If hybrid working is to prove itself as a feasible long-term solution, decision-makers must find a way to plug the gaps in their data management practices and ensure their information stays secure and under control, no matter how people choose to work. 

For teams that use collaboration tools, and wish to get their remote operations and data under control, here are 3 key processes to help deal with data proliferation.

Unfortunately, there is no special technology or software solution out there that can fix your data management problems. More than anything, it’s a case of committing to effective policymaking within your organisation. Then, once you have the right policies, it’s about working to ensure that those policies are firmly embedded into the fabric of your organisational culture. 

1) Governance guidelines 

The first way to do this is to establish a simple set of governance guidelines for employees to abide by. 

The word to focus on here is simple. You have to remember that the more detailed and specific your guidelines, the harder they will be to follow. This goes for communicating any rule or message. The wider you spread it, and the more you want it to be heard, the simpler it needs to be. Ironically though, keeping it simple is the difficult part. Essentially, you need to strike the balance of establishing guidelines that cover all the necessary bases, while keeping them simple enough for your staff to understand, remember, and stick to. 

So what should your governance guidelines consist of?

Firstly, you need to clarify what key terms mean, for example, "Cloud Collaboration" is a phrase that can often mean different things to people. You need to ensure that there’s no room for misinterpretation. Whether it’s a Zoom meeting, a thumbs up emoji in Slack or a quick follow-up message in a WhatsApp group. It all counts, and your staff need to know that with 100% certainty. 

Then, outline which platforms employees should use, and for what purpose. This becomes much more important for larger organisations, where Marketing will have a different set of tools, needs and objectives compared to Finance etc.