Study Reveals That 83% of Knowledge Workers Lose Time to Document Versioning Issues Each Day

Poor document collaboration practices are very expensive, time-consuming and the source of much frustration, according to Perforce Software, which commissioned an independent survey of business professionals. Conducted online by Harris Interactive, the survey of 1,004 knowledge workers in the United States and United Kingdom shows that document collaboration problems in the workplace are pervasive, frustrating and the cause of costly productivity issues—even when document sharing tools are in place. It also indicates that these issues have far-reaching consequences, including missed business opportunities, damaged reputations and poor impressions on colleagues and customers.

Known by Few, Felt by Most

While less than half (45 percent) of knowledge workers are familiar with the term “version issues,” the survey found that more than four in five (83 percent) lose or waste time each day from these problems.

Issues include:

-- Searching their hard drives or email inboxes for the most up-to-date or correct file (73 percent)

-- Having to wait while someone else finishes working on a document (59 percent)

-- Manually reviewing documents to sort out the changes from one or more contributors (56 percent)

-- Working on a document, only to realize after some time that it was the wrong or outdated file (47 percent)

Interestingly, of the 69 percent of knowledge workers whose companies use a document management or file sharing service, about 9 in 10 still experience document versioning issues (86 percent and 90 percent, respectively), indicating that existing solutions do little to solve these problems.

More Time-Consuming than Spam, More Frustrating than Parking Tickets

The survey found that document versioning issues are productivity killers. They combine (75 percent) to have an impact on productivity for a higher percentage of knowledge workers than:

-- Not having network access (71 percent)

-- Dealing with spam and junk mail (59 percent)

-- Leaving a mobile phone at home (34 percent)

In addition, 81 percent report having worked on the wrong version of a document or spent too much time looking for the right file. Of those, 29 percent stop working on a project altogether or leave work early when they realize all the time they’ve wasted. Other startling responses include:

-- Yell at their computers (33 percent)

-- Think about heading to the nearest bar or pub (21 percent)

-- Throw something (12 percent)

-- Banged their heads against their desks (12 percent)

 

More information on customer service and support professionals can be found at www.SupportIndustrycom