Working From Home
Working From Home
The Problem
Sharing files between your staff can be accomplished in a number of ways, when you are in the office, for a Graphic Designer who uses large files, they can be shared across the office network between devices. Sharing them with clients when you have finished the project requires a good internet connection or a supply of USB sticks which can be couriered in time for the deadline.
This amount of data which you store can grow over time, some projects will need to be accessed occasionally on an annual basis when clients need a small adjustment or complete overhaul.
Our client
A Graphic Designer with 3 staff, each client may have a single project or multiple projects on at the same time by different designers within the team, so being able to share the current version files is critical.
Reason for change
The cost of running a separate office where all the team can operate from was becoming an overhead rather than a location for clients to visit, most clients preferred the designers to visit them.
The Internet connection at the office was struggling with the large files that were being generated and would take hours to upload to the clients and were too large for email transfer.
Audit
We reviewed the amount, size and security requirements of the clients data. We found that each project may have a single graphic or a whole series which were being worked on and updated throughout the day. Occasionally an older version would be needed as the client preferred an earlier version of the graphic.
Initial disk usage : 105GB
Selecting the system
The client uses Apple Mac with a range of Adobe software to design their graphics. They also have a laptop which is used for accounts and would occasionally use the file system for storing invoices.
There are lots of file sharing systems such as Dropbox, OneDrive, Box as well as products like WeTransfer which can be used to share files to the end clients once the work is completed. We have our own Synology Rackstation which is stored in a secure data centre in the UK. Each client is configured with their own encrypted share and permissions are applied.
The client wanted to ensure the data was held in the UK securely and they would be able to access from any location with an internet connection using a web browser or the Synology Cloud Station software.
The client had previously used Dropbox and had some success but was interested in the Synology option which we thought would provide the functionality for the client.
Initial Transfer
As the client had a large amount of data to transfer we were able to assist with the upload by allowing them to visit our office and upload to the Synology at 1Gbit. This meant that the files would take a couple of hours instead of days to upload. We applied permissions to the folders and provided separate login details to each user.
Sync Process
The Synology Cloud Station software is installed on all the devices which need to be able to sync files with the Rackstation Server and we can select which folders are synchronised.
The software monitors the folders and will synchronise the files in the background when they are saved, updated or deleted.
Training
The staff were provided with some initial training for the new system and we offer remote/telephone support or onsite assistance where needed.
As the recent pandemic has also required everyone to be able to work from home. The client has been able to work at home safely. They amount of storage has grown over the past year to approx 182GB which is still below the initial 200GB we recommended.
If your current file sharing solution is not working for you, Talk to us.
Small Business
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