The “save” icon on your computer started out as an illustration, but is now almost completely abstract. Floppy discs barely made it into the 21st century before becoming extinct; a growing chunk of the workforce has spent their lives without ever seeing one. The “folder” icon has its origins in the 19th century in a technology that has, like the floppy disc, become completely obsolete - and yet, we’re still relying on the rules it set out. It’s as if we all decided that files could never be larger than 1.4MB because that’s when the rules were first set out.

Relying on folders, even virtual ones, is a habit we’re clinging to but simply doesn’t work any more, and it’s causing real damage to productivity, staff morale and customer relationships. As revealed in the study “Folders, Files & Failure” (February 2025), carried out by YouGov for Workiro, folder-based filing systems are totally unsuited to modern workflows, limiting access to the information that staff need to do their jobs.

A huge 65% of workers are forced to use systems that don’t integrate properly, meaning there’s no central view on key data. 43% are forced into making key business decisions based on inaccurate or outdated information because they don’t have access to, or can’t find, the latest documents. Over half can’t get things done because crucial information is lost in somebody else’s inbox or chat DM. Business workflows are built around the assumption that there’s a central filing system that everybody refers back to, but that hasn’t been the case since the last time baggy jeans were in style. 

The modern workforce is compelled to bounce between different platforms for sales, CRM and ERP, using different devices and online storage, and that’s literally incompatible with a central filing system based on the conventions of the 1950s. Instead, people end up using their email inbox as both filing system and to-do list, copy-paste between different systems rather than  and cobble together scratch spreadsheets to hold customer data that should already be in the tool they’re using right now.

That has a knock-on impact on work with colleagues - 53% of those surveyed saying they weren’t able to effectively collaborate with other teams in the business - and customers, with over a third of workers reporting that their workflows are so bad they’re destroying trust and credibility with their customers.

This is a problem that’s caused by, rather than solved by, folders and filing systems. Every business already has a filing system, and it’s not working - just ask 65% of your staff. The modern knowledge worker is labouring under a permanent and steadily increasing productivity tax, slogging through different systems and different tools in an attempt to find the information that should be right in front of them.  

The folder offers a seductive path to classifying and organising the data your business needs, but in the modern age it’s just another layer of busywork. The fundamental issue, as the YouGov data proves, is not locations in the filing system but the files themselves. Your business needs a single source of truth for each project, which each of your existing tools can access. 

This is exactly what Workiro provides. Rather than relying on a filing system, you instead need a modern document management system that maintains single files for each project, which can be accessed by all relevant users and tracked across the entire business. There are no sprawling folder trees, ever-extending filenames or conflicting versions accumulating in inboxes. Instead there’s one file, automatically imported and tagged from your email, which everybody can always refer to on whatever platform they’re using. 

Workiro’s direct integration with key ERM, CRM and communication tools means that everything is directly accessible without requiring yet another interface, and collaboration is seamless across both your business and external partners - you can track contract creation, editing, approval, and then out to the customer for one-click signing. Our existing customers say it’s had a transformational impact on their business. To find out what it can do for yours, contact one of our specialists today.