Better Tools Mean Happier and More Productive Workers

Michael D. OstermanPrincipal Analyst, Osterman

Research, Inc.

June 4, 2015©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

About Osterman Research

• Focused on the messaging, Web and collaboration industries

• Practice areas include archiving, security, encryption, content management, etc.

• Strong emphasis on primary researchconducted with decision makers andinfluencers

• Founded in 2001

• Based near Seattle©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

What is “collaboration”?

Knowledge Workers Need to Collaborate

• The typical information worker collaborates on an average of more than three documents per day

• Assuming 20 minutes of work on each document, collaboration consumes 14% of the typical knowledge worker’s day

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

Regulated Industries

• Our survey revealed that knowledge workers in heavily regulated industries collaborate on documents more frequently than those in less heavily regulated ones

• A knowledge worker in heavily regulatedindustry collaborates on 4.0 documents per day

• In less heavily regulated industries, this figure is2.7 documents per day

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

Document Collaboration is a Problem

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

There are Various Problems

• Knowledge workers in heavily regulated industries face more document collaboration problems than their counterparts in less regulated organizations

% Who Responded “6” or “7” on a Scale of 1 (Not at All) to 7 (Significant)

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

Should your organization attempt toimprove the collaboration process?

Yes, and For Several Reasons

• This is particularly true in a robust economy

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

• Graph shows the extent of problems that organizations have in retaining and attracting knowledge workers

The Role of IT

• IT plays an important role in knowledge worker retention and motivation

• But knowledge workers also play a key role in helping to drive change within IT departments

• In 51% of the organizations we surveyed, IT plays an important or critical role in knowledge worker retention and motivation

• In another 30% of organizations, IT has some influence©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

The Benefits of Better Work Tools

When knowledge workers are given better tools, this has a significant impact on their productivity, decision-making and other key facets of their job

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

Nearly one in five knowledge workers reportthat they would be more likely to stay with

theircurrent employer if they had better tools

withwhich to do their work

The Benefits of Retaining Knowledge Workers

• Avoiding the direct costs of finding and training replacements

• New hires are naturally less productive than seasoned employees

• Departing employees result in lost social connections

• Departing employees result in a loss ofexpertise that often does not gettransferred into formalized knowledgemanagement systems

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

Replacing Employees is Expensive

• A study from Oxford Economics found that the cost of replacing a staff member is US$44,798.

• If we assume that in an organization of 500employees the annual turnover could bereduced by only 5%, the resulting annualsavings would be US$1.12 million.

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

What About SharePoint?

• SharePoint has been widely deployed

• Many organizations have not adequately allocated resources to their current SharePoint deployments

• 27% of those we surveyed agree or strongly agree that there are other document collaboration tools that would be more effective than SharePoint

• An AIIM survey of more than 400 organizations found that nearly two out of three SharePoint deployments are at least “somewhat” stalled

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

What About SharePoint? (cont’d.)

• 15% of those surveyed agree or strongly agree that SharePoint does not provide their knowledge workers with the document collaboration capabilities that they need

• 11% agree or strongly agree that SharePoint does not offer the document version control capabilities that they need

• Respondents in heavily regulated industries are more than twice as likely to report that SharePoint does not offer sufficient document version control capabilities

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

Recommendations

• Understand the critical role of document collaboration in your organization

• Appreciate the impact that good (or poor) document collaboration tools can have on your knowledge workers

• Current tools and processes are often not optimized for the way that knowledge workers want to work

• Evaluate your current collaboration toolset

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

Recommendations (cont’d.)

• SharePoint is a popular collaboration tools, but better alternatives are typically less expensive

• Pay attention to what your knowledge workers are telling you about the tools they need to perform their work effectively

• Good collaboration tools result in higher employee retention

• Understand that the “business case” for improved document collaboration tools includes much more than just their cost of acquisition

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

For More Information

©2015 Osterman Research, Inc.

Osterman Research, Inc.+1 253 630 5839+1 206 905 1010info@ostermanresearch.comwww.ostermanresearch.comostermanresearch.com/

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