Trying to find a better way to manage your files?

Do you have a plethora of paper piles?  Placed on your desk?  Plopped on the floor?   Pushed into cabinets and drawers?  Are you wasting valuable time looking for things in the piles?  Or, have you traded paper clutter for digital clutter?  Is it hard to see the background image on your desktop because it’s buried under your files and folders?

The Streamlined Office can create a digital file system and/or improve your paper file organization to save you time and money.  How much better would you feel and how much money would you save if you had a great system in place?  Contact us and we’ll get it done!

Not convinced that file disorganization is costing you anything?

Are you one of the US managers that, according to author Stephanie Winston, loses 250 hours a year trying to retrieve misplaced information from messy desks and files? What are 250 hours of your time worth? Or maybe you are one of the 27% of the workforce that FEELS disorganized according to a 2008 NAPO survey.  Even FEELING disorganized inherently decreases motivation and then productivity suffers.

How can you create a better system?

It used to be that creating a filing system meant color coding your file folders, and then organizing them alphabetically, or chronologically.  In some instances, this may still be reasonable. However, today’s small businesses are a lot more dependent on technology, and most record-keeping is now electronic, so you may need to consider both the system that resides on your computer in addition to the one that resides in your filing cabinets (or in those piles on your desktop or on the floor).

There are a lot of different ways to organize your files and The Streamlined Office can help you create a customized system that meets your specific business needs.  The key to any filing system is to create a file structure that allows you to find important information quickly and easily. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  So how come so many people struggle with this?  What works best for you and what industry standards do you need to apply? Uncertain? We can help you figure that out!

Where should you start?

Generally speaking, the first step to organizing both digital and paper files is knowing and documenting what information you need to keep and why.  That means creating record retention guidelines if they do not already exist.

The second step is creating a  file structure.  The structure will be unique to your business needs and will reflect the information identified when creating the document retention guidelines.  It is also important to establish file and folder naming conventions for consistency.  When this crucial step is omitted, files and folders are easily lost and the information is hard to find.

Do you want to “go paperless”?

Are you on this page because you are interested in going paperless? Great idea! Read my article on How To Create a Paperless Office. Subscribe to my blog and you will get the post automatically delivered to your inbox.

For now, there are plenty of strategies to achieve a paperless office. Be aware, however, of the common misconception that a paperless office is devoid of paper. Realistically, the goal should be just what it says: Paper-Less and not Paper Free.  The process of going paperless is very similar to creating a digital filing system with the additional step of needing a system to convert current paper files into a digital format.

The Streamlined Office can make it happen!

Call today for a FREE consultation and learn more about how we can help.  480-221-0588