Automatic Content Classification could Significantly Improve Efficiency in Your Enterprise' says New Survey from Smartlogic & MindMetre
Smartlogic has published new research together with MindMetre that reveals that a lack of automatic classification of content within enterprises means most cannot access key information assets – leading to repetition of work, poor workplace collaboration and overall enterprise inefficiency.
A new survey from Smartlogic and MindMetre Research reveals that two-thirds of organisations cannot access their information assets or find vital enterprise documents because of poor information classification or 'tagging'.
According to the recent research, more than 60% of senior managers and directors in the US and major European markets say they have great difficulty finding information within their own organisations and that the root problem appears to be poor or non-existent tagging of enterprise documents with the correct metadata. The absence of robust and cost-effective automatic content classification and categorisation systems has left many of the 2,000 firms, government organisations and non-profit enterprises covered by the study unable to quickly and accurately access vital information assets – leading to inefficient repetition of work, missed commercial opportunities through lack of information sharing, inability to monetise information and insights the organisation already owns, and an increased risk of regulatory non-compliance.
The survey suggests that much of the problem may be down to manual tagging of documents with metadata, which can be inconsistent and riddled with errors – if it has been done at all. A hefty 68% of managers and directors say their organisations still rely on manual labeling of content. And 64% believe cost – which in most cases would primarily be the overhead of effective manual tagging – is the main obstacle to efficient information retrieval and delivery within enterprises. Nevertheless, most are aware of technological solutions: 69% know of applications that enable automatic content classification - the tagging of content automatically - which would vastly reduce the cost of current manual categorisation practices while improving effectiveness.
The research, which was conducted by MindMetre and commissioned by Content Intelligence company Smartlogic, involved interviews with some 2,000 directors and senior managers from the US, UK, Germany and France, encompassing government, the non-profit sector and companies from a range of industries reflecting the business make-up those markets.
Jeremy Bentley, Chief Executive at Smartlogic, says: “This research shows that much of the work generated by most enterprises remains unlabeled and therefore invisible. The result is that a great deal of employee time is lost fruitlessly searching for information assets, many of which are never found, and the costs are huge. This and other studies have shown that this wasted labour can add up millions of dollars, pounds and euros in lost wages – equivalent to maybe 10% of the total salary bill for a large organisation. And in the end, most organisations are still failing to leverage their most valuable information assets.
“Organisations need to act now to deal with poor information performance by implementing Content Intelligence solutions that are based on automatic content classification, enabling them to organise, access and control their enterprise information. Such solutions are cost-effective and eliminate the inconstancies, mistakes and the huge manpower costs associated with manual information management. Putting an effective and consistent automatic content classification system in place that ensures quick and easy retrieval of the right documents means better access to corporate knowledge, improved risk management and compliance, superior customer relationship management, enhanced ‘findability’ for key audiences and an improved ability to monetise information.”
