What each is genuinely designed for
A shared drive is designed to store files and let people find them. Credbase is designed to track third-party documents through a lifecycle. Neither replaces the other and pretending otherwise is where teams get into trouble. General company documents belong in a drive. Third-party documents that expire and get shared belong in a tool that knows how to look after them.
Side by side, job by job
Both are useful. Each is best at what it's built for. Where a drive says 'find the file', Credbase says 'is the record current, who owns it, when does it expire and who has seen it'.
| Job to be done | Shared drive | Credbase |
|---|---|---|
| Store any file | Excellent | Purpose-built for compliance documents |
| Track expiries | Not really | Automatic, with reminders |
| Structured metadata | Filename and folder | Type, expiry, owner, status, notes |
| Request a document | Email plus upload | Single-purpose link, no account |
| Recipient experience | Log in, click through folders | Land on a page, drag, drop |
| Share with a client | Zip or link the whole folder | Live pack, only what belongs, revocable |
| Renewals | Whoever remembers | Assigned owner, auto-reminders, escalations |
| AI drafts metadata | No | Yes, human approves |
| Audit trail per document | Version history at best | Full timeline per action |
| Access when someone leaves | Depends on how folders are shared | Central roles, one revoke |
| Cost | Bundled with your suite | Free plan plus paid tiers |
Where a drive quietly costs you
None of these are drive failures. They're the drive being asked to do work it wasn't built for.
- A subcontractor's insurance sits in a folder called 'Certs 2024' and expires unnoticed.
- A client asks for a diligence pack and someone spends the afternoon zipping folders and hoping nothing has lapsed.
- The person who owned the folder structure leaves and the naming convention leaves with them.
- Two teams keep parallel copies because search is quicker than politics.
What Credbase adds on top of your drive
Credbase is the layer above the file. It knows what each document is, when it expires, who owns it and who last touched it. You still keep your drive for everything else. In practice, teams keep general company documents (contracts, HR, ops) in a shared drive and third-party documents (supplier insurance, subcontractor certificates, client-facing packs) in Credbase. The line is clean: anything that expires and gets shared externally belongs in Credbase.
Migration is a conversation, not a project
Point Credbase at your existing folder, sort what's live versus archive and the shared drive becomes the archive. Nothing gets deleted. Everything active gets a proper home, an owner and a renewal schedule. Most teams migrate the live set in an afternoon.
Why the recipient experience matters more than you think
Every time you ask a supplier for a certificate through a shared drive, you're asking them to sign up for a suite they don't use. Credbase upload links open in any browser, require no account and take a click and a drag. Response rates go up. Chasing goes down. Your clients see the same polish when you send them a pack.
How to try Credbase without any risk
Keep your drive exactly as it is. Add Credbase for third-party documents only. Free plan, no card. If it doesn't earn its keep inside a fortnight, delete it. Your data exports cleanly whenever you want. Paid plans are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Frequently asked questions
Put this into practice today.
Start a free Credbase workspace, add your first supplier and share a live evidence pack in ten minutes.