FTP Alternatives for Professionals

Because Sending Files Should be a Simple Task, No Matter the Size


Both FTP and eTransmittal ("eTx") allow you to send large files, but that's where the similarities end. eTransmittal was specifically designed for the architecture, engineering, and construction industries. This means that many of the features were designed with you in mind. We're clearing up any confusion regarding the benefits of eTransmittal over FTP with the chart below.

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Should You Be Using FTP Alternatives?


While the above chart should serve as a sound reference to help you decide what's best for your business, we want to ensure that everyone has all the facts. Browse the topics below for further details about the benefits of choosing an FTP Alternative such as eTransmittal for your file sharing and document control needs.

Gives recipients access only to files you want them to see

One of the main problems of ftp is the fact that once you give someone permission to access your ftp site they have access to any and all files within it. They can even move, delete and duplicate files. This may not have happened to you but it can. Why give people access to all your files when you just don’t have to? With eTransmittal you only give them access to files you want them to see and isn’t that the point?

Files can expire, and access can be controlled or limited

Do you want to give someone permanent access to a file? Of course you don’t. Unlike FTP sites, with eTransmittal you can set a specific window of time that the recipient can access the file. If you only want to give someone access to a file for 2 weeks for example you can set up a time limit. Once, that time is over if they tried to access that file it would tell them that the file has expired and would need to contact you to have them resend the file. You have the control to setup the time length to as little or as long as your heart desires.

Requires costly, space-hogging servers

Let’s face it, your office space is crowded enough. Do you really want to dedicate a room or area that holds server towers? What happens if you need more? Besides the fact that these servers can take up valuable real estate, they are also very expensive and can run in the thousands to buy and maintain. eTransmittal is in the cloud which means you don’t have to worry about servers, space, or the cost that goes with them.

Sends a branded, professional-looking transmittal

In today’s competitive world and challenging economy your business always could use an edge or something that sets you apart. When you send files to clients, subs, colleagues, vendors or anyone, don’t you want to put your best foot forward? Instead of sending an email with vanilla ftp access codes which looks like every other email, send them a branded professional looking transmittal with your logo. This is exactly what you get with eTransmittal. Get your brand out there and set your business apart from the others.

Bank-level security

Security is the elephant in the room with ftp. Everyone knows it’s not really secure but no many companies just deal with it because "that’s how it’s always been". Things are changing and it’s time for you to get ahead of the crowd. Many accounts like government or public traded companies require a more secure solution to get their business. FTP is very unsecure. It allows access to files, alterations, and doesn’t have expiration dates. eTransmittal offers secure file transfer with multiple levels of security such as: Users must login with a name and password, documents can be password protected, documents are encrypted with online banking/e-commerce level encryption. eTransmittal also features one central repository for documents with multiple backup servers to protect data.

Tracks download history and file transfer receipt status

With ftp, there is no way to know if someone got and downloaded your file. Even if you send a email receipt people can choose to not send a receipt back to you. So there really is no way of knowing if someone downloaded your files and can become a “he said, she said” headache. It doesn’t happen often but this can be a huge issue in legal disputes. eTransmittal allows you to track the download history of your files. Every file you send comes with the ability to see if and when it was opened and keeps a record for your convenience and legal protection.

Shows workflow and revision history details for each file

FTP is a big mess of folders and files and because of this it’s really easy to work off of old files or revisions. eTransmittal keeps a history of correspondence with anyone who you send files to and who sends them back. Because of this you can see which file is the most recent and the progress of how you got there.

Consistently requires man-hours to manage permissions

Your IT team might not admit it but everyone hates setting up permissions. They might do it with a smile on your face but many IT professional spend hours upon hours each week setting up permissions for you. Thousands of dollars each year are wasted on billable man hours used to create permissions. With eTransmittal, there are no permissions to setup! You pick who you are sending your files to and eTransmittal does the rest and makes sure that they have access to only the files you want them to see. A conservative estimate is that you will save 50% off your administration time just by switching which can save your company $1000’s each month!

Smart navigation interface, making it easy to locate files

Finding a file in FTP can be a pain. What folder did I put that file in? With eTransmittal you can search for a file by name, project, company, status, labels which you can customize, and more. You can search with multiple filters and even organize by multiple catagories. This all means that you can find a file in seconds.

User-friendly, searchable database

FTP sites are based off of folder structures which can be multiple folders deep. Depending on how its setup you can open more than 10 folders before you even get to files. eTransmittal is a database like most email portals. This means you can filter your searches and find a file in seconds.

Contact management system included

With ftp sites you need multiple systems to send a file. It has no extra features like a contact management system. With ftp you need an address book like outlook or the like. Etransmittal allows you manage all of your contacts and choose who you want to send you file to right from your transmittal. Just like an online shopping cart you can add contacts to your transmittal and even organize your contacts by company, industry or anything else you can think of. The contact management system is fully customizable to your liking!

User-friendly archiving and archive management systems

Any IT professional will tell you that archiving is a job they wish didn’t come with the territory. There is no way to easily archive your files with ftp. With eTransmittal when your ready to archive we can export those files into a smaller file that doesn’t take up all the room on your servers.

Transfer Big Files in as few as 4 clicks

Sending a file with FTP is like trying to make a phone call on a rotary dial phone attached to a wall. Sure you can make it work but technology has made making phone calls a lot more easy with cell phones, cordless phones, Bluetooth and the like. Stop going through the giant list of things you need to do to send a file with ftp. With eTransmittal you can simply choose the company, project, contacts, and documents and documents.