Who’s It For? : Industries
New FileGenius file transfer and management sites go live every day, for many diverse types of businesses. Any organization looking for better, faster, and cheaper is always a candidate for a FileGenius site.
The FileGenius web-based file transfer and management solution is for business and professional use ONLY. We do not allow consumer accounts, nor do we allow our sites to be used for music sharing, software distribution, or other common illicit or suspect file transfer activities. This is to insure your data's security and that our system resources are dedicated to your organization's needs — not downloading the latest Britney Spears video.
Most of our customers represent well-known business and professional groupings, as well as specific business configurations (no matter which industry or business-type). They chose FileGenius for features that are well matched to the demands and needs of their work. Equally important to our customers is the outstanding support and service we provide to all users. But don't take our word for it, ask us about talking to a FileGenius customer and get it straight from someone who knows.
Our customers are primarily represented by the following industries, professions, and specific business configurations:
Businesses and Organizations with Multiple Offices, Facilities
Many businesses and organizations, large or small, find themselves spread out over hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles, in two or more offices or facilities. These organizations soon discover how costly it can be to interconnect these offices and facilities with a secure and efficient data network. Expensive line circuits, bandwidth, hardware, software, and personnel resources are needed to continuously allow different locations to seamlessly and transparently operate with access to common data and files. These extensive resources can cost tens of thousands of dollars, as well as create information security vulnerabilities that may threaten the business and its ongoing success. FileGenius represents a centrally-located, highly-secure file and data repository, complete with file transfer and exchange capabilities coupled with powerful collaborative tools that facilitates people and offices working well together, no matter how far apart they may be. We host this centrally-located, secure file exchange, providing all direct support and management. The best part is that FileGenius costs less than $4/day (vs. tens of thousands in network and management costs) and there's never any compromise for security, quality, ease-of-use, or speed.
AEC Market (architects, engineers, construction professionals, and interior designers)
Engineers, architects, and construction professionals have found many ways to enhance the delivery of services and customer/client relations by using FileGenius. The AEC market, potentially more than any other profession or business group, may realize the most significant financial gains from the use of FileGenius. The resulting accelerated plan and project file delivery, almost instantaneous to anyone, anywhere (even the job site via Wi-Fi) with access to the web, can eliminate time from the job or project billing cycle. Additionally, the virtual, online file transfer of large format plots and/or plan sets can save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars, over time vs. traditional reprographic and shipping issues typically associated with large plots and plan sets. Factor in the "green" factor of shipping large format plots and plan sets in a virtual, online environment via FileGenius and you have a winning combination that the AEC market undoubtedly appreciates based on rapidly growing sales to this market. A FileGenius feature that allows for the creation of both unlimited users and workspaces also offers a versatile option to AEC users that allows them to utilize workspaces as private client logins or as specific projects or plan set repositories, or both. And unlike the competition, FileGenius does not force archiving of files older than 30 days, or worse, the full deletion of files older than 7 or 14 days. No other file transfer solution lets you create unlimited users and unlimited private workspaces, while allowing indefinite file storage, affording the versatility to derive significant added value from the small monetary investment in FileGenius.
Creative Services (advertising, direct marketing, graphic design, website design, and marketing communication firms)
Like the AEC market, Creative Services (CS) firms are flocking to FileGenius. The intuitive and user-friendly graphical interface that reminds them of CS-popular OS environments like Mac OS X, the ability to say goodbye forever to clumsy, clunky, hard-to-use FTP, and the inherent project-friendly nature of all FileGenius' features are making it very popular among ad agencies, graphic design firms, and other creative outlets. Creative Services firms appreciate the easy to use interface, which represents increased productivity as users spend their time using the site, not figuring out how to use it. This is critical given the outrageous deadlines and often insane demands of the creative services world. They're also telling us they appreciate the fact that even a smaller shop, with as few as 20 users, can often max out the limitations set by our competition on number of users, number of workspaces (if the feature is even offered) and other key elements. There are no limits with FileGenius, either with options or key elements of the site's usage and there are no options except additional storage. Creatives appreciate the fact FileGenius does not make them figure out complex option or feature combinations, and doesn't force them to buy things they don't need so they can get something they do need. Their jobs represent high stress and the tools they need to do their jobs shouldn't be adding to that stress. We understand that and creatives are responding positively to our appreciation of their world. Two of the founders of FileGenius have technically supported creative computing and technology environments (along with others) or worked in the industry for decades and both of them have infused genuine empathy for the needs of creative users into the features and interface of FileGenius. Additionally, creatives, who often make their living from crafting visual identities, appreciate FileGenius' 100% white-label policy, whereby there is no mention of FileGenius, graphically or with text, on their file transfer sites, including the URL or site address.
Financial and Legal Professionals (accountants, attorneys, and court reporters)
Accountants, attorneys, and court reporting firms all have clients who will need or want to access documents remotely or, in the case of court reporters, even audio recordings in a very secure environment. In this application, the service provider must be well aware of their obligations under the concept or doctrine of "reasonable care". FileGenius provides excellent security for data and files stored on our sites, often exceeding specific, typical standards enumerated by CobIT for FTP servers and even Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS). FileGenius also is unique among commercial file transfer and exchange solutions in that it cleverly conceals, via a manipulation of DNS records and zone listings, the primary/base domain used for our secure sites, as well as the subdomains for customers' actual site locations. Any attempt to locate a FileGenius site in a search engine or site explorer (Yahoo) results in a message stating "URL (or domain) not found". In our 30-plus years experience with business security technology, we've learned that a website or server can't be violated if it can't be found. FileGenius' competitors do not utilize this concealment technique because they rely on the discoverability of their customers' file transfer sites (and sometimes even their files) in publicly-accessible search engines. This discoverability becomes a marketing tool that greatly enhances their search engine rankings. This practice is unethical and does not meet the standard of "reasonable care". Equally important for legal and financial professionals, we understand and recognize the professional's obligation to keep data and files confidential, we understand that we are directly obligated to keep the data and files confidential, and we fully understand our responsibility to take reasonable measures to constantly preserve the confidentiality of the files and the information contained in them. FileGenius has researched and drawn upon various ethics opinions in the legal profession to base our policy of reasonable care upon, citing Ethics Opinion 701 (2006), from the New Jersey Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, Formal Opinion No. 33 (2006) from the State Bar of Nevada's Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Ethics Opinion E-00-03 from the State Bar of Wisconsin Ethics Committee, and Ethics Opinion 05-04, from the Arizona State Bar Ethics Committee. Additionally, our feature offering a private, secure login and workspace for each and every client, with no limitations on the number of workspaces or secure user logins, insures that any professional who uses a FileGenius site will never pay extra for users or secure workspaces and will always be able to accommodate their full client list without interruption of service, no matter how large it may be.
Document Management (access, copying, storage, and disposal)
Document Management covers a wide variety of businesses and services, from copying to storage to document destruction. It also can cover a wide range of firms who provide everything from niche-market, situational services to broad storage and general management services. A common underlying need of all these firms is both security and privacy as many of these firms find themselves hired to handle outsourced document management for attorneys, CPAs, healthcare institutions, or large corporations with privacy and security issues. FileGenius combines both excellent privacy and security benefits with an ease-of-use unequaled in the world of file transfer solutions. We also intimately understand the doctrine of reasonable care, which extends to those who offer their services to attorneys and other professionals, as well as the vendors who support them, if and when full disclosure of the document management firm's obligations or relationships are disclosed.
Educational Institutions (private/public K-12 systems, and colleges and universities)
Many educational institutions and associations use FileGenius for its ease-of-use, accessibility via the web, and its special attention to privacy and security. Privacy is of the utmost concern to educational institutions and organizations that may store student records and other private information critical to so many individuals and their futures. FileGenius utilizes a DNS and zone record configuration that does not, unlike our competitors, reveal the customer's file transfer site in search engines and site explorers. Nor does it reveal the very files stored on or transfered via the file transfer site (as do some competitors). FileGenius will also modify our Terms and Conditions Agreement to meet the increasingly demanding contractual privacy needs of educational institutions, even to the point of restricting our own maintenance access to limited, key personnel. Educational customers also enjoy the unequaled technical support, which often fills voids in their own limited technical staffing, restrained by the budgetary issues facing so many educational institutions today. With unlimited phone and email support, educational organizations have found FileGenius' support to be equal to, or sometimes better than, direct IT support.
Enterprise, Corporate (creative services departments, FTP, and message/file transfer)
Primary among the reasons why the "enterprise" likes FileGenius are our ease-of-use (IT doesn't have to train or support company employees), our turnkey management and maintenance, our enterprise-level, business-class security, and the fact that we can offer all this and live outside their own internal firewall(s). This affords their personnel the opportunity to exchange large files of any type, with anyone they permit to use the system. Enterprise organizations save upwards of $10,000 - $20,000 or more each year by using a FileGenius site. And because FileGenius, unlike the competition, doesn't force archive files older than 30 days or delete files older than 7 or 14 days, IT doesn't have to worry about angry users calling, looking for their critical job and project files. IT personnel often find they have secured a resource that can provide the function of file transfer and exchange better than they can themselves, and certainly for much less expense. IT gains, by merely shifting this need to FileGenius, peace of mind as well as recovered resources, which means valuable time and money comes back to them to use for other critical needs within their own systems.
Graphic Communications (printing, pre-press, reprographics, signs, and silk-screeners)
FileGenius was made for the graphics communications world. With so many large files that often need to travel great distances, there's nothing more reliable or easy to use than FileGenius for this purpose. So many of the customers and clients of graphic communications firms struggle with using FTP or restrictive email attachments which severely limit file size and often corrupt or alter the file's very structure. FileGenius instantly makes all of this go away, freeing up time and money resources the graphics communication firm could put to good work elsewhere. And FileGenius is not just a "dropbox" tool for these firms, it offers to the full-service organization in this industry many collaborative and workspace tools that significantly enhance their ability to do business with their own customers and clients. FileGenius' granular permission scheme also affords the graphics communication firm the ability to create and maintain a private login and workspace/site for every customer or client they have, without adding to their own costs, since FileGenius places absolutely no limits on the number of users or private workspaces for one low, base price. Savings on overnight delivery or days shaved off of projects and therefore, the billing cycle, will more than pay for the value-laden FileGenius solution. And just like the creatives market, graphic communications firms don't want to dilute their brand or visual identity, and FileGenius' exclusive white-labeling has been a very attractive feature for this industry.
IT Consulting (systems consulting, engineering, and development)
IT loves FileGenius. Not only do we ease their load and burden, but we provide a turnkey solution for many problems they face every day. Mail servers now require disproportional attention from busy IT staff as email attachments are glutting servers all over the world. A state of constant maintenance is required to remove these attachments and keep email working smoothly for the enterprise world. FTP, often replaced by FileGenius, is also another sore subject with many IT personnel. FTP is difficult to use for most business people and they require constant support and assistance. FileGenius may be the easiest file transfer and exchange solution on the market and IT personnel are learning this lesson fast as they search for FTP alternatives. FTP also lacks many features, like user-centric permissions (vs. file-based permissions), as well as some basic security provisions that makes FTP not only clumsy, but often unsafe in today's environment. IT personnel know that FileGenius eliminates the email attachment problem, the FTP problem, affords a level of security consistent with their own networks and standards, and exists outside their firewalls allowing users to receive, send, and exchange files with clients, customers, and associates they'd not otherwise be able to do because of internal firewall restrictions. Most of all, IT personnel know that FileGenius lightens their work load and saves their department and budget from unnecessary expenses. It's safe to say that FileGenius has become a hit with IT personnel.
Management Consulting (financial, healthcare, general business)
Any business or organization with clients and projects as key elements of their operational model need FileGenius. Management consulting firms are learning this as they are attracted to the powerful, synergistic benefits derived from our user and workspace features, as well as powerful file annotation and search capabilities. Some management consulting firms are asking us how they can integrate solutions like BaseCamp into their office toolkit but are finding, by their own experimentation and efforts, that FileGenius can often replace many of the functions of a true collaborative software environment, and, in some cases, completely supplant the need for other, collaborative solutions. The need for privacy and security, based on the typical types of businesses served by management consultants, is a big issue but security often means "hard to use." Management consulting personnel are, by their own admission, not tech "geeks" and don't have time to be bothered with complex solutions. FileGenius may combine excellent security with a level of ease-of-use that is unmatched in the file transfer and exchange industry and management consultants, judging by our sales, are discovering this well-kept (until now) secret.
Publishing, Catalogs (online and print)
FileGenius is perfect for almost any publishing application, either online/digital or print. When trying to assemble a publication of any kind, especially a catalog, there are sometimes thousands of images, logos, content pieces, and other elements that will find their way into the catalog. Additionally, there are often many people, in diverse locations, working on a catalog, each contributing or drawing upon different pieces and work that make up the final output or product. This includes copywriters, graphic designers, production personnel, photographers, illustrators, prepress personnel, printers, as well as marketing and sales personnel, and management. There is absolutely nothing like FileGenius for pulling together all the diverse elements by file, organizing them into projects, pages, editions, etc. and then allowing anyone, working anywhere with access to the web, to participate in order to eliminate costly delays, travel, shipping and overnight delivery, and even costly production check errors. Catalog production typically spans more than 30 days. The almost industry-consensus feature of other file transfer and exchange solutions to either archive files older than 30 days or, worse, delete files older than 7 to 14 days would be ill-suited for catalog production. FileGenius nevers archives or deletes files, and, in so many ways, becomes a perfect choice for publishers of catalogs.
Publishing, Periodicals (magazines, newsletters, newspapers, and web outlets for dynamic content)
FileGenius was born, in late 2005, as a proprietary, distributed filesharing application, developed for Cox Communications and the express purpose of becoming an assemblage point, on the web, for their in-house publication that is printed and distributed to more than 85,000 people worldwide. It was apparent right away that a well-designed file transfer and exchange solution could be a powerful and business-enhancing tool for the periodical publishing world. FileGenius offers publishers the ability to create workspaces that represent natural working groups such as copywriters, editors, photographers, designers, printers, all in conjunction with other workspaces that represent editions or even sections of the publications, and various users with privileges to access mixed combinations of these workspaces. Combine this with unlimited users and a feature that allows one user to access any combination of workspaces and you have the perfect environment for publishing a magazine, newsletter, newspaper, or dynamic content website. Most file transfer and exchange solutions impose a mandatory archiving of files older than 30 days (you can request their "return" but there are conditions), or they actually enforce a mandatory deletion of files older than 7 to 14 days. No matter the publishing frequency this would be a "deal-breaker" for almost any periodical and FileGenius never imposes archiving or deletions of files, ever, for any reason.
FileGenius delivers a quality product and outstanding support because of our extensive background in servicing these and other types of organizations. With more than 30 years of experience supporting the use of computers and other technologies within these businesses and professions, we know the specifics of their work-flow demands and have applied that knowledge to the development of FileGenius' features and user interface. FileGenius is the result of our earnest attempts to learn and understand how your business works and then applying technology and our various skills to craft a solution best suited to help you and your organization.