• March 18, 2009

More Than Sharing Files Online

Using the “Internets” to share files is not a new idea at all. People have been doing it for years, and probably the most popular (and most inefficient) way people have shared files is by emailing them back and forth. Naturally, technology keeps progressing and new ways of sharing files continue to evolve, but the problems associated with sharing files only seem to change, not go away.

At eXpresso, we have taken a different approach. Instead of looking at the process of how people share files, we look at the reason why people share files. From day one, our focus has been on collaboration, not the simple act of sharing files. Our approach looks at how people interact when sharing files, not just the intermediate steps for moving a packet of bytes to another person.

To put our perspective in context, here’s a quick break-down of the evolution of sharing files and the challenges of each:

Folders on an Intranet
1. IT staff must be involved to manage rights to any given folder.
2. Only one person can edit the file at a time while others are read-only.
3. All files in a given folder are accessible to all the same people. Therefore, you must setup new folders and access rights for any variance regarding who can see what.

FTP Access to Private Online Directories
1. Access must be managed at the server level requiring IT staff or a technical person/service to set it up manually.
2. When you need to edit a file, you’re forced to create duplicate files, either as temporary or backup files. One on your local machine and one on the server.
3. Typically a special file transfer application is required to interact with a private directory.

Online File Sharing Services
1. Good for archiving files, but if you ever need to modify the files, you will be forced to download and upload your files and manually create new versions.
2. Most services provide public, albeit long, URLs for your files, making it possible to expose these files via a search engine. This is not a secure solution for businesses.
3. There is no way to tell who has the file open, meaning people could be editing multiple versions of the same file without knowledge of the other’s changes or the ability to reconcile the changes automatically.

File Synching Applications
1. This may provide some convenience by automating the process of uploading or downloading files, but most do not record the specific edits or provide rollbacks for the changes within the file.
2. These solutions are intended more for an individual to coordinate personal files across multiple machines. It is not a collaborative solution. For example, you cannot see who did what to the file. At best you might see the last modified time.
3. Controls are either at the folder or user group level, not at the file + user level. You end up with some of the same problems you had with sharing folders on an intranet.

Those are all great examples about how to share files, but people need more than the ability to pass items back and forth, especially for business. Work involves sharing information with different people (e.g. colleagues, clients, vendors, or prospects), but it also requires collaborating with them in a manner appropriate to the relationship.

eXpresso’s Asymmetric Collaboration

1. Real-time Interaction: People can be viewing or editing the same file at the same time, and they will see the file change immediately when someone else saves her or his edits.
2. Different Strokes for Different Folks: Every file can have its own set of users. Plus, you could even further define how each user sees or edits the file by restricting areas or hiding content within the file – without affecting how other users see the file.
3. On-the-Fly Control: File owners may adjust access privileges at any time, even while the file is in use. This is essential for dealing with employee turnover or responsibility changes.
4. Audit Trails and Versioning: When multiple people work on a file simultaneously, it is important to track who did what to the file and when it was done. It is equally as important to be able to rollback changes if necessary.
5. Informed Workflow: Collaboration is really about responding to the actions of others. In addition to tags, notes, and file-specific chat archives, eXpresso keeps users notified of relevant file activities through standard and customizable alerts.

Companies could not operate without the information maintained in their documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. These files are critical to daily operations, and working with them in the right way with the right people is what productive collaboration is all about.

• By Gus