Dropbox UK Opening Brings Changes to DB for Business

As one of the leading US companies for cloud storage and technology, the opening of Dropbox’s UK office came with a smorgasbord of changes for the Dropbox for Business offering. The London office is the first overseas hub for the company, and the executives have announced that a number of changes will be coming in the next few months starting with better security options for both folders and files. As companies around the world embrace cloud storage and technology, but still worry over security, it’s clear why Dropbox is focusing on protection.

The early changes include password protection as well as expiration dates for shared links, ensuring that every link is only “good” for a short amount of time. This allows every type of business from e-commerce websites to government agencies a buffer “just in case.” Simultaneously, users can also opt for view-only permissions so that key players can have access to the files without the ability to modify them. However, Dropbox has much more in store for the rest of 2014.

Business tactics

While no official launch date has been announced, Dropbox has promised complete document text search will be available “soon” and that 100 percent of files will be fully indexed instantaneously upon upload. This will allow for easier searching utilizing any word in the document. In an early demonstration prior to the UK opening, Dropbox offered a demonstration that included uploading/indexing in less than 10 seconds.

To complement the new office, Dropbox also launched Project Harmony, a service that encourages communication and collaboration online. However, Project Harmony is different because it taps into other applications like Microsoft Office. It doesn’t operate as a stand-alone system, which is a plus for a number of businesses with employees who are used to working on established platforms. It’s part of providing the type of virtual office toolsets in demand within a digital business world.

What the executives say

According to Ilya Fushman, Head of Product for Dropbox, “Our focus has historically been on being increasingly cross platform. If you look at a typical business user, they’re using a variety of devices and creating that bridge is something that we’ve invested all of our company energy in. We know we have the best syncing, and that’s going to be the differentiating factor because, ultimately, people try different things but they always come back to the service that gives them peace of mind when they upload a file, that it’s going to be available on their device.”

Already, Dropbox is delivering on that promise with the release of two APIs for beta developers. One API is for shared folders and the other is for document previews, with the doc preview offering file viewing no matter the operating system and without formatting problems. As for the shared API, it promotes playing nicely with other, third party applications.

Just in time

The changes to Dropbox for business came right in time, considering in early July 2014 the notorious Edward Snowden called the company “hostile towards privacy” and encouraged consumers to use Spideroak while boycotting Dropbox. Even though Dropbox has said they’ll embrace more transparency when it comes to information requests, that little ding from Snowden might have already done some damage.