Google and other desktop search tools are not the answer

The growth in content and content sources combined with a lack of effective search tools contribute to lower employee productivity, a new study by Nucleus Research and KnowledgeStorm finds. Two out of three employees are overwhelmed by information overload, with more than a quarter spending in excess of five hours per week searching for the information they need to do their jobs.

"While the amount of data continues to increase, it's the number of sources employees must search to find and verify information that is dragging down productivity the most," said Cheryl Gutowski, research analyst, of Nucleus Research. "The greater the number of haystacks to search and the higher the complexity, the more productive time that is lost. We found desktop search was not solving the problem, as 95 % of the people we surveyed were already using desktop search tools."

Half of all employees search more than five document repositories to find the information they need, according to the study. Many organizations have multiple content repositories, e-mail databases, records management solutions and shared folders – often as a result of mergers and acquisitions, disparate departmental initiatives and lack of internal organization. This creates multiple duplications of content. A single source of information would ease content management and boost productivity.

"This research points to the need for more effective integration of content management solutions and search platforms," said Jeff Ramminger, executive vice president, KnowledgeStorm. "Consolidation of repositories, SOA technology, and other content management technology strategies can have a dramatic impact."

Recommendations

Desktop search tools from vendors such as Google – in use by 95 percent of those surveyed – have not been effective at reducing the amount of time spent managing data. The study recommends other strategies to simplify employee access to data. They include:

• Migration of content to fewer repositories
• Enterprise indexing and search applications
• Middleware and service-oriented architecture (SOA) technology to integrate content repositories at the application layer
• Content management systems

This report and others from Nucleus can be found at NucleusResearch.com

About Nucleus Research

Nucleus Research is a global provider of IT advisory and research services that provides CFOs, CIOs and their staffs with the real-world information they need to maximize the business returns from their technology investments. For more information, visit NucleusResearch.com.

About KnowledgeStorm

KnowledgeStorm is the Internet's top-ranked search resource for technology solutions and information. Leveraging the KnowledgeStorm Network of premier partners and its extensive search expertise, KnowledgeStorm is able to reach technology buyers and deliver the information they need no matter where their search begins. KnowledgeStorm, with its network, search expertise and performance tools and services, is a powerful resource for technology vendors, providing them the most opportunities to reach buyers on the Internet and convert them into Web leads. For more information, call (877) 340-9274 or visit www.knowledgestorm.com.