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Merged Creative Agency Integrating IT and Media Services
Company Situation
The company is a creative agency formed from the merger of multiple smaller companies under one umbrella. Their business is split roughly in half: one half focuses on social media management and website communication for local businesses, while the other half produces various media content, including video production, design, and editing for company projects. The team operates across multiple offices and includes remote users in different countries, with a mixed environment of Windows and Mac devices.
Existing Workflow
The company has historically relied on an on-premise setup with a Windows server and several NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices to store project files. In recent years, they began transitioning some business data to the cloud via SharePoint, but their creative assets remain largely housed on local servers and NAS units. They have explored cloud storage options like Wasabi for affordable large-scale storage and evaluated LucidLink as a potential solution for cloud-mounted storage across distributed users.
Issues with the Existing Workflow
The current setup poses several challenges:
Fragmented storage across multiple NAS devices complicates access and management.
The company’s mixed OS environment (Windows and Mac) is not fully standardized, leading to inconsistent access and support.
Remote users located in different countries face difficulties accessing large creative files efficiently.
Lack of integrated review and approval workflows or asset management tools means creative teams rely on disparate systems, increasing manual overhead.
Cost concerns around deploying new storage solutions and maintaining compliance with IT standards.
How Shade Would Change Their Workflow
Shade offers a cloud-based, mountable storage platform designed to unify creative asset management across distributed teams and mixed device environments. By replacing fragmented NAS and on-premise servers with Shade’s platform, the company would:
- Provide seamless, low-latency access to large creative files from anywhere, including remote users.
- Standardize storage access across Windows and Mac devices without compromising performance or security.
- Simplify storage management into a single, scalable cloud-native system.
- Potentially integrate additional value-adds like advanced search and streamlined collaboration workflows (though the company’s immediate focus is on storage).
- Align with IT compliance and cost-efficiency goals through a predictable, cloud-based pricing model.
Benefits
- Centralized, scalable cloud storage replacing multiple NAS devices and on-premises servers.
- Improved accessibility for distributed and remote team members across multiple geographies.
- Consistent user experience across mixed Windows and Mac environments.
- Reduced IT overhead and simplified technology alignment.
- Enhanced ability to support growing creative workflows without costly infrastructure upgrades.
- Potential future expansion into creative asset management and review workflows.
Technologies Used
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