Case Study

Global consumer behavior analytics leader drives cost saving due to 80% reduction in server capacity with UST’s secure file-sharing solution

UST enabled a global analytics company to enhance operational efficiency, achieve $62,300 in annual savings, and reduce downtime incidents by 80%. By delivering a cost-effective, secure file-sharing solution, UST streamlined operations, strengthened security, and exceeded customer expectations, ensuring seamless content sharing for high-profile entertainment industry clients.

OUR CLIENT

This global company measures audience behaviors and preferences, offering a wide range of analytics services to help companies predict consumer trends, uncover new opportunities, and reach target audiences. With operations in more than 55 countries, the company generates approximately $5 billion in revenue annually.

THE CHALLENGE

Developing a cost-effective, secure file-sharing solution for businesses

The analytics company wanted to reduce third-party costs associated with its content development and production system for the entertainment industry. During its cost analysis effort, the company pinpointed several expensive third-party services, including a secure file open tool. It allows users to securely distribute content files to external systems with features like watermarks, print/disable print, grant/revoke access after distribution, etc. The third-party license costs for this service were approximately $57,000 annually and required 10 servers. The company wanted to find an alternative secure file exchange solution that offered robust functionality at a more cost-effective price. Because the company was in annual contract renewal negotiations with several prominent entertainment industry clients, it wanted to design and deliver a new, cheaper solution before the existing contracts expired.

THE TRANSFORMATION

Delivering a feature-rich, cost-effective, in-house secure file-sharing solution

UST designed and delivered an in-house, secure file transfer solution with a deep feature set that requires 80% less server capacity and eliminates the expensive annual license costs. The solution seamlessly integrated into the analytics company’s content development and production platform, offering even more functionality than the legacy third-party service. For example, previously, users could only share a PDF or standard word processing file. Now, clients can share audio files—a critical element to entertainment content production—customize access controls for each client and use more robust security measures, like restricting downloads and limiting device access. Because the solution was developed and deployed using modern CI/CD software development practices, the company can release additional security features in the future to meet customer demands and keep pace with an evolving threat landscape.

THE IMPACT

Satisfied customers enjoy 80% reduction in downtime incidents with integrated secure file transfer service

After successfully launching the “secure exchange” solution in time for major contract renewals, several of the analytics company’s prominent entertainment industry clients immediately adopted the service and requested enhancements—including one of the largest production studios in the world. With a roster of happy customers, the company also realized these business benefits:

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RESOURCES

https://www.ust.com/en/insights/six-tips-to-control-spiraling-cloud-costs

https://www.ust.com/en/insights/top-10-barriers-in-digital-product-engineering-overcoming-scalability-challenges

https://www.ust.com/en/industries/tmt-telecom