Putting Your Business in the Cloud
Having your files stored in the cloud is one of the most powerful tools in your business when it’s done right. If not, you’ll find yourself and your team spending unreasonable amounts of time tracking things down.
From the largest company to the garage startup, organization and accessibility are two aspects of business that have to be managed effectively. The million dollar question is, which platform do you use? Dropbox, Google Drive, Box.com, OneDrive?”
What’s the best tool?
This is a valid question, but it’s by no means the most important question. Each tool exists for a specific set of needs. For most business owners, specializing is your biggest strength even though some tools generalize to fit every possible need out there. The most powerful questions you can ask yourself and your business when it comes to technology are these:
What am I trying to accomplish?
How should I use this platform or tool?
When it comes to digital organization, we always start with the question of what we’re trying to accomplish. In this case, it was clearly stated: “To create a central repository for all digital assets that can easily be shared among employees and contractors in a clearly organized system that promotes easy collaboration and efficiency, while maintaining a high level of security and control of these assets.”
The questions we have determine our focus and where we go. If you’re asking what’s the best and latest technological tool, you’re going to get stuck nitpicking every feature until you’ve forgotten the reason you’re in the market in the first place.
Deciding on the correct organizational asset means assessing your capacity as a team or organization and asking yourself how do I streamline communication.
Now the question, “How do I use this platform or tool?”, comes into play.
While there are infinite ways of organizing, after 11 years of teaching people how to use tools and helping them sort out big messes, I believe the best method for most people and businesses is based on category. For example:
General (Assets used across multiple brands, products, clients, etc.)
Corporate Branding
Documentation
Office policies
Templates
Financial
Expense Reports
Monthly P&L
Strategy
HR
Benefits
Policies
Legal
Board Minutes
Corporate Licensing and Numbers
Form Templates
Forms Filled
Legal Engagements
Teams
Content
Customer Experience
Finance
HR
Marketing
Operations
How you go from The Big Mess to a clear organized system:
1. Choose your platform
Google Drive is what I wold generally recommend given the fact that most people are already using G Suite and Google Docs. The integration of Google products can make a lot of sense when assessing the value of a streamlined approach.
2. Get eyes on all of your files
You’re going hunting. Grab a sheet of paper and find where all your stuff is and write it down. E.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Evernote, on my Mac – Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Pictures. Don’t get bogged down in this. Spend a max of 15 minutes.
3. Establish a pattern
Write down the categories above in your notes and scan through the files you found. Did you find a number of things that warrant creating another major category? If so, add it to your list.
4. Start from scratch
I have created folders called DAR (Digital Assets Repository) for businesses. Inside of DAR, I have created main categories and any obvious subfolders that should go in there.
5. Clean up as you go
Questioning whether or not you’ve already moved something to the new system is a recipe for a mental breakdown. Our goal is to feed the new organization system with the files from all other sources. This is absolutely critical. To keep your sanity during this process, clean up as you go. If you’ve just copied files from Dropbox to Google Drive, delete the stuff you just copied from Dropbox.
6. One step at a time
The first goal when you’re organizing is consolidation. Don’t worry about organizing everything perfectly. Just get them from all the various sources into the main categories. Then celebrate!
7. Refine
Once you have everything in the big folders, it’s time to consolidate again. For example: Courses. If you have a number of courses, make a folder for each and put everything relating to that course in the folder. Inside of there should be things like: Media, Copy, Affiliates, Slide Decks, etc.
8. Stay consistent
The first time you organize everything, it’s unlikely you’ll get it perfect. For now, just maintain consistency with your system. Create a document to share among the team for how things are working in the new system and how it can be improved. I suggest creating a channel in Slack just for this. Make sure you assign someone or a committee to own this project.
9. Keep improving
You’re going to feel a massive sense of relief once everything is in this system. At the same time, you’ll gain clarity on how things could be even more clear. Take the notes the team has been giving you and implement those changes. This is where ownership comes in handy. You must make those changes as quickly as possible so as not to create confusion. Use the designated committee to accomplish this. Announce these changes and make sure everyone knows what’s about to happen to ensure a smooth transition.
The most important thing in the process is to commit to an organizational system. What platform you use is important, but secondary to how you use it. Our biggest task is consolidating all the files to one place and putting them in the new system. From there, it’s all a matter of refinement.
Shawn Lemon is a digital organizer who helps overwhelmed business leaders regain a sense of control with their technology so they can focus on what matters most.
He specializes in making sure your Apple devices are fast, organized, in-sync, and backed up.
Shawn is a proud member of the Apple Consultants Network and has worked at Apple for nearly 7 years.