In QBank 3, we've made uploading much faster and many times more intuitive than it's predecessor. But even so, getting all the company assets uploaded may be sometimes be problemetic due to a number of reasons:
- Habits. Let's say you're a company of 50+ employees. Pre-QBank, everyone had their assets locally on their computers and communicated with each other to share when needed through tools such as Dropbox, shared servers or other online sharing spaces such as Google Drive. After a time you will learn and get comfortable with certain patterns where these tools are heavily integrated.
- Knowledge. No matter how simple and intuitive a new interface is, you still need to communicate the new procedure to everyone concerned. There can also be large differences in levels of competence when it comes to IT, and depending on user privileges are setup for your QBank instance, everyone may not be given direct access to the system.
- Accessibility. As technology gets more and more integrated into society, not having access to an Internet browser or a device capable of uploading will soon be a thing of the past. Until then however, making as many access points as possible available to the provider is vital.
These are all issues that have been solved by earlier versions of QBank in the means of for example moodboards, custom client plugins, and custom integrations towards previous or existing systems. With QBank 3, we've created a standard functionality we call "Transfer Agent".
The Transfer Agent allows for seamless integration with current workflows by setting up one or multiple automatic import protocols from outside sources into QBank. Select which source you wish to connect with, such as an FTP server, a Dropbox account, a Google Drive account, or even a Facebook account. Fill in specific details for the chosen source, save, and voilá, existing files will be imported and QBank will check for new files at requested intervals. If your required source doesn't exist in the options right now, we would love to know and consider adding it.
Transfer Agents are by no means ment to replace regular uploading, but complement and integrate existing workflows. There are scenarios where the agents will save you massive amounts of time, especially when dealing with large files. If you're a company working with videos, you may handle raw files of several gigabytes. Files this big aren't practical for regular online uploads, as speeds may require the uploader to stay connected for hours or more. You may however already have recieved the file through an FTP from a third party contractor that edited the video for you. Before you or the employee even recieve the e-mail from the contractor that the video has been edited and uploaded to the FTP, QBank e-mails you to let you know that it has imported 1 new asset.