Recent advances in technology have put many businesses under immense pressure to straighten up their work processes to be more secure, more environmentally friendly and more accommodating to their audience. Thanks to the internet, making it easy for businesses to grow their company on an international scale, more eyes than ever before are keeping a careful watch over our companies. This means that if we ever slip up, even just once, we’re going to end up paying the price. We’ll be bombarded with negative reviews, bad publicity and dwindling trust from our audiences.
One particular area that businesses are starting to suffer in is how they store and access documents. This could be customer information, contracts, invoices or even purchase orders. Any kind of document that has some relation to your business is essential, but can quickly become a liability should it be mishandled or treated poorly.
The adverse effects of improper file storage
Imagine trying to access old customer records or looking back at an order that was made because a client points out that there was a payment error. If you had to look through boxes of records, then your work process will slow down, and you’ll waste a lot of time. What if you lost those records or they were damaged somehow? It makes accessing that information impossible, and you’ll have no proof that a transaction or a contract took place. In a worst-case scenario, those documents could even be stolen, and you’ll be liable for any damages that incur as a result of you failing to secure them.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to ensure this doesn’t happen. It takes careful planning and consideration for your business to run smoothly, which is why you need to look at every facet of your business and ask yourself how you can optimise and improve something as seemingly basic as how to store your files.
Security and accessibility are incredibly crucial components when it comes to how you store your files, and some services specialise in storing data for you. You might think that it’s okay just to rely on your own devices to store files, but you’d be surprised at how practical and useful using a file storage facility can be. Below, we’re going to talk about some advantages of using a file storage facility and why it would be in your best interests to consider it, regardless of how many files you store.
1. Entirely paperless systems are harder to achieve than you think
No matter how hard you try to go entirely paperless, you’d be foolish to think you could survive without ever printing on a sheet of paper. The problem is that while paper systems can be sluggish, inefficient and also quite expensive, they’re just plain convenient. Some people prefer getting letters in the mail as opposed to emails, and passing around a sheet of paper is infinitely more useful (at least, if you’re nearby).
As a result, you’re ultimately going to end up with some documents that you have to keep around for storage and safety, which is why document storage will always be a relevant concern for businesses.
2. You’ll save a lot of space
Saving up loads of paper documents can start to eat into the amount of space you have in your office. While a couple of sheets of paper won’t make a huge difference, you’ll quickly run out of storage space if you have to deal with dozens of printed invoices every day and it will get progressively worse as you draw in more customers. If you don’t have enough space to store all of your documents, then you’re going to end up with a cluttered workspace, and nobody wants to deal with that.
Having a dedicated off-site location to store all of your documents makes things nice and easy for you. You can access the documents when needed, they won’t take up space in your office, and there’s no risk of cluttering your office.
3. It’s more secure to use a file storage facility
It’s far-fetched to think, but what if someone snuck into your office at night and stole a box of files that contained sensitive customer information? What if a disgruntled employee decided to misplace some important documents or even steal them from your office? What would happen? Your files are vulnerable if they’re stored in your own office. To protect them, you’ll need to hire security, set up CCTV and perhaps even a system that prevents people from merely accessing sensitive customer information at will. Although it sounds unlikely that someone would steal your documents, it’s better to be safe than sorry, and the last thing you want is to be liable for hundreds of customers having their information stolen.
A file storage facility will have CCTV cameras, biometrics and security guards keeping your documents safe from any kind of intruder. They’ll comply with any data protection standards, and you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your data is safe, secure and out of harm’s way.
4. Better archive management
As a business grows, so will the number of documents that you need to handle. You’ll have to deal with more contracts, more invoices and more customer data than ever before, resulting in more massive archives of files that will become difficult to manage. What starts as just a box of documents could evolve into a corner of your office and then eventually require its own room with CCTV and a dedicated archive management employee.
A file storage facility will give you an easy time when it comes to managing your documents. They’ll help you sort them, identify the materials and make it simple for you to search and find specific records. This superior archive management improves your workflow, saves you a lot of time and keeps your records well organised. While it might sound expensive, the alternative is to waste valuable time and money dealing with a messy and unorganised file storage system.
