1. Sharing Simplified
Consolidating Multiple
File Sharing Technologies
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2. SHARING SIMPLIFIED: CONSOLIDATING MULTIPLE FILE SHARING TECHNOLOGIES
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
File Sharing Technologies Proliferation and Pain.........5
Characteristics of an Ideal File Sharing Technology....7
File Sharing Technology Consolidation Case Study.....8
Conclusions.......................................................................10
Acknowledgements.........................................................11
Endnotes............................................................................11
Author: Larry Hawes, Principal
Dow Brook Advisory Services
Photo: © Yunus Arakon 01/17/2011
© 2011 Dow Brook Advisory Services – All Rights Reserved
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3. SHARING SIMPLIFIED: CONSOLIDATING MULTIPLE FILE SHARING TECHNOLOGIES
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Sharing Simplified: Consolidating Multiple File
Sharing Technologies
Enterprise Content Management is a dirty word (OK, phrase). The term evokes negative responses from most
business people.1
A primary reason for this dissatisfaction is that traditional Enterprise Content Management (ECM) technologies
are purchased and deployed to control business content, while most workers need to share content. AIIM's 2010
State of the ECM Industry report clearly shows that business objectives requiring content control drive ECM
technology decision making in most organizations. Collaboration and content sharing are somewhat of an
afterthought in most ECM project decisions.2
Figure 1: Business Drivers of Enterprise Content Management Projects and Priorities
Employees need to share content both with colleagues though-out the organization and, increasingly, with others
not directly employed by their company. However, traditional ECM technologies make it hard to share content
within a single business and, in many cases, impossible to do so between organizations. This is partially by
design and also a result of implementation decisions. In offerings from the largest ECM software vendors, the
process of setting access rights to users, files, and folders (configuring Access Control Lists) is not intuitive or
clear; it must be done by system administers, not business people. To make matters worse, while the need for
good usability of these technologies is "critical" or "high" for 87% of respondents in a recent survey, nearly two-
thirds said that their current ECM solutionʼs usability is "poor" or "average", at best (see chart on next page). 3
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4. SHARING SIMPLIFIED: CONSOLIDATING MULTIPLE FILE SHARING TECHNOLOGIES
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Figure 2: Usability of Existing Enterprise Content Management Systems
Poor usability limits adoption and use of traditional ECM technologies. Initial training and on-going support are
necessary for individuals to efficiently and effectively use them. There are, of course, financial and human
resource costs associated with those mandatory training and support activities.
Microsoft SharePoint is often put forward as an alternative to traditional ECM technologies, in part, because it is
perceived as being easier to use, as documented in this survey question. 4
Figure 3: Ratings of Microsoft SharePoint Usability
Not only is SharePoint judged as more usable, many also feel that it enables content sharing better than
traditional ECM technologies. However, SharePoint was designed to support file sharing within closed
workgroups, not across or between enterprises. All too often, organizations using SharePoint find they must turn
to another solution to enable broader sharing of content (see the case study beginning on Page 8 for an
example).
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5. SHARING SIMPLIFIED: CONSOLIDATING MULTIPLE FILE SHARING TECHNOLOGIES
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File Sharing Technologies Proliferation and Pain
To overcome the limitations of traditional ECM technologies and SharePoint, many organizations supplement their
primary content management system with other file sharing technologies (see table below for list.) Often, they rely
on more than one of these to meet their content sharing requirements.
Some of these file sharing technologies are deployed by the corporate IT department, but others are procured or
developed by employees who have had too many problems with the official corporate content sharing solutions,
including traditional ECM systems. Most of the use of these employee-controlled resources, frequently referred to
as Shadow IT, goes undetected by corporate IT staff. The following chart presents examples of sanctioned, as
well as common Shadow IT, solutions for several file sharing technologies.
Technology Sanctioned IT Shadow IT
Servers owned, deployed, and managed Servers acquired and run by individuals,
Network File Servers
by corporate IT workgroups, and departments
Email Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail
CD/DVD Nero, Roxio Creator Enterprise Native OS utilities, PowerISO, Roxio Toast
File Transfer Protocol GlobalSCAPE, South River Technologies Core FTP, Cute FTP, FileZilla
Managed File Transfer Ipswitch, Sterling (IBM), TIBCO Adobe SendNow, SendThisFile, YouSendIt
Enterprise Social Software Jive SBS, Lotus Connections PBworks, Salesforce.com Chatter,Yammer
Web-based consumer services N/A BitTorrent, Dropbox, Facebook, Limewire
Mobile carrier platforms Blackberry Enterprise Server AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon
Table 1: Examples of Sanctioned and Unsanctioned File Sharing Technologies
Many problems may potentially arise when an organization uses multiple file sharing technologies. Some of the
issues are specific to Shadow IT solutions lacking features required for enterprise use, but others apply to all the
technologies listed above, including those deployed by corporate IT. Some of the potential problems and their
impact on businesses are presented in the table on the next page.
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Issue Impact
Limited and confusing Technologies that do not allow file sharing with colleagues, customers, and business
accessibility partners – and/or with mobile devices – significantly slow business process execution,
raising operating costs and delaying revenue recognition. Multiple systems, each having a
unique login, trigger an increase in forgotten passwords, causing lower productivity and
higher IT support costs.
Information security Many file sharing technologies, especially consumer-oriented ones, lack needed security
features such as multilevel password protection and encryption of files traveling across
networks. Hacked and intercepted files containing sensitive business information cost
businesses in terms of lost revenue and expenses related to damage control.
No authoritative source Lack of version control and syncing capabilities in some technologies produce an
inability to confidently access the latest, authoritative version of a file. This causes the
spread of misinformation, potentially leading to loss of revenue and/or increased
operating costs.
File duplication The existence of the same file in multiple locations creates additional IT infrastructure
costs related to increased storage needs and IT staff required to manage it.
IT infrastructure growth Operating multiple file sharing technologies raises costs by increasing the necessary
number of servers for applications, and content storage and backup, as well as the
number of IT support staff.
Loss of content Multiple technologies create a burden for individuals to remember where files are
stored and often produce an inability find needed content. Unfindable files, and loss of
content related to temporary (or permanent) technology or business failure of a
solution provider, create costs related to recovering and recreating content.
Need for alternatives Operating a file sharing technology with known problems often forces individuals and
organizations to pay for an alternative technology or use a high-risk, free offering, so
they may get their work done.
Software licensing cost The aggregate cost of licensing multiple file sharing technologies is always higher than
the discounted pricing available when licensing more individuals on a single offering.
Business process delays Nearly all of the issues and their impacts presented here can negatively affect business
process cycle times. The net result of these delays is higher costs and deferred revenues.
Table 2: Impacts of Supporting Multiple File Sharing Technologies
To eliminate, or at least minimize, these potential problems, organizations should consider consolidating their
multiple file sharing technologies into as few complementary solutions as possible.
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Characteristics of an Ideal File Sharing Technology
Ideally, multiple file sharing technologies would be consolidated into a single solution with the following
characteristics:
Intuitive
The technology should be so easy to use that individuals would need minimal training, if any, when starting with it.
Intuitive user interfaces and experiences also reduce the need for on-going technical support. Training and
support are expensive, but a well-designed application can minimize those costs. Intuitive technology fuels faster
and wider adoption, speeding benefit recognition as well.
Accessible
File sharing technology must be accessible to many different constituents, working in different locations, and from
a wide variety of computing devices running on a range of operating systems. The technology must ensure
secure, but simple, access for employees from all parts of the enterprise, business partners, and customers. It
must not exclude individuals because they are not in the same group or department, or because they are
accessing the technology from outside the firewall. It must also enable access from desktop, laptop, and tablet
computers, as well as from mobile phones, no matter on which operating system they are based.
Comprehensive
Useful file sharing technology includes a broad range of functionality that supports the deploying organizationʼs
requirements. A wide range of document formats beyond common office productivity files should be supported,
including those associated with media, creative, and development applications. Core content management
services must be present, including access control, versioning, check-in/out, search, logging of (and reporting on)
system events, and user-configurable notifications of selected events. The technology must also generate links to
files that can be emailed instead of file attachments. Collaboration functions, such as the ability to tag and
comment on a file or folder, or to co-create wiki-style documents, should also be available. Support for tasking
related to content-centric processes and activities, such as reviews and approvals of draft content, is also highly
desirable.
Connectable
An enterprise file sharing technology must be easily integrated with other applications, both inside and outside of
the corporate firewall. Open APIs and standards-based integration enable the file sharing technology to become
the common content repository bridging previously siloed technologies. It should be relatively simple to integrate
the file sharing technology with email, office productivity, and creative applications, as well as with enterprise
resource planning, customer relationship management, and other traditional enterprise systems.
Embeddable
It may even be desirable to go beyond simple integration of stand-alone technologies and embed file transfer
services directly within other applications and enterprise systems. For example, an organization could make it
possible for individuals to upload, retrieve, edit, and share files without leaving a creative application or a
customer relationship management system. Embedding file sharing technology in heavily used computing
resources increases worker productivity and lowers operating costs.
Secure
Like any other enterprise-grade technology, file sharing must be highly secure. User identity management and
authentication should be tied to existing enterprise directories, such as LDAP or Active Directory. Password-
protection must be extended beyond system login to include access control to specific folders and files.
Individuals should have the option to assign an expiration date for any content link when it is created. Files should
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be protected with 256-bit SSL encryption, whether they are being transfered across an internal network, VPN, or
the public Internet.
Scaleable
Enterprise file sharing technology must easily scale to rapidly accommodate new users, on-demand. Virtualized
applications running in a private or public cloud are significantly more elastic than those requiring the addition of
physical servers to scale. Administrators should only be required to register new users, assign them system
permissions, and migrate any existing content requested into the file sharing technology.
Reliable
Individuals using enterprise file sharing technologies view them as a utility that should be available whenever
needed. Therefore, the technology should guarantee at least 99.9% uptime for the primary instance and make a
redundant instance immediately available in the rare case of primary system failure.
Affordable
Ideally, enterprise file sharing technology would be affordably priced. Hardware, software license, storage, initial
deployment and training, and on-going maintenance costs should be low enough to encourage enterprise-wide
deployment and use. If the system price is not affordable, most of the other characteristics detailed here are moot.
File Sharing Technology Consolidation Case Study
A brief case study will help illustrate the pains of supporting multiple file sharing technologies, as well as the
benefits of consolidating them.
FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR) is a global manufacturer of infrared cameras, night vision, and thermal
imaging systems, which it sells to government and commercial customers. The company has been in business
since 1978 and is headquartered in Wilsonville, OR, with additional offices in the North and South America,
Europe, Asia, and Australia.
File Sharing Technologies and Practices at FLIR
Two years ago, the Marketing function within FLIR's Consumer Vision Systems division was not tightly integrated
around the world. Each region largely produced its own campaigns and collateral, following its own processes.
While, there was little content or practice sharing between the regions, intra-regional offices did collaborate.
Headquarters staff distributed digital marketing materials (image, video, some audio, and design files, as well as
finished PDF files) to other U.S. offices by loading large electronic files onto hard drives, which were shipped by
common carrier. Smaller bundles of files were burned to CD or DVD and shipped or mailed. Even smaller
numbers of, and individual, files were emailed between offices and individuals. Other regions used different
technologies to transfer marketing files between offices. Europe relied on three File Transfer Protocol (FTP) sites
and a Microsoft SharePoint installation. Asia primarily used a consumer-grade file sharing product called
YouSendIt.
Each of the file sharing methods used had unique problems. Hard drives were usually ground-shipped, which cost
less, but delayed the time-to-review of draft marketing materials and dissemination of finalized marketing
collateral. In some situations, hard drives were shipped Second-Day or overnight, which reduced transit time, but
raised cost. Marketing activity delays were frequently exacerbated by the physical failure of hard drives during
shipping or by human errors such as writing incorrect files to the units. Both required the return and subsequent
reshipping of the hard drive. CD and DVDs were subject to the same issues. Email file transfer was hampered by
file size limitations and the frequent inability of employees to find an email with the attached marketing file they
needed in their inbox.
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In Europe, each of the three FTP sites in use had its own authentication system, and employees were frequently
confused as to which credentials were needed to access a specific site or they completely forgot their login and/or
password. The SharePoint deployment had not been properly planned prior to implementation. Instead of using a
common repository for all files in the region, the system was siloed into individual sites for Marketing, Product
Development, Sales, etc., each with its own content store. To make matters worse, a coherent folder structure had
not been established for each site. As a result, content was highly disorganized, and employees had difficulty
finding the files they needed in the system.
Taken as a whole, the multiple file sharing technologies and methods in use in FLIR's various geographic regions
were too expensive. The company was not able to take advantage of volume licensing discounts from the various
vendors involved. The existing technologies also caused delays in marketing collateral review and publishing
processes that negatively impacted FLIR's revenue. Perhaps the most significant pain associated with using
multiple file sharing technologies was that they reinforced the independence of each region's Marketing function
at a time that they needed to work more closely together. In sum, FLIR was paying too much for multiple content
sharing solutions that weren't working well enough or enabling global Marketing integration.
Business Changes Required Technology Consolidation
Several things occurred that prompted FLIR to seek a better way to share marketing files throughout its
commercial business units. FLIR responded to growing economic globalization by planning to better integrate
operations across geographic regions. For the Marketing function, that meant that nearly all creative work would
be done at headquarters, with minor localization of campaign execution occurring in the regional offices. FLIR
also acquired and integrated several smaller companies, each of which had its own content sharing technologies
and practices in place. Finally, in January 2010, the company's two commercial business units – Commercial
Vision Systems and Thermography – were merged into a single division called FLIR Commercial Systems. The
impact of these changes on the Marketing staff at headquarters was that their creative workload more than
doubled, and they now needed to share content with colleagues across the world. They could not continue to
work with the multiple file sharing technologies that were in place; they needed to get more done faster and at a
lower cost.
FLIR Investigated Technology Options
FLIR's Commercial Systems division started its evaluation of file sharing technologies by examining the various
ones already in use within the global organization. Hard drives, CDs, and DVDs were rejected because of the
aforementioned cost and productivity issues, which would only rise as use of these physical distribution media
increased. FTP was deemed to be too costly to scale as well; FLIR would be required to create more internal
FTP sites, and buy and maintain more storage for them. Additionally, the cumbersome nature of the FTP system
would create a costly training requirement for all employees new to it.
Of all its existing file sharing technologies, FLIR gave the strongest consideration to SharePoint. The organization
felt that it had the best chance of successfully scaling to meet their needs. However, they discovered that the
upfront effort required to develop a content strategy, design and instantiate it in SharePoint, implement the
technology, and train all employees before launch would require too much time and money. FLIR wanted a
content sharing solution that was "ready-to-go" with minimal set-up or training.
While evaluating the potential expansion of its use of SharePoint worldwide, FLIR learned about Box.net.
Following a one-week test of Box, FLIR realized that Box met their requirements for an enterprise grade content
sharing solution (e.g. comprehensive, connectable, secure, reliable) with great usability and an affordable price.
FLIR's Commercial Systems division decided to purchase licenses for 25 of its U.S. Marketing employees, who
began to share files quickly, without any training. Soon after, accounts were established for the remaining
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Marketing staff in the U.S. and Asia. Today, there are 60 Marketing
FLIR's Marketing function is
employees using Box, with some, but not all of the Europe-based tasked with creating and publishing
marketers on board as well. content related to new product
launches. That content must be
Results of File Sharing Technology Consolidation at FLIR translated for each of the
Consolidation of multiple file sharing technologies has positively impacted company's localized websites. FLIR
Marketing employees at
the marketing activities within FLIR's Commercial Systems division. Draft
headquarters used to attach
and final marketing content travels between office locations and across Microsoft Word files containing the
time zones at a significantly higher velocity (see the sidebar for an translated content to emails and
example of how the division has shaved time off of one collaborative send them to colleagues in other
content creation activity in its Marketing function.) The company has not geographic regions. Employees
captured before-and-after consolidation metrics for marketing activities frequently deleted those emails by
involving file sharing. However, Jackie Way, Electronic Media Coordinator accident or could not find them
later in their inbox. The email
within FLIR Commercial Systems Online Marketing Group, knows that
recipient would have to request
Marketing employee productivity has increased, as has the efficiency of that the attachment be resent,
the function's content creation and publishing processes. FLIR has not causing a delay in completing the
formally quantified the costs savings directly attributable to the content review.
consolidation of file sharing technologies either, but Way believes that
they are significant. In addition, the improved time-to-launch for marketing Now those Word files are uploaded
campaigns has enabled FLIR to sell products and recognize revenue to a dedicated folder in Box. The
better content organization and
faster.
automatic notification of received
files has made employees more
FLIR understood that consolidating file sharing technologies would help aware of new content and improved
their Marketing department become more highly-integrated, but that effort their ability to find and act on it.
has also produced some broader, unanticipated benefits. FLIR FLIR employees can immediately
Commercial Systems division Marketing employees began using Box to perform a thorough review of the
share finalized collateral with some members of the divisional Sales force, content, which allows them to find
and resolve translation problems
which put definitive versions of product and marketing campaign
more quickly. FLIR's Jackie Way
information into their hands more quickly. Those Sales employees liked estimates that this better quality
the solution so much that they requested licenses and began to share control and quicker problem solving
files within the department, as well as with distributors and customers. has contributed to their saving at
More recently, some divisional Business Development executives have least a day each time new product
begun using the new content sharing technology to collaborate on content has to be added to a
presentation creation with Marketing. FLIR Commercial Systems now has localized website.
about 150 Box users and is considering a further consolidation of its
content sharing technologies, with Box potentially becoming the common
repository for the entire division.
Conclusions
The story of FLIR Commercial Systems divisionʼs continuing consolidation
of file sharing technologies – first touching internal Marketing employees,
but rapidly expanding to other functions, and even to customers and
business partners – is a great example of the benefits that any
organization may derive by undertaking that effort. Faster activity and
process execution. Improved organizational integration across business
functions, units, and geographic locations. Better connections with, and
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11. SHARING SIMPLIFIED: CONSOLIDATING MULTIPLE FILE SHARING TECHNOLOGIES
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service to, external constituents, including customers and business partners. Lower operating costs. Quicker
sales cycle and revenue recognition.
The key to success in consolidating file sharing technologies is to pick an operational pain point against which to
deploy a comprehensive solution that meets your organizationʼs requirements. Be sure to document that pain
before you consolidate technologies, so you can quantify the benefits afterwords. And be prepared to discover
some unanticipated benefits as well!
Acknowledgements
Dow Brook Advisory Services thanks Box.net for sponsoring this white paper and providing access to customers
who informed development of its content.
Special thanks go to Jackie Way of FLIR Commercial Systems for speaking with the author about her
organizationʼs file sharing practices and supporting technologies. Many thanks to FLIR for allowing their story to
be told here.
Endnotes
1 Ina survey conducted by Forrester Research, only 37% of respondents said they were "satisfied" or "very
satisfied" with their organization's ECM system. Stephen Powers, Collaboration, Search, and Compliance Drive
2010 ECM Investments, Forrester Research, http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/
collaboration,_search,_and_compliance_drive_2010_ecm/q/id/55706/t/2 (December 8, 2010).
2 DougMiles, AIIM Industry Watch: State of the ECM Industry 2010, AIIM, http://www.aiim.org/Research/Industry-
Watch/ECM-State-of-Industry-2010 (May 13, 2010)
3 Generis,
Inc., Content Management Plans for 2011: A Short Survey on CMS and CMIS, http://
www.generiscorp.com/downloads/CMIS-and-CMS-2011-Plans-Survey-Responses.pdf (November, 2010).
4 Colligo
Networks, Inc., SharePoint, CMS, and Cloud Storage Adoption: A Colligo Survey, http://www.colligo.com/
_documents/Survey-Results.pdf (August, 2010).
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12. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Larry Hawes is the Principal and founder of Dow Brook Advisory Services. He
is an internationally recognized expert on the application of information
management technologies to drive high-value business transformation. His research
and consulting work is focused on collaboration and knowledge management
practices in the technology domains of enterprise social software, unified
communication and collaboration, enterprise portals, document and content
management, and business process management.
Larry's thought leading opinions have been published in Wired, InformationWeek, ZD Net, C/Net, eWeek,
Financial Times, Upside, CFO, and many other publications. He blogs at Meanders: The Dow Brook Blog.
Larry also writes on his personal blog, Together, We Can!, and those posts are frequently syndicated to other
sites.
Larry's previous work experience included three and a half years as an analyst and consultant at Delphi
Group and almost five years as an IBM consultant and program manager. Most recently, he was Lead Analyst,
Collaboration and Enterprise Social Software at the Gilbane Group. Clients that have benefited from Larry's
experience and insight include Accenture (Anderson Consulting), Acquia, American Express Travel, Box.net,
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Broward County (FL) Public Schools, Citrix Systems, Defense Logistics Agency,
Microsoft, NASA, NewsGator, and the United States Joint Forces Command.
Larry holds a BA in Music from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and a MA in Historical Musicology
from the University of Michigan. He earned the MBA degree, with honors, at Babson College. He lives on a
beautiful property abutting the Dow Brook Reservoir in Ipswich, MA with his wife, two sons, a dog, and a
cat.
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