We are all so busy at work that we may forget that what we all produce (analysis, articles, inventions, plans, drawings, art, etc.) is the intellectual property of the company it is produced for. For us, at the end of the day, the work produced represents our time, energy, and the prioritization of where we spend the vast majority of our time. “Where does my work data live?” is an extremely important question to ask yourself.
If you are not confident about the location of important documents, spend a few minutes looking into it. We are so used to using quick links that should such a link become unavailable, it becomes a logistical problem and can cut into the productivity of a workday. Your file is still there and you can get to it if you know how.
Keeping your data secure and out of the wrong hands is the underlying concern here. If members of a company do not know where documents are located, how secure are those documents in the first place?
Common Locations for Work Data Storage
Here is a quick list of common locations for data storage:
- the cloud
- on a specific PC
- on a company server
- all of the above
Follow-up question: is your data backed up automatically? One excellent standard practice is to prepare and outline of where data is stored and where it is backed up automatically. If you do not have a source of automatic backup, please call us to set up a Basic Security Overview conversation about how we can help you secure your data.
Scavenger Hunt
While not as fun as a real scavenger hunt, or The Amazing Race, here is a checklist of items that are typically very important to a company. Challenge yourself to a scavenger hunt. Do you know where these items are located? And how fast can you get “your hands” on these files?
- Logo
- Taxes
- Last spreadsheet you worked on
- The largest Word document worked on
- The most important document related to your largest client
- Any other pivotal file necessary for your company to function.
If you are not so sure where these files are located, it may take you too much time to locate them. Don’t get discouraged. We are here to help you with this important project.
Any questions? Please contact us if you have concerns or would like to expand your data security and organization. As always, we are here to help. Want to call us? We can be reached at 908.895.0273.