Adding, the "modern" way to store and find files in cloud storage is using "metadata". And with metadata, gone is the need to do the old school file cabinet approach to storing files..by having folders within folders within folders within folders within....
I think this is a harder job than you make it sound. Businesses structured the way they store data the way they did because that was "the way" for so long. So not only do they have to change the way they think about and store data, but they have to deal with mountains of historical data that has been done "the old way".
I have an accountant client that is illustrative. They have about 10 employees, and they have a very regimented way to name and store files - the "old" way, of course, because they have been in business for 40 years. So they have maybe 800 active clients, and their folders look like this:
G:\Client Drive
Within that, Individual folders, "A" through "Z"
Within each letter folder, folders named with a 6-digit client code, for ex ABB001, ACD002, ADHJ003, etc. These names are fixed using an algorithm they have been using since day 1. When they get a new client, the "code" for that client is determined and kept forever.
Within each Client Code directory, there are "Year" folder, representing each year's work. 2021, 2020,. 2019, etc. They keep 4 years in the main directory and archive everything older to "lukewarm" storage. Still onsite and available, just not in their main data store.
Within each "Year" folder, are the files for each year's work - again, the names are regimented, so they are always the same. For ex: DataRequest.doc, Census.xls, ProcessingNotes.doc, draftreport.doc, Reviewernotes.doc, finalreport.doc. There is also a folder named "supporting data" containing everything the client sends them in response to their data request. Most of this stuff is pdfs scanned from their copier directly into the appropriate client folder.
Because of the duplicate names, it's impossible to get rid of the folder structure. For 800 clients, there are 800 "finalreport.doc" files every year. Also, because they've been doing it this way for so long, they are not exactly receptive to change. Further, the owner is in his late 60s, and the heir-apparent son is only about half-transitioned to the big chair. IMO, the old guy is going to have to die before the transition would be complete.
They've got around 6TB of data in the active folders, 5TB in the lukewarm archives. I'm not sure how much they have in the older cold files, but they do get rid of the old stuff in an annual purge project. A client like this won't be a good candidate unless there is a sea change in the way they operate, which I just don't see on the horizon. In my experience, a lot of my SMB client are like this and the thought of even bringing up a potential cloud migration makes me queasy. haha.
