‘Findability’ Causing Frustration

By Greg McNevin

June 20, 2008: In a new study of 500 U.S. businesses, AIIM has found that finding information has become a difficult and time consuming task, with a lack of online search capabilities fingered as a major cause of delays.

Conducted in May, the survey found that 49 percent of respondents “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that finding the information they need to do their job is a time consuming process, while 69 percent believe that only 50 percent or less of their organisation’s information is searchable online.

As this is the “age of Google” the company asks: how is this possible?

“Findability has been a common source of frustration in the enterprise for decades,” says AIIM Vice President Carl Frappaolo. “As information has become more and more digital, from it’s creation through to management, the pain of finding enterprise information has moved from the piles of paper on the desktop and in storage cabinets, to the digital landfill of file servers, e-mail inboxes, digital desktops, and content management systems.

“Despite the advances made in search on the internet, enterprise search leaves most users frustrated,” he adds.

AIIM says that fault does not lie with technology solution providers, but rather with organisations that have failed to take a strategic approach to enterprise search. 49 percent of those surveyed admitted to having “No Formal Goal” for enterprise Findability, and a large number of participants said that when it comes to the “Criticality of Findability to their Organisation’s Business Goals and Success”, 38 percent have no idea what the importance of Findability is. This compares to a mere 10 percent who cite Findability as an imperative to their organisation.

The company says that the lack of strategic understanding, implemented plans and technological pros and cons to address Findability in the enterprise continues to cause pain in most organisations, although slow progress is being made.

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