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Creative Agency Transitioning to Cloud-Based Editing Workflow
Company Situation
The company operates within the creative services sector, specializing in video production and branding. Their annual revenue is approximately $2 million, and they complete around 50 productions each year. The team structure has recently shifted from an in-house editing model to working primarily with freelancers, with about five freelancers regularly involved alongside a small internal team that handles file organization and company management.
Existing Workflow
Currently, the company stores all project files locally on a NAS (Network Attached Storage) system, with an additional archive backup. Their archive contains roughly 140 terabytes of footage, with an active working set of about 10 terabytes. After shoots, files are uploaded overnight onto SSDs that are physically shipped to freelancers for editing. Once edits are complete, the drives are shipped back. The internal team is responsible for uploading, categorizing, and organizing files on the NAS.
Issues with the Existing Workflow
Delays: There is a lag of about a week between the shoot and when freelancers can start working because of the time needed to upload, ship, and receive physical drives.
Shipping Risks: Drives get lost or delayed in transit, causing company frustration and project delays.
Fragmented Collaboration: Managing large volumes of data across local storage and physical drives complicates version control and file accessibility.
Cost Concerns: Previous attempts to use cloud-based platforms were cost-prohibitive due to expensive per-terabyte pricing and insufficient upload speeds.
Infrastructure Limitations: Although upload speeds have recently improved, existing solutions didn’t support efficient remote collaboration for freelancers spread across locations.
How Shade Would Change Their Workflow
Shade offers a cloud-native platform designed to bridge the gap between local editing speed and remote access flexibility. By integrating Shade, the company can:
- Provide freelancers with direct, fast access to large video files stored securely in the cloud without needing physical drives.
- Enable near real-time collaboration and file sharing, reducing turnaround times from days to hours.
- Eliminate shipping costs and risks associated with lost or delayed drives.
- Leverage improved upload speeds to efficiently upload and sync large datasets to Shade’s platform.
- Centralize file storage and management while maintaining the flexibility of a distributed freelance workforce.
Benefits
- Significant reduction in project turnaround times by enabling immediate file access.
- Lower operational costs by removing physical shipping and minimizing expensive cloud storage fees.
- Enhanced collaboration with freelancers regardless of location, improving productivity and consistency.
- Centralized and organized archive that is easily searchable and accessible.
- Scalable solution that supports the company’s growth and evolving team model.
Technologies Used
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