Accellion recently announced a number of key integrations with Microsoft Office Online that enhance productivity for enterprise employees editing, sharing and collaborating on Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, whether they are stored on-premises or in the cloud. The end result? Employees are more efficient and productive and data security and compliance are enhanced.
Rob Howard, Director of the Office 365 Ecosystem for Microsoft had this to say about these value added integrations: “We want to give Office customers the best possible experience when working with Office files, regardless of how they are accessed or where they are stored. Microsoft is excited that Accellion has joined the Cloud Storage Provider program, enabling our joint customers to be more productive when accessing Office documents on the web or in the cloud.”
I spoke with our CEO, Yorgen Edholm, about this interesting development and here’s what he had to say:
What features did you announce and how do they add value to enterprise employees using Office 365?
We announced three key integrations. The first is streamlined access to files stored on on-premises servers, including SharePoint servers, which are still found in 77% of enterprises, according to Gartner. Users can now create or access any Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file from the Web, their desktop or mobile device without having to save or upload files back to where the file resides. This not only saves time but also avoids having multiple versions of the same document. And because you don’t have to copy or email the edited file, the risk of a data leak from malware or sending a file to an unauthorized user is also negated.
The second feature is similar to the first but addresses those files that are stored in the cloud. Users can leverage Office Online to find, create, edit and save changes made in Microsoft files stored in the cloud. This feature is enabled by Accellion’s recent addition to the Microsoft Cloud Storage Partner Program, of which only a few companies belong. A key capability of this partnership is collaborative editing, or co-authoring, which allows enterprise employees to collaborate with one another on Microsoft files in real time.
The third feature is full text search. With a typical enterprise storing thousands of files in dozens of content systems on-premises and in the cloud, searching for content can be frustrating and time consuming. With full text search, users can now quickly locate files stored in popular content systems like Microsoft SharePoint and Windows file shares, making them more productive.
Why did Accellion add these features?
One of the challenges for Office users is that there are an overwhelming number of content systems in any given enterprise. The typical enterprise in fact runs over 1,100 different cloud services. Microsoft has several: Windows Files Shares, SharePoint servers, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive. There are a number of non-Microsoft platforms in any given enterprise, too: Box, Dropbox, Documentum, Google Drive, and Open Text, to name just a few. There are also lots of unapproved Shadow IT applications, like Evernote, that are used as well. Ultimately there isn’t an efficient way to access the content stored in these systems and finding, sharing, collaborating on and saving files without running into version control or data security and compliance issues are major concerns for organizations. We solve this complicated problem with these new features and our unique single pane of glass view of content stored across the enterprise and the cloud.
Is this a big deal for Accellion? Why?
Yes, and here's why. More than 1.2 billion people use Microsoft Office in 140 countries. Also, in the past few years, Microsoft has placed more emphasis on the cloud and currently 80% of the Fortune 100 is on Microsoft's Cloud. In addition, over 18 million subscribers use Office 365, Microsoft’s cloud-based Office applications and file storage solution. Lastly, Office has been downloaded over 340 million times on iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. These are very big numbers so if Accellion is going to enable secure file access and transfer for the enterprise, it’s very clear that we need to be involved with Microsoft and its Office suite. In total, we have an incredible opportunity to help Microsoft users be more efficient and productive and, as a result, this is a huge market opportunity for us.
Does Microsoft see this opportunity the same way?
I genuinely believe that they do. We are adding serious value to the fastest growing cloud platform and helping Microsoft customers derive more value from an extensive installed base of on-premises SharePoint servers. By offering connectivity to multiple data sources via a single pane of glass that would otherwise be out of reach, we are providing Microsoft Office users convenient and secure access to files, regardless of where they are stored. This is a huge value add for Microsoft and its billions of users.
These new capabilities complement the many Microsoft integrations already supported by kiteworks, including:
- Microsoft Office for iOS and Android – open, edit and save files to kiteworks using iOS and Android devices
- Azure Cloud – access enterprise content systems in real-time, enabled by Microsoft Azure’s private cloud deployment option
- Windows 10 – securely create, access, and collaborate on enterprise content via a mobile device or PC running Windows 10
- Windows File Shares (CIFS and DFS) – connect to files stored in Windows File Shares
- Microsoft SharePoint (2007, 2010, and 2013) – connect to files stored in Microsoft SharePoint
- Microsoft SharePoint Online – connect to files stored in the cloud on Microsoft SharePoint Online
- Microsoft OneDrive for Business – connect to files stored in the cloud on Microsoft OneDrive for Business
To learn more about our Microsoft announcement, visit our Office 365 solutions page.
To learn more about single pane of glass, watch this brief video.
