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Creative Agency Streamlining Hybrid Collaboration with SharePoint and NAS
Company Situation
The company operates in the creative services sector, offering a mix of marketing, communications, graphic design, web design, and video production services. Their team is primarily office-based with approximately 80% of employees working on-site, while a small portion works remotely or at company locations. They manage a sizeable volume of digital assets, including large video files and various graphic design materials, supporting a broad range of government projects that require strict security compliance.
Existing Workflow
Currently, the company relies heavily on Microsoft SharePoint for document management, mainly for office productivity files such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. For creative assets, particularly video content, they use an on-premises Synology NAS with roughly 150 terabytes of storage. Smaller digital design files are stored using tools like Figma and Adobe apps. Due to storage limitations, they employ makeshift solutions such as archiving projects on secondary SharePoint accounts without collaboration features. The workflow is a patchwork of disparate tools that do not fully support creative collaboration or efficient asset management.
Issues with the Existing Workflow
Frequent and costly SharePoint storage upgrades (adding approximately 300 GB every two months), leading to escalating expenses.
SharePoint is ill-suited for handling large creative files, particularly video content, resulting in inefficient workflows.
The on-prem Synology NAS supports large video files but limits remote access and collaborative capabilities.
Fragmented toolset causing workflow silos and lack of integration between asset storage, metadata management, and review processes.
Limited remote work flexibility and inefficient collaboration on creative projects due to tool constraints and storage issues.
How Shade Would Change Their Workflow
Shade offers a unified platform that consolidates storage, digital asset management, and collaboration tools tailored for creative teams. By replacing multiple standalone systems, Shade provides:
- Instant access to large, mountable storage optimized for video and creative assets, eliminating the need for costly SharePoint upgrades and on-premises hardware.
- Integrated metadata tagging, organization, and search capabilities to streamline asset management.
- Built-in timestamped review and approval workflows to enhance collaboration and reduce manual processes.
- A single, scalable platform that supports both in-office and remote team members, improving flexibility and productivity.
This holistic approach allows the company to move away from costly, fragmented solutions toward an efficient, creative-first workflow that supports their security requirements and project scale.
Benefits
- Significant cost savings by reducing reliance on expensive SharePoint storage upgrades.
- Improved creative workflow efficiency with centralized access to all asset types.
- Enhanced collaboration through integrated review and approval features.
- Scalable storage solution supporting large video files without on-premises infrastructure.
- Better support for hybrid and remote work environments.
- Simplified technology stack reducing complexity and IT overhead.
Technologies Used
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