syncs the entire file server to the cloud, adding a layer of backup in the event that any data loss happens.

Why did we develop such a feature? The best companies not only introduce new technologies; they introduce technologies that complement and improve existing technologies and processes. We realize that the file server isn’t going anywhere anytime fast, so instead, we figured out how to make it better and less painful to access. We were the first company to offer this technology, and we remain one of a handful.

On the file sync innovation front: eFolder 1 – Dropbox 0. Time to start thinking outside of the box.

Carlo Tapia is Product Marketing Manager at eFolder. Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of MSPmentor’s Cloud-based File Syncing and Sharing Infocenter.