Situation and Challenges
Fieldwork, Inc. is a marketing research organization with 17 focus group facilities across the United States, several major phone centers and a project management team that books and manages projects for clients around the world from multiple offices in the US and Florence, Italy.
In the course of its business, Fieldwork’s 500 employees must send audio recordings of focus groups to clients for their review and marketing research project sample. As many as 20 employees are involved in uploading this and other data for digital transfer. The company had been using an FTP site, e-mail and physical mail delivery, but these methods presented a number of concerns:
- While files were encrypted on the FTP site, they were not encrypted during transfer, so Fieldwork executives felt the files were not secure.
- Many users did not know how to upload files to an FTP site or remove them when they expired. As a result, these transfers became a headache for IT staff to maintain.
- Attempts to use client’s FTP sites proved to be complicated for both senders and receivers, and it was very difficult to transfer files in a timely manner.
- For many of its digital file transfers, the company used an e-mail service hosted by a third party; but the supplier’s security policies for the system did not align with the company’s own policies.
- Overnight delivery of tapes and CDs became too costly and time consuming.
Solution
In its search for a solution, Fieldwork initially evaluated Whale Mail, but the service did not offer a corporate version that allowed for multiple users. Fieldwork also considered building its own company Web portal for file transfers, but that project would have been expensive and required a long time to complete.
When IT staff discovered YouSendIt for Business, they were immediately interested in it, specifically designed for multiple users with centralized administrative control and full auditing capabilities. The company also knew it would benefit from the extended branding available, allowing Fieldwork to maintain the company’s look and feel throughout the digital file transfer process.
Fieldwork initiated its deployment of YouSendIt for Business with a trial account and then made it available to all its regional offices, where its ease of use was noticed immediately. Staff first used it to replace FTP and then adopted it for all audio file transfers.
Why YouSendIt for Business
The company chose YouSendIt for Business because it met the challenges to Fieldwork in a number of ways:
- Roll out of YouSendIt for Business allowed multiple users to take advantage of YouSendIt for file transfer.
- The cost of YouSendIt for Business was low compared to other solutions.
- Staff found YouSendIt to be extremely user friendly.
- Instructions for use were brief and simple, especially compared to those for the FTP site.
- YouSendIt for Business’s centralized management functionality made administration and rollout of the service easy.
- Branding capabilities allowed Fieldwork to put its own logo on each part of the digital file transfer process, from sent file alerts to file download screens.
- Fieldwork was impressed with YouSendIt’s service and the attention given to corporate partners and clients.
Results
- Ease of use: Unlike confusing FTP systems, YouSendIt for Business proved to be an efficient, user-friendly way to transfer files.
- Enhanced file tracking: For the first time IT has full audit-ability for information transfer. Fieldwork can trace file senders, recipients and downloads, making it much easier than before to investigate any problems that arise. Staff also can research and track the time that a file was downloaded to reconcile any disputes with clients that may emerge.
- Improved security: YouSendIt for Business makes every file transfer secure for Fieldwork since all files are encrypted during upload, in storage on YouSendIt for Business servers and during the download process. YouSendIt for Business helps ensure files reach only the intended recipients, with the option of setting automatic expirations so a file is only available for a defined period of time.
- Reduced e-mail burden: Fieldwork can set its own e-mail policies, since it no longer needs to rely on a third party to transmit digital files. As a result, staff members no longer need to be concerned about the size of attachments or the uncertainty of delivery. Clients simply download files via YouSendIt as easily as they handle an e-mail message.
- Time savings: The IT department no longer needs to spend large amounts of time helping clients with FTP, due to the ease of administering YouSendIt for Business in everything from deploying the solution to setting policies and monitoring file transmission. Now IT staff can work in other areas that are more strategic for the business.
- Increased productivity: Productivity has increased throughout the company because files are exchanged faster, more easily and more securely between Fieldwork and its clients. Files are delivered in minutes or seconds, instead of enduring the hours or days required for physical mailing services. Because files reach them quickly clients can complete their transcriptions of audio files much earlier than before.
