The Digitale simplifies end-to-end encryption with Dropbox, cutting time and effort by 30%

Background

If you have to market a product or service that is hard to explain, The Digitale, a German-based digital marketing agency, is here to support you. “Whenever a business has things like long customer journeys, complex buyer personas or narrow target audiences, it sounds like the perfect project for us”, says Dominique Korschinek, CEO /Managing Partner of The Digitale. The company offers services like analytics, business intelligence, strategy, content creation, design, UX and conversion optimisation. “Our mission is to make digital marketing drive the business of our customers. It’s not just about creating funny videos. It’s about delivering results that count”, adds Korschinek. The Digitale likes to work with clients and companies who share its vision and drive digitalisation in Europe, such as Allianz, Deloitte, Deutsche Telekom and Microsoft.  

Challenge: Making end-to-end encryption simpler

As a German agency that also works with international blue-chip companies, The Digitale has to secure sensitive data to maintain trust and compliance with European Union (EU) privacy laws. “For some files, for instance, anything including lead data, human resources documents or various strategic and finance files, we need to use end-to-end encryption (E2EE). With this technology, only you and your partner own the encryption key, and not even Dropbox, which is storing the files, or the government can access this data”, explains Peter Bilz-Wohlgemuth, COO/Managing Partner at The Digitale.

Initially, The Digitale used an E2EE service, Boxcryptor, that was difficult to use. “We had to specifically train our staff on how to encrypt files”, shares Bilz-Wohlgemuth. “And if the software wasn’t properly used, only the person who encrypted a file could decrypt it, so if such an employee left our company, the files would become inaccessible. Files would also sometimes crash entirely. In the end, the technology was great, but using it was a mess.”

The Digitale has been using Dropbox for file sharing since its early days. “We work with freelancers and other partners, and we need software to simplify collaboration across hybrid teams. When we started, Dropbox was by far the best solution for this”, Bilz-Wohlgemuth recalls. “So, when Dropbox acquired Boxcryptor technology and introduced end-to-end encryption within its platform, we jumped at the chance to be one of the early adopters.” 

Solution: 2 in 1 – E2EE and file sharing in Dropbox 

The Digitale decided to use Dropbox end-to-end encryption service. Files that were previously encrypted with Boxcryptor were now migrated to and encrypted with Dropbox. First, the company decrypted files with the legacy software. Next, the team moved the files – maintaining folder structure – and set up access rights.

After the migration, The Digitale encrypts files, subfolders or even an entire folder in one click. This way, the company can store all its files – from marketing content to website mock-ups to lead data – in one ecosystem. The Digitale then uses Dropbox Transfer to share the files with its global partner network, or its customers, some of which don’t have Dropbox accounts of their own. The Digitale can also set link expiry dates and see when they’ve opened or downloaded the files.

Finally, The Digitale made encryption available to more employees. “Before, we had to limit the number of seats, because it cost extra”, explains Bilz-Wohlgemuth. “Now, it’s a no-brainer. Because 100% of our employees already use Dropbox, they can use the encryption too.”

Results: Encrypting files with no hassle 

Today, The Digitale encrypts files within Dropbox instead of juggling two services. “The process is five times smoother, and we spend about 30% less time on managing encryption and decryption”, says Bilz-Wohlgemuth. This makes it possible for The Digitale staff to focus on delivering quality work for its clients. “Our focus is to do the job for our clients, work on strategies with them, create content and deliver great results. Everything else should just work and not take away our time. This feature is a game-changer for us, improving security and ease of use in one fell swoop”, adds Bilz-Wohlgemuth.

This enabled The Digitale to simplify its approach to employee training and onboarding. “We used to dedicate about an hour to training a new employee on the previous E2EE solution. Now, it’s just a five-minute talk about where things are and why they are organised this way”, says Bilz-Wohlgemuth.

Dealing with sensitive data on a regular basis, The Digitale leadership team can now enjoy a smoother file-sharing experience. This has also simplified the process for its tax consultants. “Previously, our tax company would have to install the encryption software on their computers to work with us. Now, they can access Dropbox from a browser”, says Bilz-Wohlgemuth.

Finally, the migration has brought more security to The Digitale. With simpler encryption, its staff are encouraged to safeguard more files. “Now that encrypting data is effortless, twice as many files are being encrypted”, says Bilz-Wohlgemuth. Since Dropbox meets EU and German regulations, The Digitale can now also more easily prove that it complies with ISO standards and other certifications. This makes it easier to deal with cyber insurance providers and high-profile partners or customers.

Today, The Digitale is looking for new ways to make file sharing even simpler. As a start, the company is considering services like Dropbox Sign to integrate eSignatures within the same ecosystem. “It’s critical to have reliable, user-friendly and fast file sharing, especially for companies with high content output like ours”, sums up Bilz-Wohlgemuth. For those still researching file-sharing solutions, here’s Bilz-Wohlgemuth’s advice: do your homework and invest in security and end-to-end encryption capabilities. “The better our software, storage or sharing solutions work, the more time we can focus on revenue-generating activities”, he adds.