Poor document management systems are fuelling employee resentment amongst UK enterprises, which is damaging productivity and potentially heightening the risk of data breaches. This is according to new research from M-Files, the intelligent information management company, which reveals that a third of office workers are ‘frustrated’ when it comes to searching for information, which is driving many to circumvent the IT department and use their own file-sharing apps.
The research, which was conducted by Dimension Research and questioned 350 office workers about their information management habits and challenges, found that there was much room for improvement in the way that organisations manage their information today.
It revealed that 31 per cent of employees find looking for documents across their company IT systems a ‘difficult’ or ‘frustrating’ experience, with 42 per cent stating that it can take as long as fifteen minutes to locate a single document or file, leading to dissatisfaction in the workplace and poor levels of productivity.
Because of these challenges, a significant proportion of respondents are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to document management. The research found that 40 per cent of employees are turning to personal file-sharing solutions, that are outside of the corporate firewall and beyond the IT department’s control, in order to do their jobs.
According to Julian Cook, VP of Global Sales at M-Files, these frustrations are unsurprising as existing methods and solutions used to manage information within the enterprise remain flawed: “As our evidence shows, historic approaches to document management are damaged and the longer businesses refuse to address mainstay issues surrounding the searching and storing of information, employees will continue to experience frustrations, which will directly impact their productivity.
“The challenge is that information is typically locked up in rigid, one-size-fits-all systems or it chaotically proliferates across multiple disconnected systems. Because of this companies are readily struggling to manage documents and other information stored across these information silos. This means employees can’t do their jobs effectively, which, in turn, is escalating their frustrations.”
Cook continued: “It might sound trivial, but if an employee spends 15 minutes a day searching for documents, which the data suggests many are doing, that would be the equivalent of more than a week’s worth of work time every single year. Understandably, this is leading to resentment amongst staff when using their employers’ document management systems. Because of this staff are turning to more user-friendly personal solutions, to share and collaborate on work files, which often sit outside the control of the IT department and, when used, can compromise the security of the business. It is clear that a rethink is needed when it comes to document management.
“The document management market is heating up, and is expected to double by 2023, according to recent research. But critically, when considering new solutions, organisations must consider the needs of employees. Where information is stored shouldn’t really matter. It just needs to be easy to find, manage and secure, but it’s surprising how many document management solutions can’t manage that. These solutions need to be flexible enough to wrap around the way that employees want to work, rather than impose a structure that gets in the way of what should be a fluid and seamless experience,” concluded Cook.
