More than 50% of office professionals spend more time searching for files than they do working.
In today's world, most organizations operate digitally. All files are stored electronically as it offers various advantages over traditional file storage. One issue with this, however, is that it can be quite easy for things to become disorganized.
For a financial institution, effective file organization is essential. In this guide, we'll go over some file organization strategies you can use, and how the best file-managing software can help. Keep reading for more.
Store Documents in a Shared Location
Most modern businesses use networks that allow different individuals within an organization to access the same files. To ensure everyone can access what they need, you should store files in a shared location. If you store them on your personal computer, you're the only one that will be able to access them.
Within a financial institution, there will be plenty of files that various people need to access. Make sure everyone can reach what they need to at all times.
Bear in mind you should have security measures in place to ensure only people with authorization can access certain files. Doing this effectively will help with file organization while keeping sensitive data secure.
A typical method of doing this is to have passwords or account permissions. Cybersecurity is more important these days than ever before, so this isn't something to ignore.
Don't Mix Business and Personal Files
You might often make use of shared storage spaces, but you shouldn't store any personal files in them. This can clutter up a space and make things disorganized. On top of this, other people may then be able to access your private documents.
Group by Category
When you have a sizable number of files, this is one of the first steps you should take toward developing a document management system. Think about how food is laid out in a supermarket. It's sectioned so that it's easier for anyone to find what they're looking for.
The precise categories you use will depend on your business. Some common choices that organizations use are:
- Departments
- Clients
- Products
- Users
There's one issue that you may run into here. Some files could fall into multiple categories rather than just one. This is where Tagging for Windows comes in.
For many organizations, this could be the best file-managing software available. You can add multiple tags to any file, making them much easier to locate. You can then find via one or more tags the exact files you're looking for in seconds.
You might tag certain files with the department, the date, the type of information they contain, and more. Using a filter system, you can quickly narrow things down so you don't have to spend a lot of time looking for a particular file.
Note that grouping/tagging by date can be very helpful in the long term, even if you don't use the date to navigate and find files. For many organizations, data is only needed for a certain amount of time.
Financial institutions handle a lot of sensitive data, so you should get rid of anything that's no longer needed. If you've used date tags, it's often much easier to find old files and quickly delete them.
Train Your Staff to Use a Standardized System
Setting up a standardized system throughout your organization will make things easier. This won't be helpful, however, if your employees aren't sticking to it.
Make sure everyone knows how your document management system works. This includes things like naming conventions, appropriate tags, and file organization strategies.
Use Appropriate Naming Conventions
This is one of the easiest things to do, but it's also easy to get wrong. Files should be named according to what they are, and you should be consistent throughout your entire system.
File names should be concise, but make sure it's clear what they are. If you're using Tagging for Windows, you don't need to include too much information in the file names. Some people may like to include dates, for example, but if you're tagging by date, this might not be necessary.
Maintain Your System
With anything digital, keeping up to date can be very important. As a financial institution, you need to ensure your network stays secure, and keeping your systems updated will help with this.
You should regularly check to make sure your security is up to date, as well as how you organize your system. This will keep you in line with regulations and help protect your business and clients.
Ensure You Have Backups
You can put a lot of work into ensuring your network is secure, but there's still always a risk of disaster. If anything goes wrong and you lose important files, it could be devastating for your organization. As such, you should always keep everything backed up.
If you fall victim to a ransomware attack, for example, a hacker will steal data, and demand payment before handing it back to you. If you have an up-to-date backup, you can simply restore everything to avoid any financial loss.
The Best File-Managing Software
Creating a system for you and your employees to use will help you keep things organized throughout your network. With the best file-managing software, you'll be able to keep on top of things and ensure your files are organized at all times.
Tagging for Windows allows you to tag files efficiently to better organize your network. We have a full guide on our website so you can get going without any trouble. Visit our download page to get started for free.