Leverate Media GmbH

Leverate Media GmbH

Four colleagues launched Berlin-based Leverate Media in 2013 as a nimble cutting-edge media company. Initially, it catered to young high-growth firms entering the German and Asian markets. Since then, Leverate has grown into a full global media agency, offering marketing consulting from its international offices. Leverate’s capabilities span the gamut of advertising platforms, including TV, online, mobile, and print. Lately, it has been aggressively expanding its market reach, opening offices in New York City, Singapore, and Europe.

The Situation

As Leverate grew and opened more international offices, it became harder to share data, both internally and with its clients. For instance, the content volume began to strain the company email system’s capacity, says Leverate Chief Operating Officer Ruben Becker.

These limitations prevented Leverate from sharing large files containing print advertising or TV spots with clients. At the same time, to create long-term strategic marketing plans, these customers were sharing highly confidential information with Leverate. As a trusted business partner, Leverate must apply controlled access to guarantee client data remains private; a data breach could violate nondisclosure agreements, damage the Leverate brand, and hammer its bottom line.

“To have a long and fruitful relationship with our clients, it’s really important that they trust us and have a good feeling about how we deal with their confidential data,” says Becker.

Initially, Leverate adopted Dropbox, a file-sync-and-share (FSS) service provider. But Dropbox couldn’t meet the security requirements of its clients. So Becker turned to Intralinks VIA, a scalable and secure online data sharing and collaboration platform.“We realized Dropbox wasn’t really a professional collaboration instrument so we started using Intralinks VIA,” he says.

Solution

Intralinks had already developed the finance industry’s leading virtual data room (VDR). In doing so, Intralinks had perfected its technical security and usability capabilities. Becker knew this, and that his clients could benefit from a collaboration solution built on Intralinks’ trusted platform.

“Customers want to know who will be able to access the data and how it will be shared,” says Becker. Intralinks VIA offers granular controls and tracking to show which user looked at a folder or document, and when that user did so.

Leverate discovered Intralinks VIA was not only scalable and secure, it was also easy to deploy. It has a streamlined and intuitive interface that both Leverate and its client users could easily adopt. This made the solution ideal for a small fast-track company needing to move nimbly.

Plus, Intralinks customer support was highly responsive to Leverate’s needs. As Becker notes: “I always felt the Intralinks employees know what they are doing — especially the live support personnel — they live for Intralinks VIA.” A year after initial go-live, 30 internal employees were on Intralinks VIA, along with eight external clients. Becker expects at least 20 clients to leverage the solution in year two after adoption.

The Benefit

Becker leverages Intralinks VIA for both internal data sharing and storage, as well as to collaborate with remote clients. The solution allows the firm to:

• Securely and rapidly share key data and files internally and externally
• Scale to handle the vast amounts of data contained in content-rich creative files
• Support internal project management and e-document storage • Easily invite anyone to access documents in a Workspace, and make notes and changes to the documents
• Enable strictly controlled client account management
• Offer iPhone® and iPad® users remote access to content and data
• Apply security control at the document level through advanced Information Rights Management (IRM) technology
• UNshare® any file or document using preset expiration dates

Internally, users create Workspaces to collaborate on a file or to oversee a project, notes Becker. “Intralinks VIA offers more than just data sharing: it also helps you get an overview of different projects.” He also trusts the solution’s enterprise security to protect internal confidential data and content — such as Leverate’s balance sheets and invoices.

The solution makes the Leverate brand shine, too. As Becker says: “Intralinks VIA definitely looks more professional than Dropbox and other similar solutions. Intralinks VIA helps us to show our clients that we are really professional and know what we are doing in media — but also in project management, and in how we manage client-provider connections.” Using a provider such as Intralinks can offer a differentiator in a fiercely competitive advertising market.