In today’s highly competitive business environment, small businesses are finding it challenging to remain competitive. We believe that with the right practices and processes in place, small businesses can improve their competitiveness. For instance, regardless of their small size, small medium enterprises (SMEs) produce large amounts of data.
This data needs to be stored, secured, analysed to ensure that the business can benefit from it. after all, in today’s digital economy, data is the new oil. But if a business cannot manage its data efficiently, this data can easily turn into a liability. Imagine the costs that the business must incur to store the data and that too without realizing any benefit.
This article provides a detailed breakdown of record management tips for small businesses. Before listing these tips or best practices, it is essential to review why SMEs don’t have robust record management practices in place already.
Reasons for Poor Record Management Practices in SMEs
- Limited Resources
The topmost reason for poor or lack of record management practices in SMEs is the limited resources. Instead of focusing on records management, they prefer to allocate resources to pressing operational needs such as service delivery or product development. Unfortunately, it leaves little room for investing elsewhere.
- Lack of Awareness
Small businesses often associate such practices with large businesses. They argue that there is no need for such practices as it offers no real benefit. There is a need to educate businesses on the long-term benefits of a comprehensive records management system.
- Time Constraint
Additionally, SME owners juggle multiple responsibilities simultaneously. It prevents them from focusing on other business responsibilities, including records management. They only realise its importance once it is too late.
- Complexity
SMEs may consider records management too complex. The reason is they are unfamiliar with the concept of records management practices such as document scanning. They may not know which records to maintain, for how long, and where to store them. Instead of tackling these questions, they prefer to ignore them altogether.
- Employee Resistance
Even large organisations face this challenge. Whenever a new technology is introduced or the business wishes to change the existing way of doing things, employees resist it. The reason is that they are comfortable with the existing tools and technologies. They may fear for their jobs due to the change.
It is important to understand that the above list is not exhaustive. Depending on the industry and business type, an SME may face other challenges which are unique to it. However, with the right strategies, a business can easily overcome these challenges. Let’s review the best record management practices for SMEs.
Essential Tips for Record Management in SMEs
- Assess Your Record Management Needs
Before implementing any software, practice, or process for records management, SMEs need to first assess their requirements. The best way to do is to have an organization wide meeting. Ask all employees to contribute with suggestions. The suggestions include the type of data their department is producing, how much of it is valuable, how should they store it, analysis techniques, and retrieval practices.
At this stage, SMEs must consider any regulatory requirements. This little exercise will help SMEs understand their data more comprehensively along with the tools and practices they need to manage it. If you are stuck and don’t know what to do, it is better to engage a records management company. Using their experience, they can guide you better about records management.
- Develop a Record Management Plan
Once you note down all the requirements, it is time to develop a record management plan. This plan is the first document that will guide your record management practices. Define the retention periods for the different data sources. Additionally, define the storage method for each data type along with its disposal. Remember, secure records disposal is just as important as record storage. It is imperative that this plan meets the relevant regulatory and industry best practices.
- Organize and Categorize Your Records
After finishing the record management plan, you need to work on the data’s organization and categorization. It ensures prompt retrieval. For example, SMEs can categorise data based on data, department, or data type. Again, the categorization will depend on the organisation’s unique requirements. We recommend adding as much information as possible when categorizing the data to allow for efficient retrieval. You may use folders, tags, or metadata. There should be uniformity across the entire categorization system to avoid confusion.
- Implement Document Control Procedures
Not all employees need to have access to the central records repository. It is best only authorised individuals can create, edit, and store data. It will ensure greater security of the organisation’s data. Therefore, it is imperative that the organisation have robust control procedures which determine access permissions.
- Digitize and Back Up Your Records
While the regulator may require physical records in certain cases, it is essential that the business transition from physical records to digital formats. It saves physical storage space and costs. It even improves the retrieval times as you can easily access the relevant data using the record system.
- Ensure Security and Compliance
Digitisation increases the risk of cyberattacks. Therefore, SMEs must encrypt the data, implement two-factor authentication, and implement other best practices. Do not use outdated tools and install patches to fix vulnerabilities right away. Depending on your country or industry, data management practices may require additional measures. So, stay up-to-date with these requirements to avoid regulatory trouble.
- Train and Educate Employees
Furthermore, educate your employees on their record management responsibilities. it is imperative that you create an accountability culture when it comes to record management to promote good practices.
- Regularly Review and Update Practices
Lastly, don’t forget to review and update your record management practices. It will help you identify areas that can do with further improvements. Secondly, regularly reviewing your practices can help incorporate new practices or technologies.
Conclusion
This concludes our article on top tips for record management in small businesses. We do recognise that it is a big ask for an SME to implement such practices. However, they must understand that delaying records management can cause unwanted challenges, including regulatory action and loss of competitiveness.
