Hidden Costs of Information Work in the Enterprise Exposed

How do information workers spend their time, and what does this cost the enterprise? A recent IDC study confirms that email is by far the most time-consuming activity for information workers followed by searching for information. Activities that require working with others, including communicating and collaborating, or managing projects, come next followed by creating and publishing information. The costs for these activities are staggering, and this progress report shows that the number of hours spent has not improved much since IDC first started collecting this data in 2001.

Key findings of this study include:

With Web 2.0 applications creeping into the enterprise, information workers will find tools to help them accomplish their work no matter where those tools come from. IDC's research on the use and preferences for information worker productivity tools shows that newer tools, particularly instant messaging, but also social networking and blogs, were preferred over more traditional ones like email or team workspaces.

Email consumes an average of 13 hours per week per information worker and is often intimately intertwined with document workflow, sales, scheduling, and other business processes. Assuming that the average knowledge worker makes $75,000 a year, the time spent on reading and answering email costs a company $20,990 per worker per year.

More information on the contact center market can be found at http://www.crmindustry.com/