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Media Production Team Integrating Synology NAS with LucidLink
Company Situation
The company operates in the media production and asset management sector, supporting a primarily remote workforce that collaborates on creative projects. Their team relies on a combination of local and cloud-based storage solutions to manage digital assets across multiple locations. Their workflow includes a sizable on-premises NAS system (Synology) as the primary repository for assets, supplemented by cloud workflows enabling remote access.
Existing Workflow
Their current setup involves storing assets on a Synology NAS, which serves as the central hub for project files and media. The team accesses these assets remotely, relying on additional tools to facilitate workflow and project management. Historically, the company had experience with LucidLink for cloud storage and collaboration, using it for content transfer and workflow enablement rather than as a full storage solution.
Issues with the Existing Workflow
The company faced multiple challenges with their prior cloud storage provider, most notably:
High commercial and contractual costs: Renewal agreements involved pricing far disproportionate to actual usage costs.
Complex and opaque pricing models: Splitting storage into “hot” and “cold” tiers without clear cost transparency created confusion and budgeting difficulties.
Marginal profitability for resellers: Channel partners reported extremely thin margins, discouraging active promotion and sales.
Product complexity and customer confusion: Changes in backend infrastructure (e.g., IBM storage to AWS migration) introduced complexity that neither partners nor end customers fully understood.
Limited project management capabilities: The company’s key need extended beyond pure storage to include project tracking and asset management, which their existing solutions did not adequately address.
How Shade Would Change Their Workflow
Shade offers a modern, integrated platform designed to simplify cloud storage access while layering in asset management and project tracking functionalities. By partnering with Shade, the company can:
- Leverage straightforward, transparent commercial terms that enable better margins and easier renewals.
- Provide end users with seamless access to assets stored on-premises or in the cloud, without complicated tiering or hidden fees.
- Incorporate project management features directly into the storage interface, addressing the critical need for workflow visibility and coordination.
- Benefit from a young, founder-led company eager to build strong channel partnerships and incentivize reseller engagement.
- Replace confusing legacy solutions with a streamlined, user-friendly platform that empowers distributed teams and remote workflows.
Benefits
- Improved cost transparency and significantly better margin opportunities for resellers
- Simplified storage architecture with unified access to on-prem and cloud assets
- Enhanced project management and asset tagging integrated into the platform
- Faster onboarding and adoption due to intuitive UX and reduced complexity
- Strong partnership focus with ongoing support and channel incentives
- Flexibility to serve hybrid environments and evolving remote work needs
Technologies Used
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