search picture

Staff waste 10 per cent of salary bill finding information

Business competiveness is put at risk, says analyst Butler Group

Written by James Brown

Up to 10 per cent of total staff salary bills is being wasted on trying to find information, according to a report by analyst Butler Group.

The firm says ineffective searches are hampering business competitiveness and putting organisations at risk.

Over 50 per cent of staff costs are now allocated to employees performing so-called information work, says Butler Group analyst and report co-author, Richard Edwards.

'Employees are suffering from both information overload and information underload. As a result, the typical information worker now spends up to a quarter of his or her day searching for the right information to complete a given task,' he said.

The report, Enterprise Search and Retrieval, says an effective enterprise search program is now key to business's ability to compete with rivals and work quickly and efficiently.

Search systems allow organisations to exploit the information assets they already have, says Sue Clark, another co-author of the report.

'They also enable companies to identify opportunities, reduce risk, and garner insight,' she said.

What do you think? Email us at feedback@computing.co.uk

Further Reading:

reader comments

related articles

 

Research highlights continuing data loss fears

Deloitte report finds firms are underinvesting in security 11 Jan 2008

Retailers fail to monitor credit card data access

Many businesses carrying out card payments are unable to track who has been accessing data 01 Apr 2008

Enterprises must ditch silo computing

New flexible working requires IT managers to embrace common IP-based infrastructure 29 Apr 2008

related whitepapers

today's top stories

IT's stock is soaring at the LSE

London Stock Exchange IT chief David Lester explains to Angelica Mari how the integration of Borsa Italiana is keeping his team busy, despite the worsening economy 20 Nov 2008

Keeping IT in fashion

John Bovill has been hooked on retail since his early years as a fashion market trader. His industry knowledge is now helping him build a slick IT operation, reports Charlotte Moore 20 Nov 2008

Cutting-edge IT delivers the goods

Chief technology officer Jay Bregman explains how constant innovation is part and parcel of his strategy for delivering competitive advantage at eCourier 20 Nov 2008

Computing podcast: Europol's data sharing woes; credit card protection at Cotton Traders

The pan-European fight against organised crime is undermined by lax data sharing arrangements; and Cotton Traders enhances its credit card protection 20 Nov 2008

Keeping IT on track

Catherine Doran, winner of Computing’s IT Leader of the Year award, tells Angelica Mari of her determination to drive on with technology-led transformation at Network Rail despite uncertainty over funding 19 Nov 2008

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Advertisement

Jobs

Related jobs

Job of the week

Job alerts

Sign up here

Find your next job

IT Salary Checker

Check salary here

Advertisement

White papers

Search white papers

Top categories

VPN, Extranet and Intranet Solutions

WAN/ LAN Solutions

Network Security

Interoperability-Connectivity

Grid/ Utility Computing

Latest poll

Will attempts to rebrand IT as a "cool" choice of profession increase the number of IT graduates?

Will attempts to rebrand IT as a "cool" choice of profession increase the number of IT graduates?

Can brand building reverse a decline in IT graduate numbers?

Previous poll results

Latest audio and video articles

Video

The definitive guide to converged communications

Five key trends and five best practice tips to help you improve your corporate communications 20 Nov 2008

PodcastAudio

Computing podcast: Europol's data sharing woes; credit card protection at Cotton Traders

The pan-European fight against organised crime is undermined by lax data sharing arrangements; and Cotton Traders enhances its credit card protection 20 Nov 2008

Latest in-depth articles

StarFeatures

Retaining the stars of IT

Jim Mortleman investigates the innovative techniques IT leaders are using to hang on to their star performers 20 Nov 2008

Dave BaileyComment

Clouds darken outlook for Vista's successor

Windows 7 looks like being an improvement on Vista, but economic and environmental concerns may mean few enterprises will rush to adopt it 20 Nov 2008

Advertisement

Primary Navigation