One File Storage System Will Make Your Business More Profitable

Featured image by Ag Ku from Pixabay

Increase your company’s profitability by improving efficiency and productivity. One file storage system that can help you do that.

Are you looking for ways to make your business more profitable? Your profit ultimately comes from your customers or clients. However, focusing all your energy on generating more sales isn’t the answer.

That’s because creating a profitable business isn’t that straightforward.

Profitability comes from more than just your revenue and expenses. Profitability is largely determined by efficiency. You can increase your profitability just by increasing your efficiency.

Increase Efficiency by Consolidating File Storage Platforms

One way to increase efficiency is to minimize and consolidate the number of software programs your team uses, especially file storage platforms. For example, many businesses have stopped using numerous, disparate file storage systems and have moved their files to Box.

Box is one of the top file storage platforms because it offers security, high-level organization, and Google Workspace integrations. Box will streamline collaboration and create a centralized location for files. Then you and your employees will have the ability to search for content based on tags. Being able to search for files by file name and tags is the ultimate in efficiency.

Having Multiple File Storage Platforms Creates Chaos

As a business owner, you probably don’t see the effects of having company files spread out across numerous digital storage platforms. Moreover, most employees won’t say anything. Instead, they’ll suffer and struggle through the arduous process of locating digital assets.

It’s not just your employees who struggle when files are all over the place. Disorganization can affect the entire company. For example, say you went to a conference and met a potential business partner. You promised to send them samples of a project from the past. How long would it take to find those files? Can you log into your file storage account, type in a keyword, and immediately pull up your files?

If you can’t easily find the files you promised to send to a potential business partner, they might lose interest in partnering with you. Meanwhile, your employees will become frustrated trying to find the files.

Simple Ways of Organizing Files Will Maximize Productivity

Potential business partners aren’t the only reason to keep an organized file storage system. Your employees need to access files regularly and should have easy access to everything in one spot. If you don’t have a system yet, here are two effective ways to create one:

1. Create Naming Conventions

Having a naming convention makes it easy to find the latest version of a file in your storage system as well as reference past versions. Some examples of naming conventions include:

yyyy.mm.dd-BusinessPlan.docx. Placing the date in the file name makes it easy to know which file is the latest version of a frequently updated file (like a business plan).
Logo01.png. Using double or triple-digit numbers for different versions of an image (like a logo) makes the files line up in order when sorted alphanumerically.
Logo-50×50.png. Placing the dimensions of an image in the file name makes it easy for employees to grab the right size image for social media posts.
Contract-NDA.docx or Contract-JointVenture.docx. Placing the word “contract” in the file name before the type of contract helps with searching and sorting.

If your current file names aren’t optimized with a naming convention, it’s worth taking the time to rename your files.

2. Create Standard Tags for Common Files

Create a standard set of tags for files you create and/or edit often. For example, each version of your business plan, budget, and contracts should all be tagged with the same standard tag. “Business plan,” “Budget,” and “NDA” are examples of generic tags to apply. After you apply the standard tag, you can apply additional, specific tags like the name of the person signing the contract.

Require employees to use the standard tags. Then train them to create additional, specific tags based on what people might search for to find the file. For example, the names of people in a photo or the conference where the photo was taken can make it easier to find that item in your file storage system.

Better File Storage Organization Will Increase Your Profitability

Storing files in one spot and applying the proper tag will eliminate the majority of issues that cause delays, snags, and wasted time. When you and your employees can sail through your file storage platform to find specific files, your team’s productivity will rise.

A productive team is a prerequisite to increasing profitability. If you haven’t streamlined your company’s file storage system, don’t wait. Start reorganizing today and increased profitability won’t be far behind.