Why should users care how big the file they send is?

With the move to a less paper office, the increase in sending documents via email, rather than via post,  is on the constant increase. The size of the attachments is also ever increasing due to the powerful document creation technologies out there today.

There are many ways to share files in today’s world, be it a file sharing or a dedicated transfer solution (some consumer and some not), but many have the same flaw – the user has to do something different from the normal email sending process they are used to, to accomplish the large file send. Why should they? File sharing is more for collaboration with longevity than a one off exchange of an important document. I am all for less emails and more collaboration but not everyone is and you can’t fit a square peg in a round hole.

Also, most people probably never even realise they can’t send large files via email until they hit the roadblock. Most mail servers (both incoming and outgoing) restrict attachment sizes to a maximum of 10MB, and often it can be less than that. I’ve heard stories of IT managers getting calls from their users (lawyers in this case) at the weekend because the important attachment they sent late Friday has just bounced and their client needs it now. I’ve also heard stories of users switching to a consumer email system to exchange emails as often the maximum attachments limits are higher (Yahoo and Gmail allow 20-25MB respectively).

What you want to happen is that your user does nothing different in their process to how they normally send emails, regardless of the size of email and pertaining attachments. Why should the user have to upload a document to a file sharing solution, create a link and embed it into their email? Some users, regardless of the letters after their name,  are just not tech savvy and want something more user friendly and intuitive.

Back to the question in the title ‘Why should users care how big the file they send is?’ – The answer is they shouldn’t. And, the process for doing so should be the norm. So next time you look at a file sharing and collaboration solution to answer the large file send needs, think about the user experience and the process they will go through to achieve this goal and whether the solution has this feature.

Nikec Solutions [ www.nikecsolutions.com ]

Nikec Hub is a powerful file sharing and collaboration platform with in built email large file send, so your user doesn't need to change their process or waste time with blocked attachments.

Nikec Hub provides firms with a secure and efficient way of managing information, while enhancing communications and collaboration with colleague and clients. It integrates seamlessly with your document management system allowing users to create their own extranet in a few quick steps. It also integrates with many practice management systems enabling firms to provide up-to-date management information to their clients all from within a single, powerful portal. Visit Nikec Hub page

  

Need more information or want to test drive Nikec Hub? Contact us as info@nikecsolutions.com