How does Digital Pigeon work with cloud storage platforms like Dropbox and Google Drive?

A few of the key benefits of cloud storage are:

• Access your stored files from anywhere with any device, provided you have a working Internet connection.
• More affordable than network solutions such as network attached storage (NAS) for working collaboratively. Unlike NAS, it works at any location, instead of being limited to just one network.
• Dropbox and Google Drive provide an affordable solution for storing large amounts of data. It’s particularly useful for backups or WIP when your file sizes are small.
• The two main players mentioned—Google Drive and Dropbox—offer collaboration tools for word processing, spreadsheets and other “Office-type” file formats.

Benefits of an enterprise-grade, large file-sharing service

Now that we’ve covered the benefits of cloud file storage, we can discuss how useful an enterprise-grade file sharing service is, once they are paired together.

There are many file-sharing services in the market, but a lack of options for business solutions (particularly those in the media and creative industries that deal with large, multimedia files).

One of the largest expenses for a software-based business is data transfer costs. So, most solutions are designed for consumers, with limited uploads, maximum file sizes, or cheap cloud storage infrastructure that leaves enterprise users with the same frustrations as with Dropbox or Google Drive.

We do things differently, with creative and media businesses in mind.  Here's how:

Enterprise-grade infrastructure (AWS) transports files from A to B. AWS is also used by some of the world’s largest organisations and tech companies, since it’s as quick and reliable as it gets.

Move large file sizes and in massive quantities without any problems. Digital Pigeon can easily handle the huge file transfers, including video, photography and other media. Your transfer speed is only limited by your Internet connection, not by software.  Many services will cap your upload and download speeds to a certain threshold, whereas our system steps out of your way so you can go for it.

A feature set that compliments your business’ needs, not the mass-market. We’ve designed our user interface to be simple and user-friendly, with features that your business needs to make a good impression when dealing with other agencies, studios or clients. You can even present your files with your own branding (or even your recipient's branding!)

Know every move your files make. We provide detailed activity tracking so that you know when your recipients have accessed your files, whether they’ve simply previewed/streamed them, downloaded them or even provided comments and feedback. Never wonder again.

Get feedback beyond the document and spreadsheet. Mainstream cloud storage solutions support feedback and collaborate on “Office” type file formats. Digital Pigeon supports feedback on video, audio and image file formats, in addition to common file formats. We also support many professional-only file types as well.

If you’re using a cloud storage service for your file asset management, you may be wondering how and why to integrate Digital Pigeon. In addition to the obvious benefits for creative and media businesses, it comes down to improving your workflow.

There are three main benefits:

The first is that you can access your Dropbox or Google Drive files directly from within the Digital Pigeon app. This means you don’t have to alternate between windows. This is helpful on a laptop or desktop, but particularly so when you're working from a tablet or phone.

The second benefit is Digital Pigeon’s unique branding and tracking features, which allow you to control how your files are presented to your clients, shareholders, or any file recipient. Our activity tracking means you will also know exactly who accessed your files, and when. This keeps things professional, and your workflow seamless.

The third benefit is that by integrating the two services, you don’t need to upload your files to the cloud twice. Once you’ve synced your files with Dropbox or Google Drive, Digital Pigeon can retrieve files directly from their servers and not have to upload them using your internet connection. Essentially, once it’s in the cloud, it’s in the cloud. And Dropbox/Google Drive can talk directly to Digital Pigeon.

As an example, you have a 4 GB video file you’ve been working on. You sync this to your Dropbox account as you normally would. If a client asks you to send the file to them immediately, but you’re on the road, instead of having to upload a 4 GB file using your mobile data, you can simply log in to the Digital Pigeon web app and send it directly from your phone, without using any of your phone data.

So how does this integration work?

1. You do the work first, whether that’s video, audio, photography or some other kind of media.
2. Click the upload file from Digital Pigeon to Dropbox/Google Drive button.
3. Send an email or share link to recipients.
4. The recipient receives the link to your custom branded download page where they can preview, download and provide feedback on your files.
5. You get a notification via email, mobile, Slack or push notification when your recipient has accessed your file.

Storage + Sharing. We’re better together!

While we love our product at Digital Pigeon, our customers come first and we want to provide the best service offering we possibly can. That's why we've made sure we integrate seamlessly with your favorite cloud storage solutions.

Cloud file storage and cloud file sharing are a lot like wine and cheese, they’re pretty good on their own, but together, they’re a dynamite combination.