As an architect, whether you’re storing large design files, sharing them with colleagues, syncing files to your tablet to show clients in meetings, or filing away confidential patent documentation, the benefits of the cloud are increasingly on your side. Because the architecture industry relies so heavily on collaboration throughout the course of a project, it seems like a natural fit for using the cloud but nonetheless, many architecture firms generally dissuade cloud adoption, largely due to concerns about security and the necessity of protecting intellectual property.
To be fair, these concerns are not entirely unfounded: After all, nearly a quarter of cybercriminals are intellectual property spies, hoping to sell your designs to a competitor or release confidential plans to the public. So when you work in an industry where intellectual property is your bread and butter, it’s essential to regularly address security concerns and maintain strong contingency plans.
Consider an all-too-common scenario. Say you’re working on a building project with a high-profile client, who flies your colleague out for a meeting to discuss the project. Your colleague puts the specs, designs, and some sensitive budgetary information into Dropbox on his work computer and syncs them to his phone and tablet to review the presentation on the plane. It’s a fantastic way to get work done, but as mobile devices increasingly become central to business, it’s all too easy to misplace your most important data. And sure enough, your colleague leaves his phone in the cab on the way to the meeting.
