SkyDox, a provider of cloud enabled content management, file sharing and collaboration platform for cross-functional and distributed teams, announced that it has launched a new version of its platform. The updated version builds on two attributes: ease of use and open cross-platform functionality to help ensure users can drive efficiencies when collaborating with colleagues, suppliers, business partners and customers.
The company has completely rewritten the user interface so it revolves around files held within project folders, allowing users to adjust permission settings for project and files, based collaborative teams as required. The application of Web 2.0 standards was added to help ensure that users are able to access a seamless collaboration experience with the ability to view and tag comments to specific locations within a file.
SkyDox has also added multimedia capabilities such as a drag and drop -Drop Zone’ allowing users to drag multiple files into specific folders from their native applications or desktop. The Drop Zone further enhances interoperability of SkyDox by improving the speed and ease of uploading files from productivity applications such as Microsoft Office, Word, Excel PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat PDF and PSD in addition to a number of files formats stored in a range of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) applications such as SharePoint.
“Collaboration typically takes place around a deliverable; most often an image, a piece of written content or a document. We have simplified the collaborative process by adding a layer of functionality to improve the ways in which users invite people to collaborate, record comments, approvals and activity, deliver files and track file access” said SkyDox CTO Barrie Hadfield.
Other features include location-tagged commenting, which allows users to comment on a specific part of a document with the new SkyDox location-tagged commenting feature. Users can click anywhere on the document when viewed online to open up a box that can be sized, or resized and moved to highlight an area to which a comment can be attached.
Also included is drag and drop uploads, allowing Windows, Mac and Linux users to add single or multiple files from their file manager or desktop directly into SkyDox using the drag and drop feature. Drag and drop is supported for a range of browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE9. The latest version of SkyDox also offers multi-file sharing, which allows users to invite people to share a folder containing groups of files with a single link. A synchronized file can be included in an unlimited number of folders, access rights can be managed for the entire group sharing a folder, and it’s possible to have private or shared conversations around any collection.
“We believe that cloud collaboration applications that seamlessly integrate into ECM systems provide organizations with the opportunity to further enhance the productivity of their information workers wherever they are in the value chain,” Hadfield said. “SkyDox also leverages the basics of cloud computing in that it utilize a shared infrastructure and can be provisioned on demand, reducing capital expenditure and speeding up deployment. Our rich feature set ensures that any organization can service the requirements of an increasing globalized economy and distributed workforce.”
