Item: Egnyte
Rating: 6
Author: Mykii Liu

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our whole organization is now using Egnyte, I've been assisting users ever since its implementation into our environment. It does solve a lot of the external access required by third parties and allows our internal access to be convenient from multiple locations.

Pros and Cons

Sharing files externally with passwords, link expiration and granular control of permissions
File syncing across end-user devices using a client installed onto the computer for seamless integration for end-users as if they had mapped a drive directly to their machine
Implements 2FA for secure access

Applying mass permissions to multiple folders is non-existent. If you have 15 folders to manage, you have to individually assign the 15 folders permissions to have specific rights (to not be able to delete the folder and to be able to create subfolders)
File and folder restoration is only done in increments of 80 items-- per page. That can be 78 files and 2 folders, but those folders don't contain the original items that originally existed within it. Restoring a folder with more than 1000 items is absolutely drudging.
There isn't an ability to keep files stored on end-user devices as of yet. OS level applications often times have issues when needing to address [the] entire contents of folders. [A] prime example is for file compression.
There isn't an easy way to back up the information from an end user's machine or transfer contents to a local hard drive. Cloud base solutions are available though.

Most Important Features

File accessibility across the organization
End user familiarity using the File Explorer
Folder/File restoration
Folder/file security and permissions
Ability to share to users outside of the organization
Collaboration using O365

Return on Investment

This has saved us tons over services like ShareFile and Dropbox and has provided ease of use for the end-users.
Administering users Egnyte has been pretty simple and easy, reducing some time spent. Unfortunately, the additional time spent setting permissions within folder templates loses all-time benefits and ultimately [in my experience] can cause wrist-related issues if done in bulk and needing to be done on a deadline.

Key Insights

Do you think Egnyte delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Egnyte's feature set?

Did Egnyte live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Egnyte go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Egnyte again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

If you're simply sharing and syncing across devices and don't care about granular security permissions, this is an easy win.

If you're needing more control over the ability to restrict users from deleting folders, sharing folders, and allowing only certain groups to be able to view a folder, this can work but will ultimately give you arthritis as you'll end up having to perform a multitude of clicks for a task that should be able to be done in a fraction of the action. Have a folder template that allows for the first two levels of folders to be view only and the third level allowing file/folder creation and deletion? Have fun setting each of the third level folder's permissions-- they should give out free wrist braces.

When discussed with their engineers about this function, a suggested $28,000 custom script was suggested. I don't believe them when they say that they haven't heard of other customers wishing to assign rights to multiple folders-- Something any sort of real admin would require. It simply isn't important to them, which is fine. The current ability

Decent, but not made for the typical admin.

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Egnyte