How To Send Files?

No one likes to use FTP

I really don't like FTP, and I am not alone on this. Many users, especially IT administrators, share the same sentiment as I do. Just see what other users have to say about why they don't like FTP either.

As we have already mentioned, FTP is the old way of sending files. It is a very outdated protocol that is insufficient to meet today's business needs. For businesses, time and security are both very important issues that FTP fails to accommodate. FTP is very time consuming and expensive to maintain. Also, FTP transfers are insecure because information are transferred in clear text and are subject to interception. And if a transfer is interrupted, the recipient would have no way to know if the file they received is complete or not. Simply put, FTP just doesn't work anymore.

To meet critical business needs, there are better alternatives out there to send files other than FTP. File transfer solutions are scalable depending on your business' needs. Check out how you can choose the best file transfer solution for your company here.

The Email Attachment Problem

Ever need to send files that are over 100MB? Most email services would only allow up to 20 MB of attachments. However businesses often need to send files that are a lot larger and struggle with the email attachment problem.

As discussed in details by a system administrator in his blog, large email attachments is not just a problem for the sender, but often cause problems for the recipient as well. To send a large file as an email attachment, you would either have to find ways to compress your files, or split up the file into multiple smaller files to send. Attachments may also cause trouble while uploading, and overload your email's storage quota. For the recipient, large attachments often get bounced back as "undeliverable" because they exceed the server's limitations. Also recipients may experience the same problem with large email attachments exceeding quota, causing all incoming email messages to bounce back to senders.

To avoid the email attachment problem, many users have to take additional steps to download the emails from server to their own computers, or go through each and every email message to delete the attachments to keep their mailbox below quota. However there are better alternatives to send large files without all the hassles of email attachment and size restrictions. Web based file transfer solutions would allow you to easily send any large files you need.

File transfer solutions allow users to send files of any size to anyone. Learn more about how file transfer solutions work and how to find the best one that would fit your needs.

Enterprise Solutions

An enterprise file transfer solution should speak to the needs and priorities of the entire company, from the IT department to its end users, as well as from the security and compliance officers to email and messaging administrators.  In general, these priorities encompass controlling IT resources and email cost overruns along with complying with auditing and security standard requirements.

Controlling IT Costs

Controlling costs while managing available resources is a top priority for enterprise IT.   Due to the large scale of the existing infrastructure, enterprise IT needs everything to be as easily manageable as possible because any additional complex IT solution will require time and resources to deploy, manage, and support.  This is a priority for enterprise IT because of the following specific needs and pain points:

Need/Pain	Reason
Email infrastructure & storage needs becomes progressively more expensive over time	Large email attachments can overburden email servers and cause slowdowns for daily email usage. The cost for email management also continues to increase as all the files in the users’ email inboxes require more storage space.  From the users’ point of view, setting file size caps may hinder their day-to-day business communications.
Support tickets & helpdesk calls consume IT resources	One of the mandates for an IT department is providing technical support for the employees of the company. Thus, any new IT solution should not only fit within the existing infrastructure, but it should ideally require minimal resources for deployment, maintenance, and end user support.
Provisioning & managing individual user account access needs to be done centrally & easily	IT needs to be able to monitor user accounts and set permission controls.  For a company with thousands of users, the ability to easily provision and centrally manage multiple user accounts with capabilities such as “single sign on” and LDAP is critical to efficiency.

Complying with Corporate Policies

Practically every business has a set of corporate policies that govern workflow as well as information control, accessibility, and security.  This is especially true for large enterprises and public companies because of not only internal policies, but also regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley,   HIPAA, GLBA, and other industry-specific standards.   Therefore, corporate policy compliance is a priority for enterprise IT because of the following specific needs and pain points:    

Pain	Reason
Audit requirements dictate the need to track all email & file communications	In order to meet audit requirements, the enterprise needs to be able to track all the necessary details of an email or when a company-confidential file is exchanged, such as timestamp, delivery verification, receiver identification, etc.
Regulatory mandates require data retention & transaction archiving	Data retention and archiving has turned into a more complicated task as business is conducted through paperless means in the digital age.  Keeping a real time record of all written business communications is needed…thus, capabilities such as journaling and archiving become all-important for compliance.
Confidential information can be compromised during delivery through unsecure channels	It becomes a security compliance issue when sensitive business or client information is at risk to be exposed.  Unsecure email is typically transmitted in plain text without encryption and does not guarantee nor verify successful delivery.  FTP systems are not secure (unless you have secure FTP) and do not allow the flexibility of management and access levels needed.
Users turn to tools outside of company-acceptable means to transfer large file attachments	The IT team may have set up email size restrictions control email storage costs, but the fact remains that users may need to exchange files with teammates, partners, and/or clients in conducting their day-to-day business.  If they cannot do this with the existing tools within the company, they will look to third party tools to accomplish this, which in most cases are in direct violation to corporate policies.

To learn how a file transfer solution fulfilled the needs of a large enterprise, Download a Case Study from our featured solution provider.

Small Business Solutions

For a small business, the specific needs for a file transfer solution are very different from those of an individual consumer or even a large corporation. These needs are based on the priorities that small businesses face, namely the needs for a multi-user environment, flexibility to meet your business requirements, and dependability that your core business can rely on.

Multi-User Environment

There are a plethora of sites today that tout file transfer services. However, most of these are free or consumer-focused services that only allow single user accounts and limited capability that is unsuitable for business use. Thus, having a solution that supports a multi-user environment for business is a priority because of the following specific pain points:

Need/Pain	Reason
Account administration & management for multiple users is complex.	In a group or team setting, various usage scenarios will require certain needs, such as the ability to set different user access and authorization levels, enforcement of company-wide usage and security policies, and account level reporting. Solutions built specifically for business/team use will have a centralized management console that enables easy and effective multi-user account management.
Team collaboration requires the sharing of resources & data	Collaborating and sharing documents is a common business process. Email as the medium for file sharing is not very effective as it requires transportation of a particular file between parties, which makes versioning difficult to keep track. FTP is too cumbersome to manage for both your team and your clients. Also, most file storage solutions are created for the purpose of backing up data rather than promoting team collaboration.
All company communications should have consistent branding	Businesses need to project a consistent brand image, especially when communicating with external parties. This is not only important for extending awareness, but also for assuring customers that they are indeed communicating directly with your company rather than a 3rd party vendor. This holds true when email or any other form of communication is used, including file transfer solutions. Free or consumer focused services do not provide the image of professionalism and branding, especially since these services often serve 3rd party ads on their platform.

Flexibility To Meet Business Requirements

As a small business, time is very important. Any non productive time spent results in a loss in productivity and ultimately a loss in profit. A file delivery solution should be flexible enough to be able to fit current business processes while easily improving productivity, based on the following:

Need/Pain	Reason
No time to learn a new program or technology	The ideal file delivery solution should integrate with the way you work. You do not have the time to learn a new program or language just to send large files… therefore, it should be intuitive and easy to use. Better yet, a solution that integrates with the tools that you are already using, such as Outlook or other MS Office applications, makes doing a file transfer a no-brainer.
Need to move & track files easily without getting lost	When a team is working on multiple projects together, it is easy for files to get lost or deleted. You need the ability to forward files to teammates or clients, save them into a shared but secure file repository that only certain people can access, and keep track of updated file versions and who accessed the files.
Require a cost-effective solution for current needs, but have the ability to scale at any time	When your business grows and you hire on more employees and acquire more customers, you will need a solution that grows with your business. Your file delivery solution should be customizable at any time to fit your business needs as it matures, whether it’s adding more users, increasing capacity, or even downgrading or canceling the service.

Dependability For Your Core Business

Businesses should not tolerate any solutions or services that provide no guarantee of reliability or performance. Therefore, a file delivery solution should address the following:

Need/Pain	Reason
Always available	Businesses need a reliable file delivery solution provider that utilizes premium data centers for storing your business files. For example, data centers that are SAS 70 Type II certified are audited for security, redundancy, and disaster recovery measures. Also, not all file delivery solution providers offer Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that guarantee the level of application uptime required for businesses.
Always performs	In the event of lost internet connection or computer failures, any file transfers that are in transit should automatically be saved and set on pause. Once the file transfer delivery service regains the necessary connection, the transfer should automatically resume uploading.

To learn how a file transfer solution can meet your small business needs, Request a Live Demo from our featured solution provider.

Professional Solutions

Professional users of file transfer solutions are different from consumers in one major aspect - consumers are using these services for personal use, while professional users require the solution for business-related purposes. Because of this, professional users need a file delivery solution based on the following priorities:

Enhanced Security to Protect Business-Related Data

As a business professional, protecting data in your file transfers with clients is a top priority. Any risk of compromising sensitive client information could be a potential loss in business. Thus, professional users require a solution with security features such as SSL encryption and client verification that consumers simply do not find any value in.

Guaranteed & Speedy Delivery

Professional users cannot afford to leave it up to chance to determine whether or not an important and time-sensitive file is received by a client before the designated deadline. Therefore, professional users need to be able to send a file quickly and in real time, and also have the ability to track that transfer in order to know if that file has been delivered to the intended recipient. Most free file transfer or file hosting services are unable to provide this level of visibility that professionals require.

Cost Effective

Unlike consumers who are primarily looking for a free service, professional users are willing to pay for a solution if it enhances and protects their business. Free services will not meet their needs because of the lack of "business-rich" features such as security and delivery tracking, as well as the fact that most free services are ad-based, which may project an unprofessional image to customers. However, professional users are still cost-conscious, so any file delivery service for professionals need to provide them with the most bang-for-their-buck and the most flexibility for what they require.

Sign up for a pay-as-you-go account on www.JumpSend.com.