More than four in five or 82% of employees say productivity suffers because of poor information management. This should come as no surprise considering the amount of data which is being generated by companies, employees and consumers in today’s digital ecosystem.
According to the 2019 Global Intelligent Information Management Benchmark Report from M-Files, companies will suffer from less than optimal productivity if they don’t address information management issues. And this goes across the board, affecting small and large organizations alike.
While the impact may not be on the same scale, the integration of digital technology by small businesses means their productivity will also suffer. It is critically important for businesses to effectively manage the information they have.
In the press release, Greg Milliken, senior vice president of marketing at M-Files, talked about the importance of this very issue. Milliken said no matter the size of an organization or where they are in their transition to a digital workplace, information management practices must be addressed.
This is because the amount of information being generated is growing at an incredible pace. Milliken added organizations have to, “… adopt intelligent information management solutions that dramatically change the way they manage and process information, enabling workers to focus on adding more value to the organization.”
The Survey
In order to understand the document and information handling practices and challenges in the workplace, 1,500 office workers from private and public sector organizations were surveyed.
The polling was carried out in 2018 by independent market research firm Vanson Bourne in organizations ranging from small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) to large enterprises across a wide range of industries.
Organizations in nine countries took part – the U.S., Australia, Austria, Finland, France, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Impact of Poor Information Management
The reasons 82% of the respondents said their productivity is hurt by poor information management is because they have to navigate different systems and locations to find what they need.
If a company doesn’t have an integrated system to store all of its data, it is a huge drain in its resources, both capital, and human.
This is why 91% of the respondents said their job would be much easier if they didn’t have to worry about where the information resides. If it is in one place and everyone knows where it is, problem solved.
Some of the other barriers which affected the productivity and effectiveness of employees include improper or incorrect labeling of documents (42%).
A further breakdown of the data in the survey reveals 41% stated the information they were looking for was stored in the incorrect folder or system. This inefficiency was further exacerbated because 29% admitted the information was misplaced or lost.
Data Points From The Survey
- 86% experience challenges when it comes to searching for information they need to do their job
- 65% experience challenges in reviewing, approving and signing documents
- 74% are not able to sign company documents on a mobile device when they need to
- 64% find it challenging and time-consuming to find the documents they need on a mobile device
- 88% said a reliable search tool from a single place would be beneficial no matter where the data is stored
- 82% reported they would like an automated system for naming and tagging a document. The same amount also said it would be a challenge to name or tag a document so it can be found easily.
Conclusion
One of the clear findings from the survey is many businesses still store their information manually. They are using outdated structures in different and unintegrated systems.
With all the information being generated, this is highly inefficient across the board.
A modern intelligent information management system uses technology to make sense of the data in the context of the search parameter and makes it available to company staff. Therefore organizing and finding data which is relevant becomes much easier and less complicated.
The result is more time working on a project instead of wasting it.
Image: Depositphotos.com