On any given day, Nimbus Therapeutics was running multiple experiments and projects simultaneously. Lots of projects meant lots of data, and as the volume of content grew, the Nimbus team realized their reliance on manual data management processes was just not sustainable.

“Our data team would start their day with tons of content to load into our database,” says Dr. Rebecca Carazza, Ph.D., Head of Information Systems at Nimbus. “Before it could be loaded, it had to be pre-processed and put into the right format. All of that was done manually.”

When Dr. Carazza joined the company in 2018, she set out to automate the transfer and management of increasing volumes of data. Her efforts focused on three areas: people, process, and technology.

Challenge: Manual Processes Threaten Major Disruption

In the Nimbus team’s drug discovery workflow, external vendors play a prominent role. “Although we’re a biotech, there are no labs at Nimbus,” Dr. Carazza says. “All compounds are synthesized externally, and our experiments are run at contract research organizations (CRO). At any given stage in the drug discovery process, numerous external parties are sending data to Nimbus, often in varying formats. Nimbus ingests this data manually, making it practically impossible to scale operations.

As the team analyzed its processes, it identified several challenges:

• Human error. The team had to validate the data, upload it into the corporate database, reconcile different data formats, and troubleshoot in the event of any issues. Human error at any one of these steps threatened data integrity.
• Inefficiency. To ensure everyone was working on the correct file version, the team had to create an entirely new file or manually update and rename an existing one each time a document was modified.
• Lack of visibility and accountability. File update notifications were sent through email, which could easily get lost in crowded inboxes and provided no visibility to the broader team. Recipients also had to keep constant tabs on their inboxes so they could respond in a timely fashion. Without tracking issues, root cause analysis was nearly impossible.
• Delays. Stakeholders were dispersed across time zones, which often slowed the process. Content sat for hours or days before the data team started their workday.

Dr. Carazza knew the team had to drastically reduce their reliance on these manual processes. “We needed a scalable, automated solution with minimal manual processing and clear accountability.”

Solution: A Powerful Tech Stack—With Egnyte at the Center

Nimbus was already using Egnyte for data storage when Dr. Carazza joined the company. She saw an opportunity to use Egnyte’s built-in public cloud workflows and integrations to help automate how it handled content sent from vendor partners.

Dr. Carazza’s team assembled a tech stack—consisting of Jira™, AWS Lambda, and other platforms—to create an end-to-end solution that would automate how the data was received, validated, uploaded, and updated. Egnyte was an indispensable partner, acting as the hub for the data team to synthesize these tools into a cohesive, interconnected workflow, which the team now refers to as NIMBEye.

Egnyte facilitated the interconnected use of Lambda (AWS’ event-driven compute service) and Jira’s workflow and ticketing system to accelerate the process of finding new content and getting it into the database. “If AWS Lambda finds any new content that needs to be loaded, it creates a Jira™ ticket to get that done automatically,” Dr. Carazza says. “NIMBEye enables us to utilize Egnyte’s API integration with Jira™ to automate all the steps that we used to handle manually.”

Today, the team uses several key features in Egnyte, including:

• Version control. Any changes made to a file appear automatically in Egnyte, and Egnyte enables the team to review previous versions of data within one file, eliminating the need to create and track different files for each version. In addition, the new version will resurrect the closed Jira™ ticket, capture key information, and automatically reprocess it, overwriting the former uploaded content in Nimbus’ corporate database.
• Secure links. The Egnyte platform provides direct links to the most current version of the files, giving the Nimbus team with quick and easy access to key content. These Egnyte links are available in Jira™ tickets as well as the daily summary emails to project teams, giving scientists access to the content loaded in the last 24 hours in a standard format.
• Issue Alerts. In the event of an error related to any piece of content, Egnyte provides a seamless process for alerting the data team or CRO to validation errors.
• Metadata capture. All content added to Egnyte for database upload will pass key metadata to Jira™ and in return, the Jira™ ticket number is passed back to the file in Egnyte. This two-way synchronization allows the team to track the progress of the ticket.

Benefits: Stronger Data and Faster Drug Deployment

Under the NIMBEye workflow, “success means that no human had to touch the content,” Dr. Carazza says. “Everything is automated—from the content leaving the CRO to entering our database to being ready for review by our scientists.” If experiments don’t successfully load, the ticket is assigned to the primary contact to correct any issues then it will automatically launch another attempt to reload the updated version.

When Dr. Carazza started at Nimbus, the data team consisted of three full-time employees. Since then, the highly successful end-to-end process automation has enabled the company to reduce the team to just one even as the amount of data loaded since 2019 has nearly quadrupled. That’s a two-thirds reduction in their reliance on manual, human-driven processes that were more vulnerable to errors and delays. This has also helped combat employee burnout—former members of the team can now focus on higher-value efforts elsewhere in the company’s operations.

Nimbus has also substantially accelerated the data uploading process. Previously, after the CRO sent the data, it often sat for hours before the data team manually loaded it into the system. Now, the data is loaded and deployed to end users within 30 minutes of being sent from the CRO or assigned to a key contact for QC with streamlined access to errors and links to content to expedite the corrections.

All of this has unlocked invaluable downstream benefits. The potential for human error has been virtually eliminated, which has helped preserve data integrity and improve data quality. In a time-sensitive field like drug discovery, in which even minor delays can torpedo a company’s intended timeline for crucial milestones, it has empowered Nimbus to remove bottlenecks from the process of CRO data ingestion.

 Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, GBBN Architects is an architectural design firm focused on innovation in housing, healthcare, education, and cultural venue design. With over 150 employees across five offices in Ohio, Kentucky, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and China, they strive to deliver designs that not only result in great buildings but positively impact people. With a geographically dispersed workforce, many working remotely, the need for a secure and easy-to-use file collaboration platform came into focus.

Challenge: GBBN Reaches an On-Premises Crossroads

In 2021, GBBN Architects found themselves at a crossroads. The company had on-premises N5 storage device running their virtual environment which was soon running out of support. In addition, GBBN’s Panzura appliances were also running out of support. Between the expiration of hardware and software licenses, GBBN saw an opportunity to research new technologies and providers.

At the same time, GBBN was also focused on managing company data more effectively. For example, the IT team would receive support tickets that read, “My project is gone from the network.” In helping resolve the support tickets, GBBN’s IT staff couldn’t pull data usage reports from individual staff members to diagnose the issue. Matt Birk, GBBN’s CIO, says, “Using traditional tools such as Windows search, responding to this type of support ticket could take up to two days of searching through terabytes of data to find where a project was moved.”

Another challenge to effectively manage company data was secure file collaboration. Previously, GBBN was forced to give project partners access to their network, providing a domain log-in and access to a VPN connection. Birk says, “It was challenging for our IT staff to manage connectivity. Partner users had way more access to our company data than just the project files they needed; we hoped they wouldn’t inadvertently launch a ransomware attack.” There was the additional burden of tracking whether a partner user was still employed with the firm or not, ultimately relying on the individual partners to notify the GBBN IT staff of any personnel changes. And providing VPN access to partners of smaller firms that had outsourced their IT staff was even scarier. Birk says, “Each time a new partner was added to the network, our IT team would lose more control over the users accessing our company data.”

Carefully considering the existing data challenges and knowing the opportunity, the company began researching its options, starting with Panzura, Nasuni, AWS, and Microsoft Azure. GBBN focused on their primary data requirements, specifically global file locking, stability, and security. While all solutions met all or most the basic criteria, Egnyte went beyond. Birk says, “Once we met with Egnyte, we discovered the product included many more features than the other candidates in terms of security and governance. That caught the attention of our team, especially our network administrator.”

Solution: Richer Data Usage Reporting and Collaboration Capabilities

Egnyte reporting features captured everybody’s attention. Specifically, individual staff usage data coupled with the machine learning applied to each employee’s use of data jumped out to the company. Birk says, “Egnyte has unique features we did not see with the other platforms, or at least we did not see in depth on the other platforms.”

When considering whether to renew their Project Information Management application’s license, they found overlap between features provided by Egnyte and those provided by the PIM solutions, including sending large files, download tracking, file transfer link clicks, and outside party file requests. Given the extensive range of security and governance features and Egnyte’s ability to cover critical areas served by PIM applications, GBBN decided to change to Egnyte.

Once Egnyte was deployed, GBBN found immediate value in data usage reporting. The IT team could search for file changes and get results within five seconds, not the days they were used to waiting. The team also gained additional security features built on machine learning. Birk explains, “If a user is typically opening 50 files a day, but one day they open 100 files, we get an alert. Egnyte’s features have saved us from confidential data walking out the door.” Birk continues, “Prior to Egnyte, we had no ability to audit files that were downloaded, leaving our firm to trust that no confidential or source files were taken from our network. After Egnyte was implemented, we were able to audit and report on what individuals were downloading. This new capability enabled us to reverse the trend of an abnormal download of proprietary company data. Our management team was impressed with Egnyte’s data auditing tools, and IT has really earned their keep in protecting our company’s data!”

Egnyte is also making it easier for GBBN to collaborate with other architects. According to Mike Rensing, Director of Technology, “There is no longer the need to request files or handle requests from partner firms to send files. We add partners as another team member to our data source, giving them access to the project structure.” Once partners are added to a project folder, users have full access to working project documents, making collaboration smoother. But with Egnyte, GBBN can hide and protect confidential files and folders, meaning their partners can’t access them, keeping their data secure.

Benefits: Secure Data Availability Creates a Greater Work-Life Balance

“I don’t think I’ve implemented anything in my recollection that has had as many staff come to us saying how they love the access,” says Birk. He explains one of their goals was to get rid of VPN; GBBN is now 99.9% VPN free. Another goal was to provide project managers out meeting with clients the ability to access the files they needed from iPads or iOS devices. Birk says, “Project Managers like using iPads. Egnyte is agnostic, which allows them to present projects to client leaders from any device they want. They are ecstatic about data availability, which frees them from bulky laptops, power supplies, and a VPN. They love traveling light and being able to communicate our brand more effectively.”

The availability of the data has vastly improved project site visits. Rensing says, “Our teams can go to the site, pull out their phone, snap a picture, and directly place that image file in the project folder.” He explains, “Simply filing the image where it needs to go right from the project site saves time. Teams no longer download the photos and move image files to the folder at the office. It happens right at the job site.”

“Egnyte is improving work-life balance and mobility of our staff,” Birk says. “When we bring in a new hire, they are blown away by our access and the feature set.” Rensing recalls one staff member who expressed joy in accessing files from the car. He says, “This person was delighted to be able to access work files while traveling as a passenger. Something is being done right if you get thanks for that.”

Looking at what’s next with Egnyte, GBBN Architects will be tackling the management of old project files and stale data. Birk says, “We used to search for old folders on our projects drive to determine which ones were not being accessed in the past year. We are looking at Egnyte to automatically identify project files that have not been touched for a given amount of time and move them off active storage to archival storage. That will save space and money.”

Established in 1949, Barnhill Contracting Company offers commercial building, site infrastructure, transportation, and asphalt services throughout the southeastern United States and is consistently ranked among ENR's Top Contractors in the country. Headquartered in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the company has several statewide offices and over 900 employees.

With an average of 90 active projects on Procore, Barnhill Contracting Company was very excited to integrate Egnyte and Procore so its office and project teams had a single source of truth for their documents.

Challenge: Finding a Better Way to Securely Collaborate

Seven years ago, Barnhill Contracting Company undertook a strategic project to bring control and consistency to their file systems. The inception of this initiative began with Jason Deans, director of virtual construction. "Back then, all our file storage was on a shared drive internally and on premises,” Deans said. “You couldn't find anything. Documents were scattered in different locations. It took an hour for executive leadership to locate the right folder.”

In addition, project teams had an aversion to File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Instead, they preferred to transfer data through traditional means by burning it onto a CD and delivering the information to the intended parties. Deans needed a better way for teams to collaborate on large files internally and with outside parties such as architects and subcontractors. He also needed a way for collaborators to securely access files via mobile devices without requiring the use of email applications.

“I played around with Box, Dropbox, and a few other services looking for viable solutions. Then, working with Arthur Reed, our network administrator, we determined that Egnyte had the best feature set,” Deans said.

Barnhill initially rolled out Egnyte within its VDC (Virtual Design and Construction) department. But within a few months, executives wanted their own Egnyte accounts. Before long, the entire building division migrated their files onto Egnyte. "Once we migrated the building division files, over half of our company used Egnyte,” Reed said.

At that time, the company used a project management tool that didn’t integrate with Egnyte and wasn’t meeting all its needs, including support for project financials. Barnhill replaced that project management tool with Procore, but project-specific data still resided in two different locations that did not sync between Egnyte and Procore. It was confusing because so many documents doubled up, said Newall Rand, operations technology manager.

“Someone would save a file in Procore, and another person on the same project would save the same document to Egnyte,” Rand said. “A project team member could not find the right information because they did not know what the other team members were doing.”

According to Rand, Barnhill used another project management tool for punch lists, drawings, and submittals. “Basically, we still had two separate systems that were not talking to each other well,” he said.

Solution: Procore and Egnyte Keep Everyone in Sync

The Procore-Egnyte integration became a topic of discussion during the company's folder structure reorganization. Keeping in line with the initiative to rely on a single source of truth, project files needed to be accessible to stakeholders who did not have access to Procore. That meant they needed a solution to sync Procore files with files stored outside of Procore.

"We were trying to get everything down to where there's one source of truth for a project,” Reed said. “From Day One all the way through closeout, whether they have access to Procore or not, everyone needs to be working from the same latest version of files. The Egnyte and Procore integration makes that happen."

Once the enhanced Procore connector went live, Egnyte documents synced in real-time, allowing Barnhill's project teams to work in the Procore environment and access the documents from a single source of truth in Egnyte. That meant users could leverage a common folder structure without jumping between Procore and Egnyte.

"When an executive in the office needs to find a project document, they can go to the designated drive in Windows Explorer to find the same information as a project manager working in the Procore Environment," Deans said. "If an architect does not want to have access to the Procore project files, we can easily collaborate and share on those same files in Egnyte."

Results: Eliminate Duplication with the Easy-to-Use Connector

Barnhill's IT department trusts Egnyte’s enhanced Procore connector to sync files in both places. They are confident the data will be available to users whether they are accessing it through Egnyte or the Procore environment.

“When team members sign into their desktop app, they have access to their data right there,” Reed said. “They don’t have to spend time downloading, editing, and re-uploading. We have a very small IT team and don’t have a lot of time to train, and our building division folks don’t have much time to sit down and listen. With Egnyte, they just sign into their app and start working. It's intuitive."

A Win-Win Situation with Zero Complaints

Before creating a single source of truth for project file collaboration and storage, employees got frustrated. The VDC department could not collaborate on large files internally or externally. Employees could not find what they needed, and, at times, executive leadership would spend an hour looking for a project folder. In some cases, IT staff were pulled in just to find files.

On-premises versioning was cumbersome and not user intuitive. With Egnyte, they can restore the previous version in a few clicks, which Reed said makes him feel more secure.

Today, the IT team spends less time dealing with on-premises challenges. Auditing was a disaster before Egnyte. Finding out which user dragged a folder or where the user dragged the information was complicated and time-consuming. With Egnyte, Barnhill's IT crew pulls up a quick audit report to diagnose the issue. “The audit report will tell you who's accessing what, and how often,” said Reed. “With Egnyte's security features, we can be more proactive than reactive."

As Barnhill continues its journey toward creating a single source of truth, they are looking to migrate away from on-premises file storage. Reed says, “Egnyte's been super easy to use to the point where we just sign our guys in. They have a shared drive, so it's very simple for them to access what they need when they need it."