As a small business owner, there's one thing you can be guaranteed to make. You'd like that thing to be money, certainly, but that's not what I'm talking about today.
The one thing you can be sure to generate is information. It's the lifeblood of your business and comes in many forms - documents, e-mails, accounting records, photos and other media. In fact, it's so easy to generate information that you might find yourself getting a little overwhelmed when you come to that fateful day finding yourself asking, "where did I put that file?"
It's a common situation we've all faced but with so much information at our fingertips, it can be difficult to find what the information we're looking for when we want it.
Another dilemma... let's say your business grows and you now need to exchange or share information with others - perhaps employees or with partners, suppliers and customers. How on earth do we figure out how to do this, in a way where we can manage who gets to see what information. After all, you probably don't want your staff looking through the company accounts, or digging into your company's plans for the next big idea.
The solution I've used is to spend some time implementing a Content Management System (CMS). It's a place where I can store my information; where I can search to find what I want; and where I can control who sees what. It can get so fancy as to help me automate common tasks, like sending documents out for approval or review. But one of the best things about the system I have, is that I can reach my content wherever I am: at the office, on my iPad, at a client's site or via my mobile phone.
I'm not going to tell you which the best content management system is--because quite frankly there are many to choose from and different people have different requirements or features they feel are important. The system I use is called Alfresco, and I use it to manage all my company's important information. It means I have one place to go, one place within which to search, and most critically, one thing to backup!
The investment I've made in getting my CMS set-up has been extremely worthwhile. It saves me time every day and allows me to quickly find what I need, share what I want and protect what I have to.
If you're interested in a CMS for your business, I'd love to talk to you and offer some pointers. After all, information is what I'm all about.
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