Can OneDrive for Business replace Home Drives?
Yes, it can!
*Included with Office 365 Subscriptions*
OneDrive for Business comes as part of many of the office 365 packages available. With 1TB of capacity for each and every user it can free up an enormous amount storage from in-house file servers.
Security
Security is an issue with data stored in the cloud, especially company confidential information.
With the right policies in place, like allowing files to be downloaded only on domain joined PCs and sharing only among company employees, it becomes a useful addition.
OneDrive for Business lack of security and control is holding deployment back.
Microsoft is evolving OneDrive for Business and enhancing security all the time.
Many will find that OneDrive for Business has enough security for Small and Medium businesses and with the benefit of enhanced collaboration and allowing employees to work remotely, therefore providing increased productivity from greater ease of access and use.
Collaboration
One key benefit is that individuals can share files with others, from their OneDrive for Business storage, can enable fast and dynamic sharing of data, without using email and generating copies of files. It can even provide collaborative working.
Sharing can be as an individual file or folder, either sending an email to the user with a link that those with that link can access, or use the Share feature built into OneDrive for Business.
Using the Share Feature defines what the end recipients can do with the file.
You can also determine how long the sharing is enabled.
The collaborative working, using the Microsoft Office Online solution can show who else is currently in the document, and enables chatting to occur between those currently within that document.
Training
A small amount of training could help increase employee efficiency, and free the IT department from setting up folders, security group on a common file share. Teams of people, geographically dispersed could work on small projects or tasks. Larger projects that require more control and auditing would still need to use something, like SharePoint online. But for small collaborations then OneDrive for Business looks a very useful option.
Migrating
Migration of user home drives to OneDrive for Business for a small number of users is not necessarily difficult, you could get each user to move their files over, but that could impact your performance, and that does not guarantee that everything that can go does. Better options exist, that enable a managed method, ensuring that simulated runs can occur and any issues resolved before any migration occurs and full reports generated during that process. The added complexity when migrating a large amount of users is where it may be worth asking for help.