Uh Oh. I Can’t Access What I Need

When we needed to rapidly move to remote work status several months ago, for many of us, it was just a matter of working more from home than normal. We had the capability to access all or the bulk of our work files and systems remotely. For others, it was a matter of grabbing what files and equipment you thought you’d need for a few weeks and then heading home to then figure out how to: serve your customers while using your personal devices, identify ways to access the company’s network of digital and possibly some paper files, get information from colleagues also working remotely who have poor internet connectivity, while also integrating any new company equipment provided to you into your remote work worlds. In the immediacy of the need to work remotely, you made it work. However, as more and more of us are anticipating a permanency to either a completely remote or a partially remote work environment, it’s now a priority that we, as leaders, get control of where our organization’s files, equipment, and knowledge is being housed. We need to protect our company’s infrastructure to ensure continued access to it by our current team, but also for our team of the future.

It’s becoming more urgent that we get control of where our organization’s files, equipment, and knowledge is being housed

If your organization is like mine and many of my clients’, you’re not completely paperless. Like us, you may be close to being completely paperless, but you’re not. For others, you’re highly dependent upon paper and don’t have a strong digital infrastructure to store and access data to support your teams or customers. If anything has become apparent in the past several months, it’s that access to information and systems is essential.

When a senior executive recently shared with me she was aware her executive assistant was storing key organizational data on a personal flash drive, my internal alarms went off and we started to brainstorm through a series of questions:

  • How is that information accessible by anyone else?
  • Where and how is she backing up that data?
  • What happens if that drive fails?
  • What happens to that data if her assistant quits before sharing it with anyone?
  • What company equipment does her assistant have at home and what were the protocols established when company equipment was used remotely?
  • How is my client ensuring that any team members she knows are planning to retire (and those she may not know about) are transitioning their files to digital formats to ensure their legacy information and insights are not lost?
  • What cloud-based system or platform is my client putting into place to enable her team to share and access information, communicate, and be as, if not more, productive than before?

The importance of protecting and ensuring the accessibility to company data is huge and many of us hadn’t made it a priority before, but it is now. Or, it should be.

Protecting and ensuring the accessibility to company data is huge and many of us hadn’t made it a priority before, but it is now. Or, it should be.

What are you doing to ensure you’re developing a strong digital infrastructure to store and access company data to support your teams, your customers, and your business now, and into the future?

Copyright MMXX – Liz Weber, CMC, CSP – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890

Liz supports clients with strategic and succession planning, as well as leadership training and executive coaching. Learn more about Liz on LinkedIn!

Liz Weber CMC CSP

Liz Weber CMC

Liz Weber coaches, consults, and trains leadership teams. She specializes in strategic and succession planning, and leadership development.

Liz is one of fewer than 100 people in the U.S. to hold both the Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designations.

Contact Liz’s office at +1.717.597.8890 for more info on how Liz can help you, or click here to have Liz’s office contact you.

 

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