Dropbox欲征服企业市场

    Dropbox开始动真格的了。这就是为什么这家位于旧金山的文件分享服务供应商把自己原来名为“团队专享Dropbox”的业务（主要面向企业用户，而非普通消费者）重新命名为听起来更像是企业友好型的“企业专享Dropbox”。为了讨好企业的IT部门，Dropbox还推出了单一登录功能，这样员工就能用他们登录其他内部应用的账号来登录Dropbox（同时也让管理员对认证过程拥有了更大的控制权）。

    这家公司宣称，已有超过200万家企业，其中包括95%的财富500强企业，在使用Dropbox。它还表示，每周员工用Dropbox保存的工作文件多达6亿份。但很少有IT部门正式批准使用Dropbox，其中有些则完全禁止使用这个文件分享网站，担心它会削弱自己控制并确保企业数据安全的能力。再者，企业级市场虽是Dropbox全新开拓的领域，但它还没能证明自己拥有开发这个市场的DNA。同时，这个领域的竞争者数不胜数。在企业市场，位于洛斯拉图斯的Box已经赢得了一定的名声。谷歌（Google）和Salesforce这样的大公司也已经推出了相似的应用，而像Egynte和Accellion这样的新创企业也瞄准了企业客户。

    直到最近，Dropbox还一直紧盯着普通用户，而不是企业用户。它积累的用户数量已经超过1亿人，同时宣称在超过200个国家拥有付费用户。“团队专享Dropbox”最初是2011年底推出的，主要是让小企业的员工共享文件。公司的销售和业务开发副总裁苏杰•贾斯华表示，公司过去一直人手不足，所以无法大举进军企业市场。他说：“不过，现在我们觉得可以发力了。”

    去年年底，Dropbox请来了社交游戏公司Zynga以前的产品经理安纳德•萨布兰曼尼来负责领衔开发全新命名的“企业专享Dropbox”。今年2月，Dropbox推出了一项全新的“管理控制台”，能让IT管理员跟踪、设定分享控制，把特定文件夹和链接保留在企业内部。

    萨布兰曼尼称，这个控制台和单一登录功能还只是个开始。接下来每隔几个月都会增加一些新功能，以使Dropbox成为更加企业级的服务。不过要想在这方面成功，还得要招募到合适的人才——既然手里拿着2.5亿美元的巨额融资（在旧金山还有一个豪华的新办公室），招兵买马的事儿应该不会花太长时间。但是，要让IT经理相信Dropbox适用于企业倒是真的要花点功夫。(财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    Dropbox means business. That's why the San Francisco-based file-sharing service is rebranding its "Dropbox for Teams" offering—geared at corporate users, not just consumers—to the more enterprise friendly-sounding "Dropbox for Business." In an effort to make nice with IT, the company is also introducing single sign-on capabilities, which let employees log into Dropbox with the same credentials they use for other internal business apps (and gives administrators more control over the authentication process).

    The company says 95% of the Fortune 500—and over 2 million businesses total—are already using Dropbox. It also says some 600 million work files are saved by employees each week. But few IT departments officially sanction the use of Dropbox, and some have outright bans on the file-sharing site because they fear it will weaken their ability to control and secure company data. What's more, Dropbox hasn't yet proven its got the right "DNA" to go after the enterprise market, a new entry for the company.In the meantime, there are many other competitors in the space. Los Altos-based Box has already made a name for itself in the enterprise space. Larger players like Google (GOOG) and Salesforce (CRM) have launched similar offerings and upstarts like Egynte and Accellion are also gunning for corporate customers.

    Up until very recently, Dropbox had its eye on everyday consumers, not corporations. The company's amassed over 100 million users, and claims it has paying customers in over 200 countries. The original Dropbox for Teams product, which lets small groups of employees share documents, launched in late 2011. But SujayJaswa, VP of sales and business development at Dropbox, says the company just didn't have the manpower to make a more concerted move into the enterprise market in the past. "We think we can do a good job now," says Jaswa.

    Late last year, Dropbox hired AnandSubramani, a former product manager at Zynga (ZNGA), to lead product development on the newly rebranded Dropbox for Business. In February the company unveiled a new "admin console" that allows IT administrators to track and set sharing controls, keeping certain folders and links within the company.

    According to Subramani, the console and single sign-on capabilities are just the beginning. New functionalities will be added every few months in an effort to turn Dropbox into a more enterprise-grade service. But success will at least partly depend on getting the right talent into the company--with over $250 million in funding (and a swanky new office space in San Francisco) hiring new employees shouldn't take long. Convincing IT managers that Dropbox is ready for business, however, could take a while.