Employees in Companies with 10,000+ Workers Spend 38 Minutes Per Document Search

SAN FRANCISCO, MAY 11, 2009 – Recommind, the leader in search-powered information risk management (IRM) software, released survey results today showing that corporate data is as inaccessible to employees and risk-laden to enterprises as ever. Even with the global recession forcing enterprises to increase productivity with fewer workers, employees still spend an average of 38 minutes searching for a single document, and cannot use technology to locate internal expertise. Furthermore, in spite of a heightened risk of litigation and regulatory investigation, most enterprises aren’t more stringently enforcing, or even updating, data retention policies. Both findings illustrate a dangerous, recession-induced trend of over-reliance on outdated technology and an inability to provide workers with the most current tools available.

Enterprise data is both the lifeblood of a business as well as a critical challenge. When employees cannot access the information they need to conduct their daily tasks, the enterprise is left at a competitive disadvantage against its peers. Similarly, when enterprise data is left unmanaged it can severely damage an organization through litigation, regulatory sanction, internal theft or fraud. The recent financial crisis has exacerbated these challenges as enterprises seek to “do more with less” by foregoing critical information infrastructure investments at the exact time their shrunken employee base needs them most.

The survey asked knowledge workers from enterprises averaging 10,000+ employees to rate how prepared they felt their companies are to deal with various information-related threats. Relevant findings from the report include:

Search / Productivity

• Of the companies represented in the survey, only 42% have an enterprise search solution in place
• 73% of companies have not invested in additional search or information-related technologies since the downturn began (generally believed to be December, 2007)
• When looking for documents, 71% of employees trawl the corporate network / server, 60% send an email / IM requesting to have it sent and 35% simply call someone
• Only 9% of the companies represented in the survey have an automated system in place for locating experts
• To find experts, 71% “ask around,” 46% use the company directory, 34% use the company website / intranet and 30% actually send a company-wide email

Data Retention / eDiscovery / Employee Confidence

• 86% of employees expressed concern about how prepared their organizations are to deal with information risk 86% of respondents say that data retention polices have not been updated or modified during the recession – 87% say that polices are not being more strictly enforced
• 29% of employees haven’t been briefed – either by an IT manager or legal department representative – about the role email plays in lawsuits and eDiscovery events
• Only 19% feel their company’s data retention policies are “crucial to the business” - 52% feel they are only “somewhat important” or “a complete waste of time”

“We assumed the recession would serve as a giant wake-up call to enterprises about the need to act quickly and aggressively to minimize the threats of information risk. This survey shows that a surprisingly small number of enterprises are building the infrastructure necessary to limit exposure and provide their employees access to the resources they need when they need them,” said Craig Carpenter, VP of Marketing, Recommind. “If an enterprise can’t perform a simple function such as document retrieval, how can it produce the hundreds of megabytes or terabytes of data needed for an effective response to a regulatory investigation or eDiscovery event? Becoming an information-centric enterprise doesn’t just help minimize information risk, it helps position the company for survival during the downturn and accelerated revenue and profitability growth thereafter. Enterprises do not have the luxury of time, they need to control their data before it starts controlling them.”