In today’s environment many businesses are trying to setup remote and home-based employees in a hurry. Statistics from Global Workplace Analytics indicate that 43% of working adults were already working from home at least part time,1 but enabling the majority of your employees for telework and collaboration can come with some surprises. It’s important to think beyond the easiest to find tools, and ensure you’re choosing the best fit for your needs today. However, you also want to find an affordable tool that will maximize your opportunities and sustain your business long beyond the current crisis.
According to Dimensional Research, 85% of businesses can’t find the information they need on a regular basis, a problem further complicated by remote work.2
Unfortunately, work teams are discovering the technologies we’ve relied on to store and share files in the office simply don’t work. Many small and medium-sized businesses essentially use electronic file systems. Now that we’re working remotely full-time, we’re discovering these don’t really meet our needs. Just like a paper file cabinet, they quickly become cluttered with multiple copies of documents, and we inadvertently overwrite one another’s work effort. The more cluttered they become, the less able we are to provide appropriate security to sensitive documents and information.
Simple cloud storage services don’t offer the security and version control you need to keep documents straight, and collaboration systems, while helpful for communications, are not designed to share documents effectively either.
As a result, our heightened anxiety continues to climb, and we’re becoming even more confused.
IDC explains that the average knowledge worker spends about 25% of their time managing information, yet we only find what we need 56% of the time. That means ¼ of the salary you currently pay your workers is lost to looking for information, rather than generating business results.3
Let’s use this opportunity to move beyond paper files, electronic filing cabinets and the chaos of today. The right technologies really do make things simpler, so you have one less worry during these difficult times.
What do your employees really do with documents today? They access, collaborate, share, and edit, and managers need to be able to see what people are really doing and when. Remote workers need to be able to find files and work collaboratively with them in a way that advances projects and gets you to the results you need without compromising security. What are the key features that distinguish the technologies that will really maintain employee productivity regardless of location?
| Functions that take you to the next level | What it is | How it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Full-text search | Allows you to find information based on any word or phrase that comes to mind, rather than requiring you to remember exact wording or titles | Like being able to talk to your filing cabinet and say, “Hey filing cabinet, give me everything you’ve got that talks about Christina at Digitech Systems!” and finding every piece of relevant information you might need in an instant. |
| Audit Reporting | Keeps track of who accesses each document, what they did with it, and why | Like being able to track employee tasks and productivity without becoming “Big Brother,” and keeping a log of why changes were made when you aren’t in person to have a conversation. You’ll always know if a file has been changed without authorization. |
| Document Check out/in | Allows only one “master version of a document to be checked out for editing, preventing overlapping effort | Like being able to wave a magic wand to offer organization to people working together on the same project. Keeps you from making the same changes as a colleague or from overwriting each other’s efforts. |
| Version control | Saves older versions of documents, so teams can rollback if needed | Like protection against the “Oops!” When you need to be able to go back to a previous version of something because stuff got confused. Plus, it saves the time spent trying to recreate something from memory. |
Rapidly changing regulations, such as GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), require protection of sensitive information even if data is being accessed and shared remotely by employees. What safeguards do you need to keep your company safe now and as things continue to evolve?
| Security functions that take you to the next level | What it is | How it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Document Encryption | Protects documents not only while they’re being stored, but also when they’re accessed to prevent information from ever being compromised | Files shared via email or online drives can be compromised during transfer, violating various regulations. Encryption keeps them safe and sound. |
| Password protected access | Allows only authorized users to see sensitive business information wherever it is accessed | Password protection not only keeps your employees out of stuff they shouldn’t see, but also keeps hackers out as well—no matter where you’re working. |
Effective remote collaboration may make all the difference to your business success not only during these difficult times, but also will position your business for the fully digital and automated future.
"Team collaboration is one of the biggest factors that will contribute to the success of any business in the next decade. A joint study between the Institute of Corporate Productivity and Babson College found that companies that actively work to leverage collaboration as an organizational skill are five times more likely to be high performing."4
1 https://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics
2 http://www.dbta.com/Editorial/Trends-and-Applications/ECM-Is-Dead-Long-Live-Intelligent-Information-Management-125508.aspx
3 Schubmelh, D. (2014). The Knowledge Quotient: Unlocking the Hidden Value of Information Using Search and Content Analytics. Framingham, MA: IDC.
4 AIIM (2019). The Future of Information Management is Now. Retrieved from: https://info/aiim.org/the-future-of-information-management-is-now
Related Links:
Let us help! Visit the links below to learn more about collaboration, and check out PaperVision®.com and ImageSilo® to see how our cloud-based information management systems can help meet your business needs.
- Find out how PaperVision.com is helping a seafood cooperative keep core business functions running during a nationwide quarantine.
- Watch this quick video to better understand which features you must have in your collaboration software to maintain and protect business information.
- Learn more about mobile technologies and access to information in this infographic.
