Despite technological advances in information search tools, important documents are still hard to find at many companies.

Employees at big companies spend an average of 38 minutes (that’s right, minutes) looking for each single document on their own computers or the company’s network, according to a survey by Reccomind, an enterprise search firm.

Why so long? The main problem is a lack of tools – just 42% of the companies surveyed have an enterprise-wide search system in place. So when employees need something, they’re forced to lose less-efficient methods, like browsing through files or calling around to request a copy.” Furthermore, the survey says that “9% of employees haven’t been briefed – either by an IT manager or legal department representative – about the role email plays in lawsuits and eDiscovery events.”

The survey notes among other things that “when looking  for documents, 71% of employees trawl the corporate network / server, 60% send an email / IM requesting to have it sent and 35% simply call someone”

Information is certainly easier to come by in smaller organizations – but their employees likely still waste a good chunk of time trying to track down documents.

Tags: documents, Recommind, search