Member Avatar for kevindougans

Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone can point me to the best file/cloud solution/service out there at the minute?

We are a medium sized company spread out in to 15 - 20 locations and are looking to share press images/photos and maybe even some documents or video in a central server, ideally with 2 levels of user, super admin who can see and edit everything and admins who can upload new pictures for their own individual facility.

Dropbox would be ok - but it seems expensive if we were to add the individual users needed for each shared folder.

Flickr seems good but doesn't look like it can support anything other than photos, which isn't a major problem just now but in the future I'm not sure.

Google Apps sounds like it might work...

Anyone got any thoughts or experiences? I'd prefer to work with an established company that won't be going anywhere in the next few years as I don't want to spend another week moving to another service after I have it setup, ideally. Money is not an issue but would rather be smart with it. If we have to go with dropbox then so be it.

Thanks guys & girls,

Kev

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Short summary of options and a practical path forward for (and picking up points from , , and ):

For a 15–20 location business that needs to share press images, documents and video with two role levels and non‑technical uploaders, there are two sensible routes: a purpose‑built Digital Asset Management (DAM) system (self‑hosted or SaaS) that adds metadata, rights/expiry, versioning and workflow; or a managed cloud file service with strong admin controls and desktop sync so managers can “drop” files without FTP. ResourceSpace is a solid open‑source DAM if you want control and metadata-first features. (resourcespace.com)

Why consider a DAM first for press assets: DAMs are designed for images/videos — bulk ingest, automatic derivatives, rich metadata, usage tracking and role‑based access (super admins and site admins are standard). If you need searchable, brand‑safe libraries and rights management, a DAM avoids shoehorning media into a generic file share. (bynder.com)

If simplicity and low training overhead are top priorities, pick a managed vendor with a reliable desktop client and per‑folder permissions. Desktop sync (Box Drive, Google Drive for desktop, etc.) lets non‑technical managers copy folders locally and have the service handle uploads and versioning; modern browser multi‑file uploaders use the HTML5 File API rather than Flash/Java. Test the desktop sync + web upload flows during a pilot. (support.box.com)

Quick rollout checklist: (1) capture requirements—file types, expected monthly upload volume, retention and metadata fields, (2) shortlist 2–3 vendors or a DAM + sync combo and run a 2‑week pilot with one region, (3) verify bulk upload, per‑site admin roles, SSO and export/API for future migration, (4) publish simple naming/metadata templates and a one‑page upload cheat sheet for managers. Watch for vendor lock‑in and ensure you can export originals and metadata before committing.

Recommended Answers

All 12 Replies

Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

why not just create your own web site where you can store anything you want on the file system. This would also eliminate the possibility that anyone on the internet can view the files -- your files could be much more secure from the public.

Member Avatar for kevindougans

Would love to but the managers of the seperate locations can barely use facebook never mind trying to FTP stuff.

Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

They wouldn't have to know hot to ftp stuff. Just create a web page with the names of the files and they could just click the link and download it to their own computer if they want to. I see that all the time on all kinds of web sites

Member Avatar for kevindougans

ahh no, i need them to be able to save stuff to it as well as access it to download it.

Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

Well, that can be done too. I'm not a web programmer but I do know there's a way to let users upload files to your server.

Member Avatar for kevindougans

Yeh I am a programmer and know it can be done but browsers wouldn't be able to handle the 150 images a time uploads the managers would need to do. thanks for your input though, i need all the input I can get to make the best decision

Member Avatar for pritaeas

How about a cloud storage, like Amazon S3, or Windows Azure?

Member Avatar for kevindougans

Will check them out, thanks. High hopes but I hope one of them have ease of use like dropbox or google's picasa.

Member Avatar for jbennet

Yeh I am a programmer and know it can be done but browsers wouldn't be able to handle the 150 images a time uploads the managers would need to do. thanks for your input though, i need all the input I can get to make the best decision

You can use flash, or java to do this.

Member Avatar for jwenting

Tons and tons of document management systems out there, from the very basic to the extremely elaborate.
No need to write things yourself, just take an off the shelf product, install it, and run with it. If you want to be fancy, you can configure to your heart's content (or your budget :) ).

Member Avatar for kevindougans

i know theres millions. thats why i'm asking which is best ;)

Member Avatar for Afshispeaks

Will check them out, thanks.

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