Organizations capture huge amounts of information every day. Customer information, transaction information, employee information, project information, compliance information – it’s all captured one way or another. It’s there if you need it after all, isn’t it? Many organizations find that they are not able to make use of the data they have collected over the years.
The problem is not that there is not data. The problem is that the data is in a format, in a system or in a location that makes it effectively inaccessible when it is needed. Data is trapped in old spreadsheets on someone’s computer, in email inboxes in scattered email attachments, in systems that don’t interact with each other, and in filing cabinets that have not been organized for years. Having the data is a far cry from being able to use the data.
Information Scattering
Most organizations don’t actively set out to develop disorganized information “systems.” It happens over time as the organization itself matures. One team sets up a spreadsheet to track customer interactions. Another team implements a software solution just for themselves. A third team uses a shared folder and develops their own folder structure. Each of these makes sense at the time but when combined becomes an information management system that does not enable anyone to get a holistic view.
The disorganization has daily consequences for everyone involved. People have to hunt for information that they know they have somewhere. Questions that could be answered in seconds take hours to resolve while people dig around in different systems for the information they need. Reports that should be generated in minutes take hours of manual intervention while people prepare and align information from different sources. The information is there, but it’s too costly to access.
It only gets worse over time. With every change in personnel, the organizational memory of where specific information is stored leaves the organization. Naming conventions that made sense to the person who set it up is no longer meaningful to anyone else. Systems that were carefully set up years ago continue to run while no one remembers what they do and how information can be extracted from them.
When Collection Outstrips Organization
Organizations are often very good at collecting information but not very good at organizing it once it has been collected. With each interaction, transaction, or event, another piece of disorganized and unprocessed information gets added to the pile that needs to be organized. When people just dump information into folders (physical and electronic) it creates a mountain of unstructured information that begs to be understood.
Educational institutions are one of the most challenged organizations when it comes to this issue. They need to store application forms, student records, assessment results, attendance records, legislative compliance records, financial records, and the list goes on. When this information is stored in different systems (registrations here, academic records there, financial records all over the place) compiling even a complete record of one student becomes a monumental task.
Training providers that operate under government legislation experience this issue at the worst possible times: during audits when they need to find specific information in no time at all. For instance, organizations that have invested in effective rto student management systems have no issues with such audits. The information they need is all in one system, well organized, and ready to be retrieved. Organizations that still use disparate systems have a tough time providing auditors with the information they need within the stipulated timeframes.
The Cost of Searching For Information
The time people spend hunting for information presents a hidden cost that organizations need to consider. If the employees in an organization spend only 30 minutes a day looking for information (most spend far more), that amounts to 2.5 hours a week per employee; over 100 hours a year per employee. Multiply that by the number of employees in an organization or even just one department, and you can imagine the loss of productivity.
The cost of searching for information is not limited to the search itself. Each search is also accompanied by interruptions as people need to ask other people where they can find specific pieces of information. Decisions take longer to make when people need specific information but cannot access it easily. Meaningful analysis is delayed because the data cannot be compiled into useful datasets within a reasonable timeframe and because people can no longer justify the effort involved in obtaining the necessary information.
Even more problematic is the frustration involved in these searches. People know that the information is there somewhere and that it is their job to find it. When they cannot find it, they feel ineffective and inefficient – even though the issue lies with the organization’s systems (or lack thereof).
Format Problems
Even when people are able to find the information they need, they may still not be able to retrieve useful insights because of format issues. Information sits in old software the organization no longer uses but has never migrated away from. Information is stored in PDF documents where specific text cannot be extracted and searched. Spreadsheets contain erratic data patterns that cannot be compiled into useful datasets. Handwritten notes were scanned but never subjected to OCR processing.
The organization has the information, but format problems prevent them from doing anything useful with it. Issues with the format render it incapable of analysis, reporting, and compiling into usable datasets. Converting outdated formats into usable formats costs time and effort that the organization may not realistically have.
Negative Effects
There are real consequences that organizations face when they can’t easily access their own information. Companies that can’t compile information for regulatory compliance reports face fines for lack of compliance. Businesses that can’t analyze their own data miss opportunities and make decisions that are not informed by complete analyses of the available data. Teams that can’t retrieve historical data for specific projects find themselves in situations where mistakes could have been avoided.
These negative outcomes also have an impact on clients and customers. When service teams can’t retrieve client interaction history promptly, interactions become impersonal and inconsistent. When fulfilling client requests involves retrieving information from multiple sources, service teams cannot respond to requests timeously. The organization’s inability to make use of their own data is apparent even to those they are meant to serve.
Making Information Findable
Solving this problem requires an investment in thinking about how the organization captures information instead of capturing it wherever and whenever necessary. The organization needs to make decisions around a few important questions: What information does the organization want to capture? Where should this information be stored? Who needs access to what? How should different systems interact with each other?
These are not software-related questions; these are design questions. The answers require investment in designing an environment where all the information people need access to becomes findable, usable, and where compiling does not become an effort in futility.
Organizations who tackle these issues will find they had most of the answers they need to operate optimally already at their disposal; they just couldn’t get to it! Gaining insight from the information they already have often provides more value than capturing new sources of data.
