With the tax filing deadline still fresh in your mind, you may have promised yourself to be more organized for next year. However, having different types of documents and storage places can make it hard to keep things in order. Small businesses often deal with a combination of paper files and digital documents, kept in filing cabinets or saved on computers, respectively. If you feel overwhelmed by business paperwork, these four tips can help you take back control.
- Use digital documents whenever you can: Generally, electronic files are simpler to access and keep than paper ones. To find a paper document, for instance, you have to search through a file cabinet, but you can usually find a digital file in seconds with search tools. Plus, if your system offers remote access to your digital data, you can get information without being at a physical file cabinet.
- Outsource document scanning: To gain the advantages of electronic file storage, companies should scan all of their paper files, creating digital copies. With some businesses, this may not seem feasible. A lawyer’s office, for example, may lack the time needed to scan all its legal files. One option is to outsource the scanning to an archiving service; it won’t be free, but the time you save can be far more valuable.
- Archive documents you seldom use: Keeping documents around that you don’t need makes it harder to keep current files organized. A simple test is to ask yourself: What files have I worked on in the last six months? In the last year? In the last two years? If you haven’t used a document in two years, you probably don’t need to pull it up on your mobile device, so consider moving it to an archive.
- Back up your local archive to the cloud: For many small businesses, an inexpensive option for creating a local archive is network-attached storage (NAS). A NAS device works like a big empty filing cabinet, shared by everyone on your company network. It’s also easy and affordable to automatically back up your NAS archive online through an automatic data backup service.
The key takeaway is that electronic files are easier to access and store than paper documents, which makes staying organized less challenging for small businesses.
How do you stay organized? Has your business benefitted from any of the tips above? Share your experiences and thoughts!
