TappIn Tackles Small-Business Data-Sharing Challenges

Cloud storage and file sharing is one of hottest topics in business today, offering a way to provide access to documents and files for anyone, from anywhere. Many businesses, however, are reluctant to rely on online storage for important files -- for good reasons and bad -- and TappIn hopes to provide them with an alternative.

TappIn started as HomePipe in 2010, providing a way for people to access files on their home computers directly, without having to upload them to a shared cloud server first. But "as people started using it," said CEO and co-founder Chris Hopen, "they found their personal and professional life converging."

To address this new "professional consumer" audience, the company has added more business-oriented features and rechristened itself TappIn.

The idea is still to provide a "secure cloud pathway" for sharing content, according to Hopen, himself a veteran of the Virtual Private Network market. You install TappIn's "agent" software on whatever machine you want to share content from. It runs in the background, and you use a browser-based Web app to determine which content you want to share and with whom.

Then you, or others with the proper permissions, can access the files from another computer or a mobile device. The content is streamed to the destination through the cloud -- but by default isn't stored on TappIn's servers. The data is "encrypted at every level," according to Hopen.

Hopen said this approach offers clear benefits over alternative file-sharing methods. With cloud storage services like Dropbox, you have to know what files you want to access and upload them first. Similarly, with large-file transfer services such as YouSendIt, you need to know in advance what files you will need.

The closest thing to TappIn is probably a remote computer-access application like GoToMyPC, but that doesn't allow secure sharing with other people. TappIn addresses all of those issues.

One concern with a remote-access solution, furthermore, is that the source computer usually has to be on and connected to the Internet. To get around that limitation, TappIn offers "cloud caching," which lets you designate certain files to be mirrored on TappIn's cloud storage. You can set parameters such as how long the content will remain available or whether it will automatically be removed after specific viewers have accessed it.

The TappIn approach should appeal especially to businesses that have concerns about storing sensitive materials online. Many small businesses working in the legal or healthcare industries, for example, deal with strict privacy and data-security rules. Other businesses simply don't want to put their financial or customer data online.

With that last concern in mind, TappIn has also announced that it will integrate with the Salesforce service starting this November. That integration will let mobile workers access customer data and other information stored in the Salesforce CRM system without having to access their office computers.

The Salesforce integration comes through what TappIn calls "connectors," which will, Hopen said, also enable integration with other business systems down the line.

TappIn works on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, and is available for Apple iOS mobile devices. Support for Android tablets and Windows Phone 7 devices is on the way, said Hopen.

The TappIn Lite edition is free and would be a good way to evaluate the solution's basic concept. The Standard edition offers the more business-oriented features, such as the CloudCache temporary online storage, Salesforce integration, connectors for WebDAV and NAS data sources, AirPrint wireless printing from iOS devices -- and the elimination of advertising. The Standard edition costs $19.99/year, with a $9.99 introductory price for the next 60 days.