Brits don’t lose it at work
26-11-2005 |
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Survey reveals British workers keep work records longer and can find them, but US counterparts take days to get the job done
15th November, 2005 – Bagshot, UK - ZyLAB, an innovative developer of Information Access Solutions, today announced the findings of a survey focusing on attitudes towards records management in the UK and the USA.
The surprise results taken at the recent AIIM European Conference and Expo show in London and the ARMA International Conference and Expo in Chicago reveal that Brits in the workplace take 10 minutes to seek out information, while counterparts in the USA take a day or even more.
While offices in the UK consider that everything from the office photocopying to SMS messages on company mobiles are records which should be kept forever, corporates in the USA retain information for just three years, highlighting the significant gulf between the speed and efficiency with which workers on both sides of the Atlantic are able to retrieve information to get the job done.
Brit bosses are less reliant on traditional methods of information gathering such as the use of administrative assistants to manually search for their documents with just 15 per cent employing staff – against 44 per cent in the USA. When asked ‘how do you store records’, Brits showed willingness to embrace sophisticated information management technology with over half of all respondents - 57% per cent - exclusively using software.
Amazingly, the response from 20 per cent of US respondents was that whatever they were looking for was ‘in the grey box in the corner’.
Dr. Johannes Scholtes, President of ZyLAB said: “It is encouraging that UK organisations have clearly made great progress in organising and retrieving their records.
“It is good to see that the majority of respondents are able to locate information within a few minutes and most having a clear idea of their records retention policy, but they should ensure they have complete transparency of audit trails for compliance.
“Significantly, with increasing flexibility in the working culture, and mobile communications British workers are leading their American counterparts and even leading developments by investing in cutting-edge information management with text messaging now playing an important role in transmitting work-related information.
“It’s becoming ever more important for organisations to implement the correct procedures regarding records and adhering to information management legislation to reflect the changing way we communicate at work, but there is still some way to go on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Respondents of the survey included representatives from Investment Companies, Law Firms, Defence and Central Government and the Metropolitan Police. The survey was also conducted in the USA through a Webinar and with attendees at the ARMA International Annual Conference and Exposition in Chicago.
The ZyLAB AIIM Survey Key Findings
The UK survey was carried out by ZyLAB, in conjunction with Sharp, with attendees of the AIIM European Conference and Expo at Hammersmith, London from 25-26 October 2005.
All respondents treat email as a record and - reflecting the growing mobility of UK’s workforce - SMS messaging is also considered a record by almost three quarters of respondents:
- "What do you consider a record?" 63 per cent agreed that an official record comes in many formats including paper, e-mail, SMS message, books, microfilm, CD, tape and so on.
- “How much time do you spend on seeking out information that is hidden in your records?” An organised 24% of respondents could find information in just a click or two, whilst the majority; 49%, said that it took them 10 minutes.
- Only 13% said that it took a day or so whilst a very small minority 3% - had a less systematic approach: “ forget it – it’s somewhere in cyberspace!”
- These findings highlighted a significantly different approach to respondents in the USA where approximately 40 per cent noted it takes a day or more to find information (US Webinar Survey) and, in the US ARMA Survey, overwhelmingly, 80 per cent noted it takes a day or more.
- "How do you currently retrieve information located within your records?" Over half of all respondents - 57% percent - exclusively use software that searches and retrieves the information, with 16% relying solely on an administrative assistant to provide the information or to search for their documents. 20% of respondents use a combination of both software and an administrative assistant, whilst the remaining 7% were not sure how to find information other than manually looking for it.
- By comparison, on average, 43% of US respondents have software that searches and retrieves this information.
- The survey found that 95% of UK respondents agree that records management is important to their organisation.
- "How do you currently store your records?" – for the majority 73% of respondents said that they used file folders in a network drive.
- "In general, how long do you retain your records?" 44% percent of respondents said ‘Forever’, which is on a par with respondents in the US – of which 50 percent said forever. Only 7% were not sure how long they retained records. For the remaining respondents, records were retained from between 3 - 7 years.
About ZyLAB
Founded in 1983, ZyLAB is the leading provider of document imaging and paper filing software that helps Global 2000 companies and governments digitally file and manage millions of pages of paper and electronic documents. ZyLAB's comprehensive investigative capabilities, with its high quality search and retrieval features supporting over 200 languages, gives users the ability to organise and easily share all information online.
ZyLAB has a wide breadth of experience and knowledge across a variety of different industries and business applications. During its 21 year history ZyLAB has completed over 7,000 installations worldwide and has over 300,000 users including:
GSK, BBC, BMW, Dell Computers, Balfour Beatty, Willmott Dixon, Metropolitan Police, SFO, Radisson Edwardian Hotels, Clinton Cards, Fraser Brown, BPE, Breeze & Wyles, Brachers, Digby Brown, Field Seymour Parkes, Banque Nationale de Paris.
ZyLAB is headquartered in Amsterdam with offices in the U.K, the U.S, Germany, Spain, France, Singapore and Australia to provide a global service to its client base.
ZyLAB was recently named to KMWorld Magazine’s “Trend Setter” list for 2005.
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