electronic files – Terrace Consulting

The business impact of the recent earthquake and aftershocks

November 28, 2016November 28, 2016 by Judy

Some interesting snippets coming out of the aftermath of the recent earthquake and aftershocks.

Forsyth Barr were caught out in Christchurch in 2011 when they couldn’t get back into their building to access paper documents that were not in electronic form. As a Forsyth Barr director said” you have to assume you will never get back in.” Forsyth Barr arranged for computers and a place for their staff to work but couldn’t replace the original documents stuck in their condemned building in Christchurch. They did however put a plan in place that worked for them this time when their Lower Hutt office was closed after the 14 November earthquake.

Some legal firms in Christchurch only had paper copies of wills and lost them in 2011. How embarrassing!

Leaving a secure day job

February 17, 2016 by Judy

Just over 14 years ago I left my secure day job with a growing consultancy firm and started Terrace Consulting Ltd. Five years before that I left my very secure public sector job as Information Services Manager (now called Chief Information Officer) to go into consultancy. What a ride.

Since 2002 I’ve undertaken a number of roles with a variety of organisations – from large public sector agencies to one person businesses – and a whole lot in between.

My focus has remained the same throughout – making information readily available to those who need it.

Electronic filing

November 23, 2015November 23, 2015 by Judy

Four years ago I wrote about the business decision you needed to make about whether to store business information in paper format or in electronic format. Or both.

Evolution of the Desk

November 15, 2015November 20, 2015 by Judy

This video was published on YouTube on Nov 18, 2014. It is a lightearted and thought provoking view of technology changes over time.

Where is the valuable intelligence in your business

August 13, 2015October 28, 2015 by Judy

Business information, whether electronic and hard copy, holds valuable intelligence about your business activities.

Losing this valuable information, or being unable to access it quickly when needed, could result in loss of contracts and lower profits.

Your business and the ‘Cloud’

July 23, 2015October 28, 2015 by Judy

You’ve heard of the ‘Cloud’ and probably wonder what it’s all about. Although at a basic level it’s really only another term for ‘Internet,’ the ‘Cloud’ is a way of storing information resources so that they can be easily accessed and shared when you’re away from the office. Another major benefit is

A structured electronic filing environment or a random Google-type search process

July 6, 2015October 28, 2015 by Judy

A structured electronic filing environment works better than having a ‘bucket’ of items that you search right through to find the item you want

What does this mean and what is the difference?

The value of document management systems

June 17, 2015September 7, 2016 by Judy

I’ve never been a great fan of electronic document management systems. I can see how they can be useful but I’ve seen a lot that, in spite of hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to install them, are not used effectively because the people who are expected to use them find them too hard.

Now there are many reasons for this and it’s not always the fault of the system itself.

Business fundamentals

May 28, 2015October 28, 2015 by Judy

Being able to find information you need when you need it is fundamental to the way you manage your business.

It doesn’t matter what your business does – whether you’re making pies, children’s’ clothes, iron gates or if you provide

Give your business a flying filing start in 2015

February 11, 2015February 13, 2016 by Judy

Have you experienced one or more of these situations?

♦ Wasted time looking for information that you have filed “somewhere”?
♦ Got frustrated when you can’t find a paper or email that you know “is there somewhere”?
♦ Had to pay tax penalties because your missed a deadline due to inefficient business processes?