With ShareFile, Edgewater Group LLC

• Saved hours spent on file duplication and manually sending alerts
• Secured thousands of highly sensitive documents easily and efficiently

Edgewater Group LLC acquires and rehabilitates multifamily properties, with a focus on preserving Section 8 housing through a meticulous and supportive management system. When George Schmidt joined the company in 2003 as a director to oversee financial and real estate due diligence, he also assumed responsibility for Edgewater’s document management and client collaboration processes.

George’s processes with his old system were almost entirely manual. Sharing was difficult, and there were no automated notifications. When George needed to share a document, he had to make a copy, upload it to the site, and let everyone know it was there. He couldn’t see when other parties viewed a document or control who could see which files. The basics of file management overwhelmed George’s daily routine. In 2019, the Edgewater team turned to a more efficient solution for their needs – ShareFile.

Organization and control

After implementing ShareFile, George quickly configured the tool to fit his needs. This included a central file box that allowed internal and external uploads that George could then organize to meet his specific requirements. The Edgewater team needed easy access to thousands of files, and ShareFile gave George a simple way to access and manage documents from his desktop or from the web. He could assign permissions and notifications for each folder and document based on his unique requirements.

“It’s a huge time saver for me because it used to be a manual journey for everybody. With ShareFile, everyone gets notified when there’s updates, and that’s huge.” 

George Schmidt, Director, Edgewater Group LLC

Security at the center of everything

Hundreds of sensitive documents get exchanged and stored when a property is purchased or maintained. With George’s old system, the lack of sharing permissions and notifications made it hard to ensure the information was secure. With ShareFile, that wasn’t an issue. George used the secure link sharing settings in ShareFile to require login and additional validation before people could view certain documents, keeping bad actors out. “I don’t have to upload and keep track of a second document; ShareFile is the source of truth,” George said. Being able to create custom links to documents and folders also allowed him to share in due diligence checklists in other applications hosted by brokers, lenders, or HUD so that they could access securely in a way that suits the recipient’s delivery system.

Before ShareFile, George and the Edgewater team used to send wiring instructions as attachments via email. They discovered that their attachments were actually being intercepted, altered, and resent from a spoofed domain. Now, they use the ShareFile for Outlook plugin to request and send files seamlessly and securely. The plugin eliminates the need to send files as attachments in email, which put company and client data at risk. With a few clicks, George can share documents directly from ShareFile in Outlook or he can embed a request link in an email. With notifications enabled, George doesn’t need to constantly check his email or ShareFile to see if the files are added.

Growing with ShareFile

George is always looking for ways to evolve how he uses ShareFile. He continues to explore new functionality like Projects to find the best way to make collaboration simple and deliver a great client experience. 

Learn how to secure your document workflows with ShareFile, and see how Edgewater Group is working to improve the comfort and safety of residents of affordable housing.