When was the last time that you updated your document management strategy?
Keeping documents well organized is vital for your business to run like a well-oiled machine. If you believe it’s time for your company to take document management to the next level, you came to the right place.
Read on to learn about these common business document management mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Keep the Files Too Long
The most common document management mistake you can make for your business is keeping the documents too long. Whether you keep employee files too long or client documents, too many documents can clutter the space and become a nuisance.
Too many documents in your drive will make it difficult for you to find current and relevant documents.
To prevent old documents from piling up, you must handle a document management strategy to dispose of old documents.
Depending on the business, you should erase documents between one to two years after the creation date.
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2. Not Sticking to Management Guidelines
Another common mistake when dealing with company documents is that not everyone in the company follows the guidelines. Without a set of rules on handling documents, different members of the company will handle documents their way.
To prevent issues with document management, you should make sure everyone is on the same page. Having specific guidelines to share with employees will ensure everyone follows the rules.
3. You Don’t Shred Documents
A big mistake companies make with their documents is not to consistently shred sensitive documents. If you don’t shred sensitive documents, private information about your clients or your business can fall into the wrong hands.
To prevent issues with highly sensitive documents, you must shred them as soon as you don’t need them. You can either hire a shredding company you can trust or keep a shredder available in the office.
4. You Don’t Have a Proper Schedule
With so many people working on different documents and opening files, it’s difficult for data to sync and the systems to be updated. When everyone syncs their documents at different times, it can create errors that can be difficult to correct.
To prevent this issue from happening, it’s crucial everyone is on the same data syncing schedule. For example, you can set a daily deadline for everyone to save their documents when collecting live data.
5. You Don’t Keep an Extra Copy
While it’s essential to dispose of old documents and shred sensitive information, another common document management mistake is not keeping an extra copy of relevant documents.
Because the last thing you want is to shred or delete relevant information, you should keep an extra copy, whether a digital or hard copy of documents you will need in the future.
Are You Ready to Avoid These Business Document Management Mistakes?
Now that you know more about these business document management mistakes and how to avoid them, you’re ready to take your company to the next level.
Remember, when protecting business data, you shouldn’t keep files too long, create company guidelines, shred sensitive documents, and create a data schedule.
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