Poor document management could be your biggest time killer at work

In his famous book The 4 Minute Work Week, author Tim Ferris introduces readers to Pareto’s law, also known as the 80/20 rule. The idea is that you can vastly improve your quality of life by focusing your energy on the 20% of activities that produce 80% of your desired outcomes. Conversely, says Ferris, you need to identify and eliminate the 20% of activities that take up 80% of your time.

The goal is always to find and eliminate inefficiencies in order to give yourself more time to spend on high value activities.

Let’s apply this to the office for a second. How often do you leave at the end of the day with an underwhelming sense of achievement because it took too long to find what you were looking for? The frustration of having wasted time trying to find information is one I’m sure you can relate to.

If not, just ask someone in the Sales or Marketing team. I’m guessing you’ll find that people in Marketing spend a fair amount of time and energy creating brochures, data sheets, company overviews and case studies that people in Sales can never find.

The numbers are scary

Poor document management is a silent killer of business productivity. And chances are - it’s costing much more than you think. According to research, employees spend an average of 1.8 hours every day - that’s 9 hours every week - just searching for information.

Research also found that it's costing large organizations up to twice as much as they think, while small organizations often spend up to ten times as much as they think.

What is your 80/20?

This brings me back to the 80/20 question. What are you wasting 80% of your time at the office on? If searching for content is on the list, then it’s time to take action.

There’s an app for that

In this day and age there’s really no need to be wasting time searching for content or pulling it into standard documents. There literally is an app for that. Actually, there are quite a number of apps for that – so how do you choose the best one for your business?

Work out what you really need

The type of document management solution you need really depends on your business. If you’re a smaller company that uses relatively simple brochures, product overviews and case studies, then a simple cloud-based storage system is ideal. Look for something that’s intuitive and familiar with enough storage space and good security.

If your company is larger and makes use of more complex content for long pitches, proposals or RFP responses, then you’re better off with a more specialised document management solution.

Look for a solution that not only makes storing and searching for content easier, but that automates the task of building complex documents with this content. There are a number of powerful solutions on the market - lookout for ease of use and support SLAs.

Identify an Information Manager

One of the biggest problems around document management is a lack of accountability. If you really want to solve the problem and keep your content in good condition, then you need to make it part of someone’s job.

Bigger companies may have the luxury of being able to hire a dedicated information or knowledge manager, but smaller businesses can often get by with building an information management ‘task team’. The bottom line is that if no one is measured on it, no one cares about it.

Be the change you want to see

If you’ve ever tried to implement change in a business, you’ll know how difficult it can be. People don’t like to change their habits, and they probably won’t like having to spend a bit more time and energy looking after content. But as soon as they see the results – fresh, up-to-date information that is readily available and easy to find - they’ll be much more likely to get on board. Until then though, you might be on your own for a while, but just keep going!

Kiss those money-wasting habits goodbye

You’d be surprised by what a bit of planning, motivation and discipline can do for your business. Throw in the benefits of technology, and your business will soon be on the road to document nirvana.

The IDC found that the document-related time wasting could result in a loss of over 20% of your organization’s total productivity. If you have a thousand people working at your company, addressing the problem could free up enough budget to hire 200 new employees.

So, with the right mix of accountability, discipline and technology, you could save enough time and money to hire a whole new team of people to give your business a competitive edge.

By Ray Meiring, Qorus

Edited by ‘Dele Dele-Olukoju, Marketing Communication strategist and publisher of the online Marketing Communication Digest. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria. @deleolukoju +234 807 481 2389.Edited by ‘Dele Dele-Olukoju, Marketing Communication strategist and publisher of the online Marketing Communication Digest. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria. @deleolukoju +234 807 481 2389.