When employees work from home, company data spreads across personal laptops, USB drives and messengers. Let’s look at how to give people access to their work without handing them a copy of the business.
Method 1. Sending files via messengers
The most common and the most dangerous. A customer database in Excel goes off to Telegram, stays there forever, and remains with the employee after they leave. File versions diverge, and nobody knows which one is “current.” The only upside is that there’s nothing to set up.
Method 2. A shared cloud drive
Files live in one place, permissions are granted per folder, version history is kept, and when someone leaves, access is revoked in one step. This solves the “where’s the latest file” problem, but not the “file downloaded to a personal laptop” problem. Good for documents, not suitable for 1C and CRM.
Method 3. VPN to the office server
The employee connects to the office network and works with the server as if sitting at their desk. Data stays on the server, but the requirements for the home computer and internet are high, and the office server still depends on power, internet and a single administrator. Plus, every home computer becomes a “door” into the company network.
Method 4. Cloud workspaces
The employee connects not to a network but to their own desktop on a server in a data center. Applications, files and 1C run there; only the image is sent to the home device. What this gives you:
- Data physically never leaves the server: copying to local drives and USB sticks can be blocked.
- Login through a secure gateway with two-factor authentication; access can be restricted by time and IP address.
- Everything the employee does happens in one environment with unified permissions and an audit log.
- When someone leaves — disable the account and access is gone; files stay with the company.
- The home computer can be anything, even a weak one; an infection on it doesn’t reach the work environment.
Comparison
| Messengers | Shared drive | VPN to office | Cloud workspaces | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copies of data on personal devices | yes | yes | partially | no |
| Revoking access when someone leaves | impossible | instant | instant | instant |
| Working with 1C and CRM | no | no | yes | yes |
| Dependence on the office | none | none | complete | none |
| Cost | 0 | from 20 UZS/GB per day | server + setup | from 5 000 UZS per seat per day |
What to choose
For documents and collaboration — the MCDrive shared drive. For employees working in 1C, CRM and with sensitive data — cloud workspaces. They’re often combined: the drive for everyone, workspaces for departments with database access. Both options are set up in 1–2 days and billed daily.
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