Users typically can choose to have full copies stored locally or virtual copies that can be downloaded on demand to save on local storage space. But those features are just table stakes today, says Muscolino.
Top trends in EFSS
Four vendors dominate the market for EFSS tools from a revenue standpoint, says Muscolino: Microsoft (with OneDrive), Google (with Google Drive), Box, and Dropbox. Today, she adds, all have added new capabilities that go far beyond basic file sync and sharing services. Those expanded service offerings, which IDC now calls content sharing and collaboration platforms, are growing faster than the overall enterprise content management (ECM) space. But, she adds, “Overall this is a modernization, consolidation, and replacement market.”
Basic EFSSfunctions are also now part of many ECM suites. “A few years back, a number of ECM system vendors added document-centric collaboration capabilities, including file sync and sharing,” said Cheryl McKinnon, principal analyst at Forrester Research. “While that was happening, we saw tools like OneDrive, Dropbox, and Box adding document handling, workflow automation, e-signatures, and even enhanced governance tools to help manage the document lifecycle.”