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Creative Production Company Consolidating QNAP NAS and Frame.io
Company Situation
The company is a mid-sized creative production studio with around 15 full-time staff and multiple freelancers. Their team operates in a hybrid and fully remote model, with members located across different countries. They frequently run two to three simultaneous video production projects and require seamless collaboration both internally and with companies worldwide. The nature of their work demands rapid video review cycles and efficient feedback loops.
Existing Workflow
Currently, the studio uses a Network Attached Storage (NAS) solution for ingest and storage, having recently transitioned from one NAS brand to another due to performance issues. For video review and company feedback, they rely primarily on Frame.io. For video hosting and broader distribution, they use platforms like Vimeo and Wistia. Their workflow involves multiple disconnected tools for ingest, review, collaboration, and delivery.
Issues with the Existing Workflow
The NAS system is local and doesn’t integrate easily with cloud-based review platforms, creating friction in remote collaboration.
Frame.io’s user licensing model requires paying for additional seats for freelancers who only need to upload or share a single file, increasing costs unnecessarily.
The studio faces challenges managing permissions and sharing content with companies and freelancers without exposing them to full platform access.
Downloading and re-uploading files between freelancers’ accounts and the studio’s account adds inefficient manual steps.
The use of multiple disparate tools complicates the workflow and company experience.
How Shade Would Change Their Workflow
Shade offers a cloud-first, integrated platform that consolidates ingest, review, approval, asset management, and editing into a single tool accessible from desktop, browser, or mobile. Instead of relying on local NAS storage, Shade centralizes all assets in the cloud, enabling seamless remote collaboration regardless of location. Shade’s pricing model differentiates between full users (“seats”) and unlimited guest collaborators, allowing freelancers to upload and share files without incurring additional seat costs. This simplifies permission management and streamlines company interactions. Shade also supports direct video streaming, editing, and review in one environment, reducing the need for multiple platforms and manual file transfers.
Benefits
- Centralized cloud-based storage and collaboration accessible globally
- Cost-effective user licensing with unlimited guest collaborators
- Simplified sharing and permission controls ideal for freelancers and companies
- Integrated review, approval, and editing workflows in a single platform
- Eliminates manual downloads and re-uploads, saving time and reducing errors
- Mobile and browser access ensures flexibility for remote teams
- Scalable solution suitable for multiple simultaneous projects
Technologies Used
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