Today’s workforce is comprised of employees that work from various locations. Collaboration tools make it easier for employees to stay on task and remain productive whether they are in the office, on the road while traveling or working remotely from home. One of the most powerful collaboration tools available for businesses is Microsoft’s SkyDrive Pro offering which was overhauled at the beginning of 2014 and rebranded as OneDrive for Business. This cloud storage and collaboration tool received some new and enhanced features that further benefit business users looking for an anywhere-access solution for storing and sharing their work files.

What is OneDrive for Business?

OneDrive for Business is designed for organizations to provide a secure cloud storage option for their employees, while still maintaining administrative control over the business accounts and the files that are stored within it. This solution differentiates itself from the competition with the flexibility and the ease in which it facilitates cloud collaboration between team members. Users can decide who should have access to files by sharing at the file or folder level which sends an email invitation to those users to collaborate.

OneDrive for Business is included with on premise SharePoint 2013, as well as with subscriptions to Office 365 Business and Enterprise plans. Additionally, OneDrive for Business plans can be purchased separately for each user in your organization and include Office Online which gives the ability for team members to collaborate on documents simultaneously through its powerful co-authoring features.

Main Features

Cloud storage is just one of many impressive features of every OneDrive for Business account. Users currently receive 1 TB of storage space at a fraction of the cost of similar solutions.

Another feature that business users may find enticing is OneDrive’s folder and file syncing.  By using the sync app, you can synchronize not only your OneDrive for Business files, but also other SharePoint document libraries making them available offline in the familiar Windows File Explorer file structure.

OneDrive for Business accounts allow users to share a whole folder or a single file with other team members giving them the ability to edit or view documents right in the browser using Microsoft Office Online. Files that were shared with your account by other users are also nicely organized and linked on your OneDrive for Business main page.

And we can’t forget about mobile devices; OneDrive for Business has a diverse offering of mobile apps across multiple platforms, making the service the most flexible available. Apps are available for PCs, Macs, Android, iOS devices and Windows Phones, giving business users the ability to update and share files from wherever they are.

Benefits for Business

The biggest benefit to businesses comes in the ability for employees to collaborate and share files in the cloud with ease while reducing the amount of time needed for IT to administer the solution. OneDrive for Business gives users a centralized location where they can easily upload their work files, control which files or folders they securely share with others and collaborate on those files online in real-time.

Quite simply, OneDrive for Business gives your employees one place to share, collaborate, manage, sync, store and find the work files they need to do their job from any device, anywhere, anytime.

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