Security and access for critical company documents

In many companies, employees do their work on a computer, on documents. Whether it’s quotes for clients, bids for tenders, or plans and drawings sent to the client for approval, all of it takes up a large part of employees’ time.

How much time do you think your employees would lose if, tomorrow morning, none of the documents they had worked on were there anymore and they had to redo them all?

In short, in 2026 a company’s critical documents are protected in two layers: company cloud storage, which syncs the documents and makes them accessible from anywhere, and a separate backup, which can bring them back after a deletion, a failure or a ransomware attack. Simple options, such as an external hard drive or a USB stick where everyone saves their files whenever they remember to, are better than nothing, but they’re not enough for a company.

What has changed since 2011

When we first wrote this article, in December 2011, we recommended the free Dropbox account, with 2 GB of space, and explained step by step how to install it. The free account (Dropbox Basic) still exists today, still with 2 GB, but since 2019 it can be used on at most three devices.

For a company, a free account is no longer the right option: the files sit in employees’ personal accounts, the company doesn’t control who has access to them, and when an employee leaves, the documents can leave with them.

In the meantime, most companies have received cloud storage along with their email: OneDrive and SharePoint in Microsoft 365, or Google Drive in Google Workspace (formerly G Suite). Most of the time, the solution is already paid for; it just needs to be configured correctly.

Where should you keep company documents in 2026?

• In the company’s storage, not in personal accounts. OneDrive for each employee’s documents, SharePoint or Teams for shared folders, or Google Drive with shared drives in Google Workspace. The documents belong to the company, and access is granted and revoked from the administrator account.
• With work folders synced automatically. OneDrive can take over the Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders on each computer. Employees save where they’re used to, and the files reach the cloud on their own.
• With access from anywhere, including from your phone, through the OneDrive or Google Drive apps and from the browser.
• With controlled sharing. Instead of email attachments or USB sticks, send links only to specific people, with read or edit rights and, where needed, an expiration date.
• With two-step verification (MFA) on all accounts. A hacked account gives access to all the synced documents. See also the basic rules for secure passwords.

Why isn’t syncing the same as backup?

Syncing instantly copies every change, including the wrong ones. If a document is deleted, overwritten or encrypted by ransomware, the change immediately reaches every device and the cloud.

The recycle bin and version history help, but only for a limited time: in SharePoint and OneDrive, deleted files can be recovered for 93 days, and in Google Drive the trash is emptied automatically after 30 days.

The warning in the 2011 version of this article still holds: a sync solution is not a professional backup solution that keeps several versions of your documents, separate from the original. For critical documents, apply the 3-2-1 backup rule: three copies of the data, on two types of media, with one of them outside the company. Backup as a Service from RezolvIT backs up your data automatically, locally or in the cloud, and restores it when needed.

How do you move company documents to the cloud, step by step?

1. Take inventory. Find out where the documents are now: on employees’ computers, on a file server, on USB sticks or in personal accounts.
2. Decide on the structure. What stays personal (OneDrive) and what becomes shared, by department or by project (SharePoint, Teams or shared drives).
3. Grant rights by group, not person by person. That way, a new employee gets the right access from day one, and someone who leaves loses it in a single place.
4. Turn on work folder syncing on all computers, with the same settings.
5. Turn on two-step verification for all users.
6. Set up the separate backup and test a restore.
7. Explain the new way of working to your colleagues: where to save, how to share a document and what to do if they delete something by mistake.

Recommendations for use

• The best way to work is to keep all the documents you actively use in the synced folders, so they’re always saved in the cloud.
• If you want to work with someone else on the same documents, create a shared folder and give the group access, instead of emailing copies.
• When an employee leaves, close their access the same day and transfer their documents to a colleague. If you like, we can handle it: we set up the computers and accounts for new hires and close access for those who leave.
• If you have a smartphone, install the company’s storage app, so you always have access to the files you worked on at your computer.
• Check regularly that you can restore a file from backup. An untested backup may fail exactly when you need it.

If you need help moving your documents to the cloud or want us to check whether your current backup actually works, ask for a free IT audit or fill in the contact form, and we’ll take care of the rest.