ARC has announced the incorporation of managed file transfer (MFT) services to its cloud printing solution called ishipdocs. Users of ishipdocs now have the ability to share, store and send documents in the cloud, and have them printed from more than 350 qualified print service providers across the globe.
"This is a powerful solution allowing our customers to efficiently move large files and documents without struggling with limited email systems and archaic FTP sites. It adds enormous value to any business's document workflow by providing a simple but effective collaborative tool along with cloud printing solutions for documents of any kind," said K. "Suri" Suriyakumar, Chairman, President and CEO of ishipdocs' parent company, ARC. "Our customers can dramatically improve efficiency in document use and transmission, and significantly reduce the environmental consequences of printing and shipping documents by conventional means."
The latest version of ishipdocs offers a cloud-based solution for storing, sharing, sending and printing business documents anywhere in the world. It simplifies document workflow, increases access to information, and eases the burden on IT departments in document-driven companies of all kinds.
With its new functionality, ishipdocs allows users to seamlessly transfer large business documents and other files anywhere in the world between private and public clouds, directly from Microsoft Outlook. Transfers can be tracked and activity can be audited to determine the frequency of a document's use, the number of times it has been downloaded, and its various printing locations. Collaboration on documents is smooth and easy, and incorporates social media-style commenting for team members. A robust file management structure allows controlled access and sharing of entire file directories with customers, partners and employees.
In addition, ishipdocs offers a concierge-style feature called the Global Distribution Center (GDC) that provides personalized service for monitoring documents within the system. Customers can work directly with a GDC staff member to add customized monitoring to critical document transfers, and receive personalized communication about their jobs. And with the continuing growth of ishipdocs' partner network, qualified professional print service providers are available in developed and developing countries around the world.
Market enthusiasm for cloud printing services suggests business professionals want their documents printed only on demand, wherever they and their teammates may be working. The compression of project timelines, the demand for greater productivity, and the ad hoc collaboration that characterizes contemporary business practices has driven ishipdocs to build a global infrastructure, and integrate the key functions of managed file transfers into a single workflow from cloud storage to cloud printing.
"The proliferation of files, shared and printed, provides an opportunity to offer Managed File Transfer (MFT) and Cloud Printing Service as one service," said Thomas Skybakmoen, Senior Research Analyst at Gartner. "The lack of central visibility, management and governance often means that organizations have poor visibility into file transfers, where MFT provides visibility and audit which helps organizations manage compliance and lower cost."
ishipdocs maintains data centers in California (USA), New York (USA), London (UK) and Kolkata (India), and uploads are always routed to the closest data center from origination. Document uploads are automatically routed to the next closest data center in the unlikely event of a failure at one of the data centers. Checkpoint restart capabilities allow for terminated uploads to re-start from the upload interruption point, and files are replicated at each data center allowing for faster downloads from the closest data center.