Distilled: Cutting out collaboration complexity with Dropbox for Business

In its early days, Distilled — an online marketing agency headquartered in London — relied on an on-site server to keep its important files safe.

But as the company expanded and acquired more and more clients, weekly backups on a portable hard drive quickly became impractical; they needed a storage and collaboration solution that was more scalable. So when the company started opening international offices, it seemed like the perfect time for an IT upgrade.

The team had already been using Dropbox to make their workflows more efficient, a solution that had gained popularity at Distilled for being simple and intuitive. When Chief Operating Officer Rob Ousbey heard about Dropbox for Business, he thought a company-wide deployment could both solve his IT challenges and help the business run more efficiently.

Right away, Ousbey liked what he saw. “Getting started was easy — there wasn’t any sort of complicated technological process we had to implement,” he explains. Dropbox for Business was a big hit with the rest of the company, too. By eliminating the hassle of email attachments and versioning concerns, Dropbox made it easier for employees to collaborate across multiple time zones — they could simply place all their files in shared folders and let Dropbox take care of the rest. As Ousbey explains, “We never worry about emailing files because all of our editing and interaction takes place inside Dropbox. We just tell people which folder to look in and they’re able to find exactly what they need.”

Dropbox for Business also makes communicating with clients and vendors easier than ever before. “One of the benefits of Dropbox is that it’s so widely used,” says Ousbey. “Often when I mention Dropbox to one of our accountants or vendors, they tell me they already have accounts. So we can just share a folder with them and we’re done. It’s really convenient for us.” And with automatic backups, unlimited version history, and permission controls, Distilled’s IT admins know that the company data is not only with the team whenever they need it, but protected the whole time.

For Distilled, moving to Dropbox for Business has not only helped increase productivity — it also gives them a competitive advantage. “Anything that makes us a little more efficient allows us to deliver greater value to our clients,” says Ousbey. “So if Dropbox has improved efficiency by even 3 percent, that’s a huge gain for us.”

Interested in learning how Dropbox for Business can make your team more productive and efficient? See for yourself with a free trial .