How does Digital Pigeon work with cloud storage platforms like Dropbox and Google Drive?
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Digital Pigeon
8 September 2018If you already use cloud file storage platforms such as Dropbox and Google Drive, they are great for storing and/or backing up your work, but not so great when it comes to sharing it. That’s where Digital Pigeon comes in to fill the gaps.
Google Drive and Dropbox are both great for cost-effective cloud storage, but slow and unreliable when it comes to sharing large files. When a weak Internet connection comes into play, moving large files from a local storage service to a cloud storage service is susceptible to online transfer speeds.
At Digital Pigeon, we’ve worked tirelessly to speed-up online file delivery. Our customers deal with large files, and speed and reliability are paramount to their business' workflow.
By integrating Digital Pigeon with Google Drive and Dropbox, you get the best of both worlds; It's cost-effective, mass file storage with the ability to send large files from A to B quickly and reliably.
Overview:
- What’s the difference between Digital Pigeon and cloud storage software?
- The benefits of a cloud-based storage system
- The benefits of an enterprise-grade file-sharing service
- How can Digital Pigeon + Dropbox/Google Drive improve your business’ workflow?
- So how does this integration work?
What’s the difference between Digital Pigeon and cloud storage software?
Digital Pigeon, Dropbox and Google Drive all offer the ability to share and store files, their features and performance all vary.
Dropbox and Google Drive are cost-effective for the sheer amount of data you can store in the cloud (typically, terabytes). However, since file transfers are typically the most expensive component of cloud-based software, they need to limit transfer speeds to offer mass storage at a low price point. When you factor in multiple recipients accessing the same files, you'll see things come to a grinding halt.
This also has a major implication for streaming media; Previewing multimedia files on these services can be slow and cumbersome. It's just not what they are designed to do, as their focus is offering mass storage at a low price point.
Digital Pigeon steps in to solve speed and reliability issues with sharing large files. Many of our customers are in the media and creative industries, so they deal with large files like videos, images and audio files.
We've partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to ensure your files transfer from A to B as quickly as possible, and have configured our systems to transfer as quickly as your Internet connection will allow.
Dropbox, Google Drive, and other cloud-storage services are built for cost-effective mass storage. Digital Pigeon is built for fast-file sharing. Together, we're the perfect file solution for creative and media businesses.
Why use cloud-based file storage?
Cloud-based storage services such as Dropbox and Google Drive have revolutionised digital-file storage by making online file access simpler and more convenient than physical storage solutions.
For those of you who are old enough, you’ll remember floppy disks, Zip drives, CDs… etc. In fact, we recall having to use 15 x 3.5 inch disks to install Adobe Photoshop. Technology has come a long way since!
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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?
- You do the work first, whether that’s video, audio, photography or some other kind of media.
- Click the upload file from Digital Pigeon to Dropbox/Google Drive button.
- Send an email or share link to recipients.
- The recipient receives the link to your custom branded download page where they can preview, download and provide feedback on your files.
- 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.