Online file sharing and collaboration is in its infancy. Sole practitioners and enterprise businesses are just starting to realize the power of online file sharing. There are many sites today that allow for collaboration from free ones to custom ones that require an IT staff to maintain. I am speaking to the enterprise and business user who looks to safely share files in the most efficient cost effective manner possible.
Most of the file sharing sites are used to share large files that cannot be handled through email. That is one use but what about my files. I have a stack of project folders on my desk, many of them I can access a dozen times a day. Why. I did not know the answer to that until I researched file sharing. What I found was fascinating. What I found saved me and my company thousands of man hours, tons of resources and helped us close more deals and make more money.
What I found was simple. Like most businesses I was sharing the same paper files, email and documents to different parties throughout the day. I found that I was looking up old emails to forward in part or whole to various parties throughout the day. I found my partners sharing documents related to the same subject matter or deal via email or fax with me.
Different versions crossing in the night, with many of the involved parties looking at old versions or not up to date. Business today revolves around file sharing. Sharing a Purchase order, architectural drawings, investment materials, x-rays, marketing materials, due diligence etc. It may be easy to share 1, 5 or 20 files but what about when you have 10, 20 projects or more with dozens or thousands of documents or sub folders.
I no longer need to look for files or documents. I can share documents from my office or cellphone. I can save documents from my desktop right to my online storage and have it notify the parties that I am sharing with. In fact, I can save all of my files, emails and documents into the folders online and share what I want with the specific permissions that I want to give (download, edit, etc.). I can have the permission expire or cancel them when I want and not worry about updating my partners or customers with repeat emails. As the revision or a new file hit the folder the folder automatically notifies the party that I shared with. This is the power of todays document management and file sharing programs.
Business today revolves around file sharing . But how your files are organized and shared are critical to make this process successful for you. File sharing alone won’t do it. The free sites that just offer sharing a file may be fine for just sharing a large file but for real collaboration you will need to look to document management sites like Filocity.com to properly share and work with their business documents.
Filocity.com is a document & project management solution that allows for uploading of massive amounts of information and easily organizing that information so that you can find what you need, when you need it from any web browser anywhere in the world, at any time. Sign up for a free trial at http://www.filocity.com.
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