Oftentimes, people aren’t very good at organising digital files. Perhaps this is because organising physical items is easier than organising something that does exist, but which you can’t arrange physically. Whatever the reason, the bottom line is that poor digital file management is a major inconvenience in a professional context.
Any tech company will be able to tell you that digital file management is a high priority; and so we spoke to a London-based tech company about this. TechQuarters has been providing business IT support London-based companies have been using for over 12 years. In that time, they have helped many clients with their digital file management – particularly as the business world began undertaking digitization and digitalisation projects, and leveraging cloud storage. They gave us three pieces of advice on how organisations can optimize their digital file management.
- Set goals for file management
Firstly, before you ever undertake a digital project of any kind, it is necessary to define what your goals are. Establishing goals also helps save time and resources, by avoiding unnecessary efforts. According to TechQuarters, some of the question that ought to be asked in the initial stages include:
- Who will be accessing the new digital filing system the most – these are the people who need to understand the new system the most. For instance, anyone in the business who creates a lot of content (such as copywriters, or graphic designers) will definitely need to be familiar with the new system.
- When will the new system come into effect? And when will the new system be implemented company-wide? The answers might be: ‘The new system will come into effect immediately, but at a small scale, in order to test the system, and it will be implemented company-wide when we know that it works.’
- How will the business know if the new digital filing system is successful. In most cases, their will be KPIs that organisations can look at – such as, the mean time it takes to locate files with the new system, compared with the old system.
- Get feedback from the organisation
The process of implementing a new digital filing system must include taking into account feedback from all stakeholders – particularly employees who will be using the new system on a daily basis. Some important questions to ask include:
- What do people like about the new system, and what do they dislike about it?
- Was anything about the new system confusing? Were files more difficult to find?
- Are there any aspects of the old/original filing system would you like to see carried over to the new system?
TechQuarters, as a Microsoft Solutions Partner, has provided Microsoft 365 consulting for a lot of clients. In many cases, they have helped the client migrate to SharePoint, as an alternative to their on-premise, server-based digital filing system. In all of those instances, TechQuarters have always taken into account aspects of the old, on-premise filing systems because they can sometimes be carried over to the cloud-based system, and thus make the transition smoother for the client.
- Archive and Delete before organising
Before an organisation migrates all of their files over to the new filing system, a comprehensive audit of the company’s data should be performed. This is because, there may be a great deal of redundant files and data in the system, which could draw out the time it takes to migrate the data, and will inevitably just be deleted from the new system at a later date.
When going through all the files in an organisation, start by deleting redundant files or, if you are unsure of whether they might be important for something specific, archive the files. That way, you only have to worry about organising the relevant files.
Andrew Parker