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Small businesses often pick a file storage platform by habit or by whatever came bundled with their email. The decision deserves a quick, deliberate look, since moving every file to a new platform later takes significant time and effort.
Two factors decide the choice: the level of security the business needs and the cost the business can carry. Every option on the market sits somewhere along those two lines, from free personal accounts to enterprise-grade platforms with layered permissions.
This article walks you through defining your needs and comparing the three broad tiers of file storage. It then covers planning the setup. You finish with a documented choice that fits your business today and leaves room to grow.
Before You Start
A few pieces of information shape the decision.
- The number of people who need to store and share files
- A list of the types of sensitive information you handle, such as client records or financial data
- The outside parties you share files with, such as clients or contractors
- A monthly budget range for file storage
- Contract or grant requirements for data protection
- A blank spreadsheet for comparing options
The Process
The steps below move you from your business needs to a clear, documented platform choice.
Step 1. The Security Level Your Business Needs
You start by describing how tightly your files need to be controlled. A few questions help:
- Who inside the business needs to open which files?
- Which outside people receive files, and how often?
- Does any file hold information that clients or funders expect you to protect?
- Do different teams need different levels of access to the same folders?
Your answers place you in one of three broad security levels:
- Basic sharing
- Organization-wide control
- Layered, granular control
Requirements tied to law or contracts are worth confirming with a qualified advisor.
Step 2. The Cost the Business Can Carry
The next step is to set a realistic budget. Paid platforms usually charge a monthly price per user, so you multiply the per-user price by your headcount and then by 12 for a yearly figure. You also account for one-time setup costs. Those costs include specialist fees and the time your team spends moving files.
Step 3. The Three Tiers of File Storage
File storage options fall into three broad tiers. Knowing what each tier provides lets you compare specific products quickly.
Paid business-tier plans bundle storage and security into one monthly per-user price. These plans offer the following:
- Controls over who can open files, both inside and outside the organization
- The option to limit sharing to your own organization or to named outside individuals
- Shared drives, sometimes called team drives, where files belong to the team rather than to one person's account
Shared drives matter more than they first appear. A file stored in one person's account leaves with that person. A file stored in a shared drive stays with the business.
Free personal accounts still let you share files with specific people by email and choose viewer or editor access. The difference is control. Free accounts lack the following:
- Administrator oversight
- Organization-wide sharing rules
- Shared drives
A file set to "anyone with the link" is open to whoever receives that link. Links travel easily through forwarded emails and chat threads, so the file can reach people you never intended.
Enterprise-grade platforms offer deep and highly granular security. Setup can stay simple, granting access to anyone with an account in your environment. It can also go many layers deep, using security groups that sort employees in three levels:
- Department
- Group within the department
- Team within each group
Two teams in the same department can hold very different access because they serve different functions.
Step 4. Where Sharing Controls Live
Paid and enterprise-grade platforms place their sharing controls in an administrator console. The console is where a designated administrator sets organization-wide rules, such as blocking outside sharing or requiring sign-in to open a link. You confirm who in your business holds the administrator role and that they have time to manage it. Free personal accounts have no console, so each person controls their own sharing.
Step 5. A Comparison Spreadsheet
You build a spreadsheet that lists the options you are considering and scores each against your needs. Useful columns include the following:
- Monthly cost per user and total yearly cost
- Shared drives
- Administrator console
- Option to limit sharing to the organization or named outsiders
- Layered security groups
- Fit with the security level from Step 1
A simple score from 1 to 3 in each column makes the comparison easy to read. The option with the strongest fit inside your budget becomes your choice.
Step 6. A Plan for Setup
The setup plan depends on the tier you choose. A paid business-tier plan usually needs little more than an administrator and a few shared drives. An enterprise-grade platform with a deep, layered permission structure is a different job. The right move for that structure is to bring in a specialist to set up the permissions at the start. Getting the linkages right early costs far less than untangling them later.
Step 7. A Documented Decision
The last step is to write down the choice and the reasons behind it. A one-page record covers the following:
- Platform tier
- Security level it meets
- Yearly cost
- Administrator
- Setup date
The record helps the next person who reviews the decision understand why it was made.
Worked Example
Harvest Table Catering has 11 staff members and shares client contracts and event timelines with clients and two outside event planners. Owner Marisol Grant had been using free personal accounts, and a client's signed contract was once forwarded to the wrong planner through a shared link.
Marisol defined her security level as organization-wide control. She needed to limit sharing to named outsiders, and she wanted contracts to stay with the business when staff members left. She did not need layered security groups for a team of 11. Her budget allowed up to $15 per user per month, or $1,980 per year.
She scored three options in a comparison spreadsheet. The paid business-tier plan met every need within budget. The enterprise-grade platform scored highest on security and exceeded both her budget and her need for layered groups. The free accounts stayed within budget and lacked shared drives and administrator oversight.
Marisol chose the paid business-tier plan and named her office manager, Darnell, as administrator. Darnell created three shared drives and set sharing to named outside individuals only. Marisol recorded the decision on a one-page summary and set a review date for the following year.
Checking Your Work
The checklist below confirms that your platform choice is sound.
- The required security level is written down and matches how you share files.
- The yearly cost, including setup, fits the budget.
- The chosen option keeps business files in shared drives rather than personal accounts.
- Sharing can be limited to the organization or named outsiders where needed.
- A named person holds the administrator role.
- A specialist is scheduled for setup if the structure uses layered security groups.
- A one-page decision record exists with a review date.
