File sharing is becoming a critical way companies can collaborate on projects, particularly when it becomes necessary for workers in remote locations to work together. Up until recently, however, this was something of a hassle as proprietary limitations meant that files weren’t often shareable across platforms.
CRM giant Salesforce has tried to alleviate the problem. The company recently overhauled its file sharing system in a way that allows users to share files from any business unit on any device. The new solution, Salesforce Files, works with services such as Google Drive, Box, Microsoft SharePoint and others, acting like a map, complete with a directory, to help people find their files through across different repositories, according to the Next Web.
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Salesforce Files is currently in beta and being used by a few select customers. The new solution is a revamp of Salesforce’s Chatterbox, a file sharing solution that allowed users to take locally saved files and sync them across multiple devices. Some of the technology Salesforce used to produce the new Files solution came from the company’s acquisition of EntropySoft earlier this year.
"Files are at the heart of every business process," said Nasi Jazayeri, executive vice president and general manager of Salesforce Chatter, during a recent press conference at the Salesforce executive briefing center. Jazayeri noted that many of these files are frequently "scattered across disconnected systems."
Jazayeri says that Salesforce Files will be about connecting all users and business processes in the Salesforce cloud with third-party file repositories, both premise-based and cloud-based.
The Next Web’s Ken Yeung notes that Salesforce Files operates as read-only in an effort to make it easier to find documents and to avoid creating redundant documents.
“So if you’re looking for that sales presentation stored in Box, Google Drive, or SharePoint, any edits will be made in the respective system, not in Salesforce,” wrote Yeung.
Thus far, however, there is no wide release data set for Salesforce Files.