One of the biggest challenges a growing business faces is file storage. When you’re just starting out, a single filing cabinet might seem like plenty, but it doesn’t take long before you start running out of room. The other problem is the need to pull files and refile them later. Each time an original document is removed from the filing cabinet, it’s unavailable to other employees until it’s returned. There’s also the additional problem of documents being filed or re-filed incorrectly.
Today’s office has a few things in common with the office of yesterday: There’s still the expectation of taking care of your clients, and your survival depends on your ability to address their needs more effectively than your competition, more quickly, and at a lower cost. The big difference is that now you have more competition than ever, and you have to find innovative ways to maintain your competitive edge.
If your business is growing, it’s inevitable you’ll experience growing pains. No matter how modest or meteoric your expansion might be, an office that is bogging down under too much work, combined with too little capacity is destined for trouble.
Change is tough, especially when you’re considering changing a fundamental way businesses have operated since business came into existence. But humanity has made many changes and come through them better than before. Just like the wheel or the discovery of fire revolutionized how societies function, the binary code that made computers possible has had a substantial impact on business.
In order to create the office of the future, you have to be prepared to embrace both tradition and innovation. That means hanging onto the things that work, but being on the lookout for any processes or procedures that can be performed more efficiently.