The Goldilocks Principle, although named after a fairy tale, is a serious scientific concept that refers to the “just right” balance between two extremes. Here’s an example: astronomers call Earth a “Goldilocks planet” because our distance from the sun is just right. If we were any closer, we’d be too hot to sustain life. Any further, and we’d be too cold. We’re very lucky to be in the Goldilocks zone.

So what does the Goldilocks Principle have to do with cloud file sharing?

It’s all about the balance between IT control and ease-of-use, which has to be just right.

Employees, like water, will tend to flow around an obstacle. If your corporate file sharing service is too rigid for them, then they’ll just use personal-grade storage services such as Dropbox or Google Drive.

And this poses a serious security risk. A business might face data theft, regulatory compliance failures, inability to conduct eDiscovery, or other problems. Unfortunately, as industry data shows, this problem is already bad—and it’s getting worse.

A “just right” file storage solution gives your employees all the features and functionality they can get from their favorite consumer-grade product while also providing business-grade security and control to your IT staff.

Necessary features for end-users include:

• Sharing files with groups and external users
• Easily accessing files from virtually any computer or mobile device and, from any location
• Setting file sharing permissions for folders, sub-folders, and files

Necessary features for IT admins include:

• At-rest/In-transit encryption
• Remotely wiping company data off lost or stolen mobile devices
• Provisioning and deprovisioning users quickly
• Controlling external sharing and sharing permissions