Running a business means creating and regularly updating lots of documents. However, the possibility of files getting mixed up or lost in a sea of many more is often high.
Disorganized files can make finding essential documents very challenging, and thus incorporating tools like version control can make a big difference in your file organization. In simple terms, a version control solution will help your business or organization to track different drafts of a document from the beginning up until its most current iteration.
What Software Should You Use For Version Control?
There are many version control software in the market. Your decision on the best software to use for your business should be based on its ability to meet your specific business needs.
A good solution should:
- Enable multiple people to work simultaneously on one project,
- Allow one person to use various computers when working on a project,
- Integrate work done by different team members in real-time, and
- Give historical versions of your project.
If you are looking to bring some order to your business projects and are unsure what software to use for version control, don’t worry. There are plenty of options on the market, including SharePoint version control and many others, that can help you do more than just create and update your documents.
Why You Need A Version Control Software
- Traceability
A version control software business owners or managers to trace back all the changes made to a file over time. It makes it easy to track contributions made by various team players from the original copy up until the final version. On top of that, version control solutions allow each team player to understand the long-term goals of a given project while it’s still in progress.
- Adherence To Compliance
Non-compliance to government and industry regulations can be the source of unnecessary legal challenges. With version control software, there is always a detailed and timely record of all changes relating to your business, providing an excellent way of preparing your files, records, data, and documents needed for compliance.
- Enhances Collaboration
With version control, different team members can work on the same document concurrently without affecting the contribution made by another. Each team member works on an individual stream of change within the version control software known as a branch.
Once all the team members are done making contributions, the team manager may have to decide on the particular branch release version to work with and the merging level. The good thing is that the software allows developers and business owners to try out different merging options without affecting the original document.
- Accountability
Version control ensures that every change made to a file is attributed to a specific team player. This ensures that accountability is upheld. It allows all the stakeholders to see who made the changes and their effect on the document.
Additionally, version control allows team members to leave a message describing the nature and the reason for a change for better collaboration.
- Efficiency
The whole idea of automation in business is to improve efficiency. Version control promotes efficient and less tedious progression of documents making a somewhat complex process simple.
It ensures that the job is done faster, which is good for business. Additionally, it relieves your employees of the stress of dealing with disorganized files and ensuring that they focus their energy on quality. After all, a stress-free employee is a productive employee.
Bottom Line
Your company could be spending a lot of time going through hopelessly disorganized files. In business, time is money, and you could save a lot by integrating version control in your business. With a changing business environment, it would help to embrace the changes to remain relevant.
