You’ve been thinking about the benefits of being paperless, mulling over your strategy, considering the best way to organize, and dreaming of a more productive team and work space.  All of that is great, but have you thought about what happens when you lose an important file?  Or, all of your files?

 

File Back-up

One of the most critical, and most overlooked, technology considerations is file back-up.  We’ll say it again – computer drives can and do crash (usually at the most inopportune time!).  We know this because it has happened to us.  More than once.  Whether you store most files on your desktop/laptop or on a shared server and whether you are paperless or not, it is absolutely essential to have one least one back-up process for your electronic files so your business does not come to a standstill when a drive crashes. A good back-up policy addresses questions like:

  1. What files are backed-up?
  2. How often are files backed-up?
  3. How are files backed-up?
  4. Where is the back-up copy stored?
  5. How many back-up copies are stored?
  6. How long are back-ups kept?
  7. How long will it take to restore files if a drive crashes?
  8. If you don’t have real-time back-up, how is missing data recreated?
  9. Who is responsible for ensuring back-up procedures are followed?

(A quick plug - OpenSpark does offer file back-up solutions.)

Archiving

A common December or January scene in many offices is the boxing up and storage of files from a previous year to make room for the current year.  If you are a paperless office, you can eliminate the boxes but archiving old files is a good habit to keep.  While it may seem like disk space is unlimited, you will likely find the limit if you keep years of files on your computer. Key questions to consider as you develop your file archiving process include:

  1. What is the file retention policy?
  2. When are old files archived?
  3. What media is used for archiving?
  4. Are multiple copies of files kept in case of media failure?
  5. Where are the archives purged?

Our Results

Going paperless is a daunting proposition.  I was intimidated by it from the start, but with focus and discipline, it has become our reality.  It is a struggle some days, but then I remember the benefits. 

Image courtesy of jasonweeksWe have a clutter-free space (mostly). 

We don’t get paper cuts.

A ream of paper lasts for months.

Our 5-drawer filing cabinet is virtually empty.

We have every piece of information at our fingertips, regardless of where in the world we are. 

We are more creative in our thinking. 



[Landscape image courtesy of jasonweeks]