More than 8 in 10 workers worldwide are forced to recreate lost documents already in existence, according to the 2019 Global Intelligent Information Management (IIM) Benchmark Report today released by M-Files Corporation.

Based on a survey of more than 1,500 office workers from private and public-sector organizations across the globe, the report delivers deep insights into document and information-handling practices and challenges in the workplace.

As evidenced from multiple data points in the report, enterprises and users are still struggling with the core steps of handling documents or files:

• 83 percent of organizational staff worldwide are forced to recreate lost documents already in existence.
• Approximately half of respondents (45 percent) find searching for documents and information challenging and time consuming.
• 96 percent of all employees face some sort of difficulty when looking for the most recent version of a document or file.

The 2019 Global IIM Benchmark Report reinforces the persistent frustrations felt by employees toward information handling. Organizations must seek better, more intuitive ways for managing documents. Failure to address this could have severe consequences for an organization – from hampered productivity and staff retention, to an organization’s inability to demonstrate compliance in accordance with regulations such as GDPR when handling and protecting information.

“Information and the speed at which it flows throughout an organization is a key determinant of business success,” said Greg Milliken, senior vice president of marketing at M-Files. “The faster your staff can find and leverage information, the better your chances will be for achieving a competitive advantage.”

The Global IIM Benchmark Report also illustrates that technology adoption and challenges across geographical regions vary substantially:

Worldwide adoption of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions is still low, 24 percent on average worldwide, with Switzerland and the Nordics leading. Less than one fourth of U.S. respondents (22%) report that their organization uses an ECM solution.

4 out of 5 users worldwide need access to corporate documents on mobile devices, with demand in Sweden, UK and U.S. being above average, and Finland leading with 91 percent.

The use of personal devices and/or files sharing accounts is highest in Sweden with almost 7 in 10 office workers and lowest in Australia and New Zealand with 5 in 10.

“We see a large variety in requirements for and adoption of solutions in different locations – even in core functions for document management,” said Milliken. “Vendors with a flexible platform that also offers strong core capabilities find the most success in providing value to customers with diverse teams and locations.”

“Looking at the results, it’s clear that all organizations – regardless of sector or geographical position – are united in the challenges they face with information management practices. It must become a priority for organizations to address this,” Milliken continues. “By implementing a flexible, powerful and simple-to-use information management solution, employees will no longer need to waste precious time searching and recreating documents, enabling them to work far more productively, and add much more value to their organization.”

M-Files will publish the detailed results of the report in a series of research notes. Readers interested in the results can register for them here - 2019 Global Intelligent Information Management Benchmark Report .