Tips on Managing Company Documents using Document Storage Solutions

In businesses today, it is all too common for employees to spend an inordinate amount of time tracking down a single document that it is essential to have before he or she commences with a project. In fact, studies have shown that employees spend far more time in search of documents that they need in order to move forward than they do actually reading those documents once they track them down.

Documentation is essential in any business, regardless of the industry or field of work. Having documentation for everything is essential for countless different daily operations of any business. This includes planning, such as with blueprints, schedules, and the like, as well as legal purposes, when it comes to employee information or insurance records. Documentation is even essential for clear communication within the company, as well as with the clients. If you have documentation of agreements, it helps to avoid he said/she said scenarios.

Preventing these situations is extremely beneficial for a company. Organising the documentation related to your business helps to increase the efficiency of your company substantially.

This is why it is essential to find an effective document storage solutions for your business to use that you are able to consistently maintain.

Why Keep Documents Secure

The reasons to keep your documents organised securely all in one place using document storage solutions are endless. For one thing, with documents left all over the place, employees are left with no idea where to start looking when they are in need of something important. Consider a scenario where several documents, such as a proposal, plan, and contract, are all sent to a client in numerous different email exchanges and are not backed up in any easy-to-find places. Sorting through your emails to find the latest version is an unreliable and inefficient method of referring to those documents again in the future.

Aside from the simple efficiency and decrease of wasted time organised documents promote, there are certainly a number of other benefits to avail from as well. Having all of your company’s documents securely stored in a single location increases the security and privacy of those records. This reassures both you and your clients that no unauthorised eyes will have access to that information.

Finally, doing so keeps your documents safe from a number of unwanted hazards. These include fire, water damage, mould, and so much more. Keeping your files stored in a safe and secure location will prevent them from being subjected to anything that might damage or harm them.

Efficient Methods of Organisation

There are a number of ways to keep your documents secure, and a number of different factors to consider for you to help you tweak your document storage solutions, making it the ideal situation for your particular business. Here are some tips to keep in mind to ensure that you are using the most efficient organisation methods available to get the most of your efforts:

1. Keep track of all of your business records. If you’re emailing a document to a client, make sure to keep a copy for yourself instead of relying on your sent folder to hold onto it for you.
2. Keep digital copies. If your company is fond of hard copies, there is nothing wrong with keeping them in a filing cabinet, but it is good to have a digital backup in case that fails.
3. Use a document scanner to digitise your files. The hard copies that you keep stored away in a file cabinet can all be stored and kept on a hard drive, CD, DVD, flash drive, or cloud-based service for safekeeping.
4. In addition to your digital document storage, you can consider storing documents in an off-site location. This provides all of the assurance that documents are safe from harm without the effort of having to safeguard them yourself.
5. Regularly go through documents and securely dispose of documents that are no longer of use to the company. Holding on to long out-dated records only clutters the document storage space and makes it take longer to find things that are still relevant to the company’s operations.
6. Dispose of documents securely. This can be done by shredding hard copies, or by deleting the digital copy and then emptying the computer’s recycle bin.

Have you had issues?

Have you, or your business been affected by any issues mentioned in this post? If so, feel free to leave a comment below.

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