Keeping an extra piece of furniture in your office may seem unnecessary. You want to reduce clutter, and all of your files are online in the cloud. Why do you need to keep a filing cabinet?
Despite many of your personal and professional files living on your electronic devices, you’ll find that there is still a use for your filing cabinet. Not only does a filing cabinet help you store important documents, but in a digital era, it can serve as an ever-important backup in case something goes wrong with your digital storage and you’re left without a digital copy of those important records.
Filing cabinets can help with much more than providing a backup. Physical record storage is the best way to keep your home office space organized and keep record of crucially important documents. Curious about other ways that a filing cabinet can still be of use in your home office? Let’s take a look.
Paper Doesn’t Need A Login
We’ve all dealt with this one before – digital storage requires a login to access your files. While this does keep your things secure, it means that in the event of a forgotten password, files cannot be accessed easily. If these files are housed in a cloud server, a forgotten password could mean those files are lost forever if you surpass the number of tries you get to remember your precious password.
Worse yet, passwords can be hacked. Malicious actors can phish or brute force their way into your files if your password isn’t sufficiently protected.
What happens if you suddenly pass away before you can ensure all of your passwords are documented? Your family may not be able to access essential files and documents they need to handle your estate and affairs.
Even if your filing cabinet is locked and no one can access it, there are ways to contact locksmiths to get inside. Your family or co-workers could even contact the company that produced the filing cabinet for a replacement key.
In short, the ability to physically access documents without the need for a digital login provides simple and reliable access to the critical files you’re keeping. Physical storage in a safe location is still a necessity in the digital age.
Disasters Happen
Filing cabinets, though, contain fire-proofing measures that your computer doesn’t have. If your home or office catches on fire, unless every document you keep is stored in the cloud, you would lose everything on your hard drive if your computer burns.
Computer storage is only as inflammable as the plastic and metal it is constructed of. Even worse, your computer could become vulnerable to viruses like malware or spyware, putting your sensitive files at extreme risk of leaking online.
Paper Can’t Change
There is always that slim possibility that something could get changed on a digital document without your knowledge. It’s easy for someone to edit a Google Doc or an Excel sheet, and being without proof of those changes can mean disastrous effects for you.
If you worry that a document you have could have been altered digitally, having a physical copy to reference from a previous date is crucial.
However, keeping a paper copy of things like your paystubs or necessary contracts can mean that you have proof of exactly what you agreed to. You won’t be left confused or second-guessing yourself when you have a physical copy to reference.
Keeping those files on hand gives peace of mind and ensures you’re abiding by the same regulations you once had on paper in the event that a file was lost or altered in some way.
Paper Can Be A Backup
Even if you don’t keep a filing cabinet as your primary method of file keeping, a filing cabinet may allow you to keep a backup if something happens to your digital files.
Filing cabinets can also serve to store things other than files. You can use one as a makeshift safe and keep important valuables kept secure while appearing as a simple filing cabinet on the outside. This is an excellent backup in situations where you need to store important items and don’t have quick access to a safe.
Keep Your Home Office Secure
We get it — if you never planned on keeping paper files, you likely never invested in a good filing cabinet. MTT Furniture Designs can help. We offer multiple filing cabinets in different colors to not only keep your files safe and secure but to ensure that your office decor won’t clash with your documents’ safety.
All of our items ship free throughout the UK. Curious about what solution would work best for you? Reach out to us today, and we can help you find all of the furniture you need for any space, from your corporate office to your living room.