Think back to the last time you said to yourself: “This file is huge, how am I going to send it?” Most of us have encountered this common quandary at some point, especially in today’s ever-evolving workplace. The scenario usually unfolds in one of many possible ways. If you’re at the office when this happens, perhaps the company has resources available to conduct large file sharing, or a procedure in place to handle such a task.

If they don’t, and you’re left to your own devices, you certainly aren’t alone. A great many businesses lack any sort of protocol for sending large files. It’s almost as if, in our hastened pace of whirlwind technological wonderment, we just figure that something so seemingly trivial always works itself out one way or another. But this fallacy and misplaced assumption can prove a costly one. It can also pose a security risk, as employees may not always choose the most protective option to get the job done.

So even in the workplace, in a majority of cases, you end up bouncing around ideas with colleagues nearby. Conversations ensue, such as “My email won’t let me send this file because it’s too big, does anyone know how I can send this gigantic document?”

You’re sure to get a few suggestions, such as “save it on a flash drive or CD and mail it”, or perhaps “print it out and send hard copies”. Those are obviously obsolete methods in this digital age (although many people actually settle for those very solutions). But the most typical, resounding option you’ll hear is “Just use FTP”.

FTP, or ‘File Transfer Protocol’, has been around for a long, long time. It is touted for its timeless and reliable quality of function and ease of use. It’s fast, free and it gets even your largest files from one place to another pretty quickly. But the approachability of FTP as a file sharing tool belies an illusory pitfall into which many, many businesses have fallen…and perhaps never even realized it.

While the dangers of FTP are easy enough to convey to a business that doesn’t use it regularly, they become easy to overlook or ignore for a firm that’s become complacent in relying on FTP consistently for document management purposes.

Perhaps the greatest concern for businesses whose staff is using FTP for sending large files regularly is security and privacy. Because there’s really no framework for any sort of staunch security or privacy measures built into FTP (except for a username and password), even using it once could present vulnerabilities for the company; so just think about how much of a threat is posed by multiple employees using it regularly without your knowledge!

While countless other drawbacks exist regarding FTP as a tool for sending large files, it’s simply better to choose a tool that’s designed for the task at hand. There are simply too many suitable software applications to serve as FTP replacement tools for any business to employ FTP in that role.

In the long run, you’ll reap a far greater benefit by choosing tools, such as our cloud-based eTransmittal software, with top-notch security, configurable to your desired level of privacy and designed to send and receive large files. So the next time a frustrated co-worker stands up and announces “This file is too big for email, how am I supposed to send this?” , just remember: Friends don’t let friends use FTP.