Time savers vs. time wasters: workflow upgrades for faster collaboration

No one hires creatives to sit watching files download, sync or transfer. You hire them to create magic.

But for too many teams, a shocking amount of time goes into "work about work" instead of actual creation. Whether it’s a video editor stuck waiting for files, an agency chasing the latest version or a designer re-uploading the same assets — we hear about the same time-wasting workflows repeatedly.

Creative leaders just want your teams to focus on crafting exceptional work. Meanwhile, IT folks need storage options that are easy to use and integrate, but also secure, reliable and cost-effective. 

The challenge? Finding the sweet spot where creative freedom meets technical performance so your team can get on with the important work, without all the roadblocks.

Here’s some real examples of how old-school workflows steal your time — and how you can take it back with the right collaborative technology.

The time wasters

Time waster #1: shipping hard drives

Remember the "sneakernet": physically walking or shipping drives between team members? Remarkably, it's still happening in 2025.

The real cost:

• 1-3 days of shipping time (best case scenario)

• Anxiety about drives getting lost or damaged

• Project delays when files arrive corrupted

• Security risks during transit

• $50-200 per shipment in courier fees

For teams regularly shipping media, the costs stack up fast. At $50-$200 per shipment, two drives a week adds up to over $5,000-$20,000 annually — not to mention projects delayed just waiting for files to arrive.

Real-world impact: project delays and travel headaches

In our virtual event on how the cloud fuels storytelling, filmmaker Shaheen Nazerali shared two stories when working with hard drives proved painfully inefficient (and pretty stressful). 

The first example saw a drive stuck in customs for days, holding up an entire project. The next saw Shaheen personally flying a drive packed with high-stakes footage home. What could go wrong?

Luckily, nothing! But today “that footage could’ve just been uploaded directly to LucidLink from the shoot,” she said.

Time waster #2: on-premise server access problems

Your on-prem server might feel secure inside your office walls, but what happens when your team needs to access those files remotely? 

The real cost:

• VPN connections that drop at the worst possible moment

• Painfully slow remote access speeds

• Team members who can't work because "the server is down"

• IT spending hours troubleshooting connection issues

• Creative momentum killed by technical roadblocks

When VPN connections drop, it’s not just frustrating — it’s expensive. A team of ten creatives losing just 30 minutes a week to connection issues racks up over 260 hours of lost productivity annually. That’s more than six full workweeks.

When VPNs become roadblocks

For Emperor’s Creative Director Noel O’Connor, VPNs didn’t cut it in a workflow with large files: “We had access to our data, but it could be unacceptably slow.”

“Our team had to download media locally in order to work on them efficiently. That's fine if it's a word document, but invariably we are exchanging files of several gigs worth of data."

Want a closer look at this topic? Read on premise vs cloud: which is best for creative teams.

Time waster #3: the download-edit-upload spiral

With traditional sync-and-share tools, the workflow becomes a download doom cycle:

Download (wait) > Edit (create) > Upload (wait more) > Repeat (ad nauseam).

Usually, it’s not just one person stuck in this monotonous loop. If five team members each spend 15 minutes downloading files a day, that’s over six hours of lost time every week — and more than 12 full workdays a year.

The real cost:

• Hours spent watching progress bars

• Creative flow interrupted by technical processes

• Late nights waiting for uploads to finish

• Projects delayed when someone forgets to upload the latest version

• Storage costs multiplied across every team member's device

• Greater security risks from storing sensitive files locally

Drowning in downloads

In their early days using remote workflows, the team at Bemo experienced this pain first hand. Using a sync-and-share tool created major slow downs.

Editors had to download an entire job — often a terabyte or more — just to start working. Then they’d render, re-upload and wait. No one else could begin until syncing finished. Multiply that across 20 collaborators, and one project meant syncing 20 terabytes of data (and endless hours wasted).

Time waster #4: onboarding collaborators and freelancers

Bringing new collaborators or freelancers into a project often leads to delays and security concerns.

In traditional set ups, working with a new distributed team member means VPNs, creating user accounts and ensuring they have the necessary hardware and software. All of which can be time-consuming and complex.​

The real cost:

• Delays in project timelines due to prolonged setup processes​

• Increased risk of security breaches with multiple access points​

• IT resources stretched thin managing user permissions and support​

• Potential inconsistencies in workflows and tool usage​

Real-world challenge: scaling distributed teams, fast

Sometimes deadlines are tight. You don’t have time to worry about onboarding collaborators, or getting them up to speed on tech. 

Filmmaker Philip Owens needed to produce 50 films in five weeks across 21 locations and “not a single person ever met in person during the whole project.” Trying to onboard that team the old-school way? Impossible.

The time savers

Time saver #1: storage collaboration vs. shipping drives

Storage collaboration platforms like LucidLink eliminate physical media transportation entirely.

The time saved:

• Instant access to any file, anywhere in the world

• No shipping costs or delays

• Zero risk of drive damage or loss

• Real-time availability of new content

• Better security with encrypted transfers

From hours of prep to instant access

Juste Rutkauskaite, Junior Finishing Artist at The Finish Line revealed how having instant access to work on LucidLink has cut hours prepping drives to show clients work.

“We used to take out at least two hours just to get all the media on a drive, relink it, export the project and physically carry it to the client site. Now, I open the project and everything’s just there, like a mirror of our headquarters.”

Discover more about what LucidLink is and how it works.

Time saver #2: cloud access vs. on-premise limitations

Unlike restrictive on-premise servers, collaborative cloud storage feels like having your server follow you everywhere.

The time saved:

• Work from anywhere with internet access — home, café, client site

• No VPN hassles or connection drops

• Consistent performance regardless of location

• IT team freed from constant troubleshooting

• Seamless collaboration with freelancers and partners

Freedom to work from anywhere, anytime

“I’ve been able to make progress on edits even when I was on the go — running errands or traveling," said Katie Wade, US Head of Post Production at Casual.

“As long as I had my laptop handy, I could make progress on an edit mid-flight or waiting for an oil change at an auto body shop where the internet connection was spotty at best.” 

Time saver #3: file streaming vs. the download-edit-upload cycle

LucidLink doesn't just store your files in the cloud — it streams them to you on demand. No downloads, no duplicates or local storage woes. 

The time saved:

• Open files instantly without complete downloads

• Changes save in real-time to all team members

• No duplicate storage eating up local drives

• Single source of truth eliminates version conflicts

• Work remains uninterrupted by file management tasks

Seamless collaboration without the wait

“It's completely different from other cloud storage solutions,” said Dennis Shin, VFX Creative Director. “It's just streaming the data that you're literally clicking on and accessing at that time. The time it used to take to download and upload files has all gone away." 

As Magda Tautenhahn from The Finish Line put it, “I don't have to sync down all the media beforehand. I can literally just jump in, help out, and then jump out again.”

On average, teams video teams using LucidLink save one hour per editor per day. For a team of eight, that’s 160 hours saved per month — the equivalent of adding another full-time editor to your team, without the extra salary.

Time saver #4: seamless onboarding with storage collaboration 

Storage collaboration platforms like LucidLink make it simple and secure to add new team members or freelancers. With centralized storage and controlled access, onboarding becomes a matter of sending a link and setting permissions.​

The time saved:

• Immediate access to project files for new collaborators​

• Reduced IT involvement in user setup and support​

• Better security with centralized control over file access​ 

• Consistent workflows across all team members, regardless of location​

Faster onboarding, broader talent pool

Executive Producer at Casual, Sanica Apte, explained how this ease and speed opens up a whole new talent pool.

We can say, ‘Oh, we need some edit support.’ That person doesn’t have to be local; we can onboard someone from New York, give them the LucidLink credentials, walk them through the initial onboarding and they’re ready to go.”

“It broadens the talent pool we can work with and lets us produce better work for our clients without overburdening our internal staff.”

At a glance: time waster vs time savers

What could you do with all that time?

A day in the life: before & after

Take back your time

Time is your team’s most precious resource. Don't let outdated workflows steal it away.

Today’s creative workflows require greater flexibility, better security and faster, smoother collaboration.

LucidLink gives you all of that — without complexity or maintenance costs. You get instant access, simplified sharing and secure, scalable storage built for how modern teams actually work.

For creative leaders, this means more output, higher quality work and happier teams. For IT leaders, it means fewer support tickets, better security and optimized infrastructure costs. 

The result? Everyone has more time for the work that matters.

Are you ready to stop waiting and start creating? Try LucidLink free today.