In a recent survey, 95% of respondents used a laptop and over 80% used a Smartphone as their usual out-of-office, road warrior system to keep connected.
So, what about the cloud, the place where your files reside?
There’s iCloud although restrictive at the moment and Google of course as well as other specialist suppliers.
By utilising cloud technology you gain:
- more productivity
- more comfort and
- security – less chance of losing that USB Drive with all your data on it!
From a client or colleague perspective, you can cooperate, collaborate and accommodate different time zones or working hours. I know there are times where I’ve been caught short without a file to send to a client when I’ve been on the road. (Warning – if you want to use GoogleDocs to give clients a link to a file, the client needs to have a GoogleDocs account as well ).
Cloud technology lets you control the outside world and your interaction with it better than being on-demand and always available. If you manage it well enough, you can go and play in the outside world!
What’s the biggest bonus?
Productivity.
The normal working day is like a pipeline – incoming, process, outgoing. The challenge is that the tube gets clogged with inefficient processing and an endless stream of incoming!
How To Use The Cloud
As soon as stuff comes in, file it in the cloud so when you process, it’s already there and available from all devices. (Having had a failed external storage drive recently, there is an appeal to storing it on a more robust virtual server).
Examples:
- big part of overload
- rule – keep inbox empty by filtering incoming mail, eg A1 Delegate A2 QuickResponse A3 DoToday A4 DoThis week A5 DoLater, A99 Pending, FAQ Replies, Networking, Reading,Subscription,ZZZ Old Stuff Work out a filing system that nakes sense to you.
- go through your sent folder and retain what’s necessary, delete the rest.
- Documents
- Use Dropbox for filing material to access on the go eg downloaded audio, pdfs, ebooks etc Use Carbonite or similar for backups and store a backup copy on disc.
- Use Evernote – eg capture article pics to use, book project, reading, reference, travel. writing
- Articles/Blogs to read
- Google Reader – blog feeds – and use FF with ReadItLater plugin to store bookmarks
- photos – dropbox or evernote
- audio – dropbox or evernote
Just decide on a system of what generally goes where, make sure you backup your dropbox folder and have what you need at your disposal when you need it!
Check out dropbox and other providers in terms of size limits eg Dropbox standard is 2gb.