The Ultimate Solution for Data Centralization in Real Estate

With the growing trend of remote working caused by the COVID pandemic, companies have found ways to navigate the operational switch to an increasingly online environment. But each industry may face a unique set of challenges. Architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms, for example, have engineers, designers, and architects who rely on heavy-duty applications which require more powerful hardware. This can make cloud migration prohibitively expensive. Amazon, for example, charges $755 - $1000 per month for hosted desktops with GPU processors. They can also face challenges sending large files over low bandwidth, high latency links, sharing files, or maintaining data control and security. Of course, there are solutions to these problems, but they are found in different applications. In this article, we'll discuss how CentreStack addresses data security, compliance, and control for a real estate company. 

Problem Statement (Real-life case study) 


A real estate company used terminal services and VPNs to facilitate remote desktop access to CAD applications to create and edit CAD drawings. The company needed to share generated files with external parties and employed the use of multiple file hosting services such as Dropbox and Office365. Not only did they struggle with the speed and sync issues (VPN is well known for its connectivity issues and DFS is quite prone to sync challenges) this led to much-dreaded data sprawl as multiple versions of files and folders ended up scattered across multiple servers and client locations. Consequently: 

  • Users struggled to find the latest copies of files due to scattered versions. 
  • Business admins found it hard to control access to corporate data and maintain consistency across distributed locations. 
  • There was increased concern that company data might fall into the wrong hands. 

This real-world case study entails the cumbersome nature of engaging multiple services in data distribution and illustrates the need for data centralization. 

Data Centralization 

Data sprawl is not unique to the real estate industry. Businesses in various sectors are faced with the problem of managing data across multiple locations. And the only viable solution is a centralized platform for data monitoring and access; one not encumbered by the network problems of VPN or synchronization issues of DFS. 

CentreStack provides a single mapped drive, which allows users centralized access to data. It eliminates the scalability limitations of other cloud file hosting platforms, and its advanced mapped drive features ensure data control and security. Other noteworthy features include: 

File Versioning 

CentreStack also eliminates data sprawl through file versioning. For each concurrent change made to a document, Centerstack serialized access and creates a separate version for changes made by each user who was granted access. It leverages version control to resolve conflicts and secures your data through an off-site cloud backup of file shares and permissions to your file servers. Furthermore, it detects and stops ransomware before severe damage happens and restores your data from previous snapshots and to previous dates. Finally, it retains a detailed audit trail and file-change history for compliance. 

File Locking 

CentreStack provides full support for file locking from the cloud, with a familiar file server locking experience. Users are able to keep data on private file shares, activate remote device encryption, device backup, and other device management features. Because the security and protection of private files and locations are very crucial, CentreStack also includes two-factor authentication, access controls with location evidence, and other security features like group policies, remote device wipe and ransomware mitigation. 

Data Control and Management 

With CentreStack, you have full control of your data and can monitor who has access to what. It allows you to define different permissions for folders at different levels or even inherit NTFS permissions. Through its auditing and reporting tools, you can keep track of external shares and user activities: Activating the web-based secure data room disables editing or downloading of shared folders, greatly minimizing the likelihood of data breach. It also monitors file sharing, deletions, file renames, and moves, providing a significant increase in security, performance, and scalability. Accessibility The CentreStack solution is straightforward and simple to use. It centralizes data control and management and simplifies the user experience to enhance productivity. Quoting a customer, "Users just want to click on a mapped drive or shared drive rather than going in and out of different folders," and CentreStack makes it just as easy to do so. 

Mobile Remote Access & Secure File Sharing 

As mentioned above, users generally prefer having a mapped drive rather than clicking in and out of various folders in confusion. Real estate companies need an easy way to give everyone in the company access to files while admins need to have centralized control over permissions and access granted. In the process of creating a mapped drive for companies, CentreStack is able to provide all that and more importantly, in a way that does not sacrifice security or productivity. Users get to remotely access file shares from a drive letter, without the need for a VPN. 

Easy Cloud Migration 

Due to the data sprawl and overall messiness in data sharing, complexities during cloud migration are unavoidable.CentreStack provides a hybrid cloud platform for companies to leverage mobility, protection, and business continuity from the cloud. The platform has an inherently easy cloud migration path for the future when organizations are ready to retire local servers and migrate to the cloud seamlessly without disruption. 

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