Nearly a decade after launching, Dropbox Inc. is finally introducing the ability for organizations to prevent employees from tying their accounts to unprotected personnel email addresses. The addition is part of a brand new feature set that aims to make its historically consumer-focused file sharing platform more attractive for business users who have a higher chance of purchasing a paid subscription.

They  – or more often, the administrators doing the buying on their behalf – are typically also more likely to pay for premium functionality that can help perform their work better, which is precisely what Dropbox Enterprise promises to enable. The bundle expands upon the company’s existing management capabilities with controls that allow organizations to enforce security policies at a much more fine-grained level. That includes first and foremost regulating what employees share with third parties.

After identifying a potential security violation, an administrator can log into the offending user’s account and modify or delete the affected files to restore compliance. In case that worker ends up leaving the company as a result, or for any other reason, the administrator is then able to revoke their access without having to delete the account and the content inside, which removes the chance of an important file accidentally getting lost.

The new functionality should prove particularly appealing for companies in regulated industries such as healthcare, where the operational damage that can be caused by such an incident is compounded by potentially much more serious legal repercussions. Dropbox is actively courting that segment by offering the option of signing the Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) necessary for meeting HIPAA and HITECH requirements with customers that are subject to the laws.

The cloud giant hopes that the launch will help level the playing field against arch-rival Box Inc., which boasts a significant head start into the enterprise market and a feature set to match that has included support for the two regulations since 2012. The company even offers specialized capabilities for handling medical images courtesy of a startup called MedXT Inc. it acquired last year.

Image via Dropbox