Why Finding Files Is So Hard and What Your Business Can Do About It
The average employee spends 1.8 hours a day searching for information. In today’s digital-first world, the efficiency of any business relies on fast, accurate access to data. However, with so many platforms and storage options, the landscape has become more complex, not less. Determining whether a key file was sent through email, stored in a Dropbox folder, saved locally, or shared over the network is only the first step of each search. Employees often lose time to locating the files and references they need to complete a task.
File finding is a common problem across nearly all industries. Fortunately, there is a solution. Copernic introduces cross-platform indexed search with advanced search filters to help employees rapidly access the files they need for each task, without getting lost in the search. Let’s talk about why finding files has become so labyrinthine and how Copernic cuts through the clutter to bring efficiency back to your workflow.
The Modern Data Dilemma
We live in a digital ecosystem, a complex network of platforms, tools, and storage locations. It has become possible to create and share files through infinite digital avenues. While this is convenient on the micro-scale, it has resulted in an explosion of digital files across all platforms including cloud, local drives, network drives, email, remote servers, networked creation tools, project spaces, and so much more.
Decentralized Data
Unfortunately, with this explosion has come decentralization. The files we use and need for work are stored in multiple locations and formats. Even within a single project between a few coworkers, a file might have been sent through email, in someone’s shared cloud storage, attached to another project file, or saved locally.
Lack of Standard Structures
Because we are sharing freely, there is also typically no single structure for naming, folder organization, and file locations to guide your search. This means the next file you need could be anywhere, named whatever the file creator thought made sense at the time, stored in nested folders that become more convoluted with every zip and share.
Remote and Hybrid Environments
The problem compounds as professionals also become more decentralized. With so many people working remote and hybrid positions from the home office, even the structures of a unified office file system no longer provide an easily searchable standard.
These factors together have created a maze-like tangle of files to navigate each time you need a specific document or detail to complete necessary tasks.
Common Causes of Poor File Findability
What makes files so hard to find? There are several factors that contribute to the time it takes to find the right files. The more findability barriers, the more time and frustration go into finding the files needed.
- Insufficient Search Tools: Operating systems, business software, and cloud platforms often have very limited search features. Often, these features are only able to match file names, may take several minutes to load results, and/or load dozens of unrelated files.
- Unorganized or Duplicate Files: When you can’t find a file by logically tracking down its location, search time multiplies by the possible locations.
- Siloed Data Across Departments and Teams: A data silo isolates files from the shared ecosystem. This can make it necessary to check each siloed location separately.
- Inconsistent Metadata: When you rely on metadata to refine your search, inconsistent file details can be a big problem.
- Poor Training or File Management Policies: A team that does not share file storage procedures will create a labyrinth of irregularly stored files.
The Real Business Impact
The endless search for files isn’t just frustrating on a personal level. The time lost to file finding can have a cumulative negative impact on a business, as well. File finding is wasted time not spent on productive tasks, resulting in project delays and an overall decrease in productivity.
Without the needed data and reference material, file finding can also delay important decision-making and the ability to deliver projects on time, which can have profound rippling outward effects.
Employees dislike file searching and having to constantly look for files in a poorly organized system increases stress while subtly reducing job satisfaction. At the same time, frustrated employees are at a higher risk of making errors and losing more files.
What Your Business Can Do About It
Constant file finding is a challenge faced by many businesses. The good news is that there are tools and techniques you can use to significantly reduce the time it takes for your team to find the files they need.
Adopt a Centralized Search Solution
The first way to introduce a solution is through a centralized search system. You need software capable of locating files in a diverse ecosystem of storage locations.
Copernic is a powerful, secure desktop and enterprise search system that can help employees find files across multiple platforms. Copernic builds an advanced index of file system data across multiple sources like email, local, network, and cloud-based platforms. This makes it possible for employees to retrieve files instantly, no matter where the file is located.
Improve File Organization Practices
It can also help to develop a consistent file organization policy for the company. Introduce consistent naming conventions and folder structures. Train your team to use standardized metadata and apply a system of tags that make files easier to find based on their project, priority, and purpose.
File organization policies will make it easier for your team to find files using logic and familiarity with the company systems. It will also provide them with the search parameters they need because they can be confident that specific files will be named and organized in a predictable way.
Promote Search Literacy
Help your team become more skilled at file searching. Train employees on advanced search techniques that can help them find specific files faster. Educate teams on the available tools, like Copernic’s stack of advanced search filters, and how to use them efficiently.
The Copernic Advantage
Copernic Desktop & Cloud and Business Server Search are not just a set of tools. They were designed with real-world workflows in mind. Copernic is equipped to solve file finding challenges in real business settings with a stack of features that work together to make files instantly more accessible.
Local and network search make it possible for employees to search files on their own computer and through networked company file storage locations. Email and cloud search access modern cloud-based workflow platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive, and collaborative platforms.
The advanced stack of search filters provides search results instantly as professionals refine their search, while Boolean filters make it possible to both exclude certain features or find files near other files.
These features together provide an intuitive solution to file searching, with time and cost savings for any team.
Master Your File System
Poor file management leads to time lost, high stress, and critical delays. With the right set of tools, you can overcome the complexities of modern file storage and give your employees back their precious time lost to searching for files. Businesses can take proactive steps to regain mastery of modern file systems with tools like Copernic.
Explore Copernic’s 30-day free trial to discover the speed and convenience of instant cross-platform file searching.