What is data synchronisation?

With computing equipment everywhere in business, it is often useful to have the same data on several PCs, tablets and other mobile devices. Professionals also increasingly share documents with partners and clients. For that data to be reachable everywhere, and for any changes to show up without delay, you need a good file synchronisation system. What is it? And what does it actually offer? Here is a complete look at what you need to know about data synchronisation in business.

Data synchronisation: what is it?

The purpose of file synchronisation is to make the same digital content reachable from several places. It is therefore a process that lets users on different devices reach an identical version of the same document. When a user edits content on a phone, a tablet or a PC, the modified files are updated for other people or on the other machines managed by the synchronisation system.

Take two colleagues working on the same file from different places, a Word document say. If one of them adds, changes or removes lines from the original file, the second user sees those changes. The result is that users will always have access to the latest version of the document, whether or not it has been edited.

Synchronisation can be done manually or automatically, over the internet or within a local network.

The different types of data synchronisation

A synchronisation system can be one-way or two-way.

In the first case, changes can only be made by a single user or in one specific place. The update then flows out to the other, secondary storage locations.

Two-way synchronisation happens when data can be edited from any storage location by the people who have the necessary access.

What can be synchronised?

Almost every type of digital data in a company can be synchronised across several devices:

• Digital books;
• Payslips;
• Contracts;
• Health data;
• Banking data;
• Invoices and so on.

Those files may be images, video, audio, Word documents (.docx), Excel (.xls) or PowerPoint (.pptx).

The technologies that make digital data synchronisation possible are therefore essential to companies working across several sites. They also answer professionals' growing need for mobility and support collaborative work. Several risks have to be anticipated, though, if you are to get the benefit.

What risks come with data synchronisation?

Among the most significant threats:

• Data loss;
• Confidentiality problems;
• Slowness when loading and transferring documents.

Data loss can happen when one of the devices involved in the process malfunctions.

When outsourcing your information, poor configuration can also open a security hole. The data then becomes vulnerable and can be hacked. Another major risk is a breach of the confidentiality of your data: company data has value, and an unscrupulous provider can sell it to advertising networks or to your competitors, or use it for marketing and commercial purposes.

That is why it is important to choose a certified, reliable provider such as NetExplorer. We will come back to the synchronisation options we offer a little further on.

Finally, when you use management and storage systems that are outdated or ill-suited to what companies need today, updating and editing can be extremely slow.

Despite these risks, though, it is entirely possible to synchronise data securely if you take the right steps.

Good practice for successful data synchronisation

To avoid overwriting or losing your data during synchronisation, here are a few habits worth adopting.

When using software that synchronises files, on starting up your connected device, wait for the application to update the versions of your documents before opening them and working on them. You can also:

• Use a synchronisation system where access to documents is controlled with logs when changes are made;
• Adopt a tool that makes earlier versions of files available;
• Set synchronisation to run automatically so that changes are not lost;
• Use a simple folder tree to organise your folders;
• Synchronise only the folders or documents that change regularly.

NetExplorer's options for synchronising company files

NetExplorer, an expert in cloud file storage and management, offers you two ways of synchronising data. Both support collaborative work, including when people are on the move.

You can adopt our web platform, which is fully optimised for managing and transferring data in business. Many professionals use it to co-edit XLS, DOCX or PPTX documents online, with automatic real-time updates. You can control user access, and the private cloud we put at your disposal is 100% managed by our specialists. With our HDS, PCI DSS and ISO certifications, along with GDPR compliance, you can be certain that your company's information, including the most critical, such as health and financial data, is properly protected during updates.

You can also use NetSync. It is a professional data synchronisation application compatible with PC and Mac. Easy to install, it is a practical piece of software that lets you edit your folders from any machine, with or without an internet connection. It alerts you (through instant notifications) as soon as a file is added, changed or deleted. It is genuinely synchronisation software that reduces the work of managing, editing and sharing:

• It synchronises only the part of a document that has changed (so access is quicker and smoother);
• It locks locally any document you are editing, to avoid duplicates and version conflicts;
• It builds in several safeguards for your data (a system that prevents accidental deletion, and plugins that protect files, for instance).

What is there to take away about data synchronisation? It has become an essential tool for the productivity of companies and professionals. If you are looking for an effective way to synchronise your files between computers, tablets and phones, whether for one person or many, choose one of the reliable, secure options NetExplorer offers.