Michael Dell says that by 2020 the world will generate 35 times as much data annually as it did in 2010. So if you have 1,000 electronic documents stored in a variety of places from employees' desktops (not backed up) to external drives, they may never be found— and when they are, the company may no longer have the capability of reading the data.

Yesterday, Promotional Consultant Today tackled the issue of information management, sharing three key questions companies should ask when determining how to oversee access and storage of pertinent data. Today we share more key questions.

4. Who is responsible for filing it? One client was spending thousands of dollars annually on file storage. When they looked into the situation, they identified one big source of the problem was that multiple members of the team were filing the same information for the same project. The problem was quickly resolved by identifying a specific member of each team who would be responsible for filing the appropriate information.

Most large companies have an information systems person. While some have a person in charge of records retention, they are often brought into the picture only after the files are full or the information is no longer used on a regular basis. Small businesses often ignore the issue entirely. Why not put someone in charge of making and implementing decisions about current information? It is essential to create a system so if a person leaves suddenly the company is not left in jeopardy.

5. Who needs access to it? A major challenge in information management relates to the liability created if/when unauthorized people access private data. An advantage of an electronic filing system is the ability to determine who has access to what documents. It is unnerving to walk into offices and see paper and electronic documents accessible to people who have no reason to access them.

6. How can we find it? The three components to an effective filing system are:

File methodology — what documents are to be filed

File mechanics — how documents are filed

File maintenance — when documents are eliminated

If any of the components are weak, your filing system will be an ongoing frustration instead of the resource it can and should be.

7. How is it backed up? A survey by Adobe of more than 5,000 professionals found that 43 percent have lost important electronic documents, and 70 percent of those losses were caused by a computer or hard drive failure. Having a backup plan that is checked on a consistent basis is an important part of an information management system.

Countless companies are faced with the problem of having hundreds, or even thousands, of information files. Create a system today for smart information storage and enable employees to make good decisions about the information they receive.

Source: Barbara Hemphill is the founder of Productive Environment Institute in Raleigh, North Carolina, and author of Less Clutter More Life. As one of the country's leading organizational experts, she has helped many corporations such as Staples, Hallmark and 3M increase their productivity and efficiency.