FileTalk - An Accellion Blog

With 144.8 billion emails sent every day and the number projected to rise to 192.2 billion in 2016, according to the Radicati Group, email remains the preferred method of communication in the workplace – going on two decades strong. Yet, most business users aren’t able to send attachments at will, with IT typically capping outbound file size limits at 10MB.

With the Accellion Outlook Plug-in, you can extend your organization’s use of Outlook, improve email performance, and just maybe score a few popularity points of your own with your business users. With the new enhanced features plug-in users can send files up to 2GB in size directly from within Microsoft Outlook. Users simply click on the Accellion “Attach Items” icon on the Outlook toolbar, select the file, hit “send” and Accellion takes over, offloading the attachment – delivering the file as a secure link and enabling download following authentication. Attach, send, secure.

But, our new plug-in is about much more than super-sizing file limits.  It’s about giving users new features with a new level of control. Now everyone is admin-enabled and can administer file access controls and file expiration dates when they send files, deciding who can download files via the secure link and how long those links are active. And, of course, IT benefits with up-to-date audit trails to ensure the security of corporate data and files offloaded to boost email performance and reduce storage requirements.

In the second installment of our employee spotlight, we chat with Sooying, our software architect based out of our Singapore office. Sooying is not only an experienced engineer who has helped create award-winning Accellion products for the past eleven years, but also a devoted mother and an avid baker. Sooying has one of the longest tenures at Accellion!

1. What do you do at Accellion?

I am software architect at Accellion. I am currently involved in the Accellion Secure Collaboration project where I am part of a team that designs and architects the product, UI, and database. I research and decide the tools and libraries to use. Part of my responsibility is also ensuring that the front end and back end systems work together. I work on the logic behind the work-flow in the secure collaboration process.

In addition to building the product, I also manage a team of highly skilled engineers to get the design implemented.

I have been involved in the design and implementation of the product since its inception. Furthermore, I am responsible for ensuring the version compatibility and evolution of the application features for our 1,200 enterprise customers, some of which have been Accellion customers for as long as 8 years.

2. How long have you been here?

I have been at Accellion for 11 years, since May 2000.

3. What led you to work at Accellion?

This was my first job out of college. I joined the company because it seemed like it would be an interesting challenge. I wanted a role where I could learn things and have a chance to expand my responsibilities over time. Smaller companies give new graduates a chance to work on many projects and broaden their skill-set quickly.

Other companies that I applied to were larger and the scope of my job would have been quite narrow.

4. What’s your favorite part of working here?

A couple of things make working at Accellion great.

There is a strong degree of trust. We have a very good manager who gives us sufficient freedom to use our expertise to build the product.

I have two kids and there is great work/life balance at Accellion. Like other working mothers, I am always juggling between being a good engineer and a good mother.

Also, a few of my colleagues have been here for a long time, too. We get along very well and complement each other. That is so important for us.

5. How did you get into engineering? Is this something you always wanted to do? Was there someone in particular that influenced your choice of career?

I come from a very big family – one of eight kids from Selangor, Malaysia. None of my family had an interest in IT. However, I have always been very logical and methodological. I like to deal with facts. I chose the science path when I was in high school. In Malaysia that usually means a career in engineering or the medical fields.

I went on to study multi-media and programming at Technology University Malaysia. I enjoy doing programming as computers always follow a set of pre-defined instructions. Whenever there’s a bug, thinking logically, I’m able to narrow down the piece of code in question and solve the problem.

6. What brought you to Singapore?

When I graduated from college, the region was going through the dot com boom. I looked for a job in Singapore since my husband had already started working in Singapore a year before I graduated. I met my husband at university.

7. What’s life like in Singapore?

I like Singapore. Singapore is governed very efficiently which makes sure everything works like a clock. Everything works as it should and the crime rate is very low. You actually feel quite safe walking alone at 3AM in the morning.

Education system here is quite good.

Singapore is an island full of foreign talents. It’s a very diverse.

8. What do you do when you’re not building products?

I spend my time outside of work with my family. I love baking with my daughter who is four and half years old. We like to make butter cookies. I have a five and half year old son as well. Most of my free time is focused on my kids and making sure they are raised well.

Thanks Sooying for sharing your background with us. There is a lot of thought that goes into all of Accellion’s products.

Nothing is more interesting to me than watching people interact with their mobile devices, whether that’s an iPhone or iPad, Android, BlackBerry or even those rare Windows phones. People swoosh their fingers across the screen to access page after page of content…whether it’s the New York Times, Washington Post, Facebook, Twitter, and even business content. I know it’s hard to believe, but watching this behavior is actually quite fascinating. People interact with their mobile devices when they’re alone, out with friends or even on a date. Yes…I have seen it happen and probably am guilty of it too.

Clearly, mobile devices have become extensions of their owners and close attachments have been formed. Flashy people bejewel their mobile device cases with faux rhinestones. Many women change mobile device cases depending on what they’re wearing…just as they would change purses. And, of course, people who don’t care either way, or prefer a traditional looking phone, tend to have sturdy cases in “wonderful” black, grey and white hues.

But beyond the glitz and glamour involved with the look and feel of mobile devices, the material that people access is most important. No one would be obsessed with their mobile device if content was useless or boring.

Today, people want information on the go. In particular, busy professionals want full access to work files whether they’re at a coffee shop, security line at the airport, or on the road. With this in mind, Accellion delivers mobile apps for the iPhone/iPad, Android and BlackBerry mobile devices. Accellion Secure Collaboration customers can securely view their workspace files, make comments on files, and get notified when collaborators have made comments or added files to a workspace. Accellion Mobile Apps ensure that business can be conducted securely on the go, whether you use a leopard print cover is up to you.

In the technology world, we’ve had a few action packed weeks. First, Box announced their integration with Google Docs. Then, Microsoft made their highly anticipated announcement of Microsoft 365, their cloud solution of productivity apps that includes Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft Lync. Next, Google rebutted the announcement in their enterprise blog entitled “365 reasons to consider Google Apps”. And lastly, Box jumped into the fray with a ding at Microsoft for being late to the cloud game and why Box’s open platform is better for consumers.

You might be wondering if there is any valuable information in all this noise. Well, despite the proliferation of cloud computing, Microsoft Office is still the de facto application for business – with 31 million copies of Office 2010 sold. And it’s likely that those organizations will continue to use Microsoft products. But many small to medium (SMBs) businesses and newer companies have embraced the cloud wholeheartedly. They often use more consumer-oriented solutions such as Google and Box due to lower costs, flexibility, and perceived ease of use. They are often looking for more platform-agnostic solutions and not necessarily for enterprise-class solutions, which offer the security that every business requires today.

At Accellion, we spend a lot of time thinking about how employees at large and small companies securely share and send files. In fact, we’ve built our entire business around the premise that information can be shared securely. We offer our solutions through a web interface, native mobile apps, and plug-ins for Microsoft Outlook, OCS and SharePoint, as well as other business applications such as iManage so that users can securely share files through the business applications they already use.

For those of our customers who migrate to Microsoft 365 or are new to Microsoft 365, Accellion offers an Outlook plug-in that enables your users to securely send files to recipients.

Remember that no matter whether your organization uses a desktop or cloud solution, it should allow you to securely send information. To learn more, download our whitepaper, “Secure File Transfer and Collaboration in the Cloud: Maximizing the Benefits While Minimizing the Risks.”

We just wrapped up our second Accellion Customer Conference of 2011, and it was great to experience the energy of our customers. We had a large number of attendees and engaging questions regarding our current and future product portfolio.

During yesterday’s session, the Accellion team took the opportunity to deliver Secure Collaboration tips and tricks, show a demo of our Mobile Apps, and provide updates on how customers can upgrade to the latest solutions.

For those customers who attended, and took the opportunity to engage with the Accellion team, we want to thank you. For customers who missed it, you can visit the Accellion Forum to listen to a recording of the session.

If you are interested in learning more about our Secure Collaboration solution with Mobile Apps, please contact our sales team. We’d love to share with you how Accellion can help your organization securely collaborate with colleagues, vendors, partners, and customers.

We look forward to seeing you at the next conference.