An automotive dealership was looking for a better way to exchange files with vendors. One concern they had was that the current method could potentially give vendors access to sensitive information. Another was distributing vendor files across departments that were using different SharePoint sites.
The challenge was that the vendors used specialty software with limited connection options. The dealership needed to get those files and distribute them across different back-office systems simultaneously. This distribution happened daily and felt like an inefficient use of time since it was always the same process.
The dealership's existing system worked functionally, but they mentioned the price-to-value ratio was unfavorable. There were two different features they were after.
The first is that they wanted a way to automate the daily process of receiving files from vendors. The solution they were using required either manually connecting via SFTP to pull the files or having the vendor upload them to SharePoint. Afterwards, the files would be distributed to different departments. Sometimes this process would create delays and also had the potential for errors. Different teams were sometimes working with outdated information because updated files hadn't reached everyone at the same time.
The second issue was vendor access control. The dealership only wanted to give necessary access without opening up broader system access that could create security risks. Finding the right balance between accessibility and security was proving expensive and complicated, and they were looking for a solution that was simple and limited vendor access.
The dealership found Couchdrop while searching for SFTP to SharePoint solutions. With multiple methods to receive files into SharePoint, Couchdrop seemed like it could be the answer they were looking for.
After getting in touch with the Couchdrop team with their use case, the company learned that the platform could easily manage their two main concerns. Transfer automations could automate receiving the files, and then distribute them across departments with specific changes for their needs, such as different file names for each department.
Vendors could also be isolated to a specific folder, essentially letting them send files to cloud storage without having access to the storage account.
The dealership implemented a setup where each vendor is isolated to their own specific folder. A daily scheduled automation runs on all vendor folders, pulls new files, and then creates copies for different SharePoint sites with appropriate renaming for each department's needs.
Isolating vendors to specific files ended concerns about oversharing. Daily vendor file distribution now happens automatically, and all departments receive files at the same time. Departments now have up-to-date information to work with, and files are renamed and ready for next steps.
One additional feature the dealership found useful was the notification system. Both vendors and the internal team could get alerts when files were transferred successfully, as well as if there was an error in the process. Administrators could also receive confirmation emails when files are downloaded, and each transfer and action in Couchdrop would be logged to a detailed audit log.