Poor Data Sharing, Outdated IT Leads to Costly ‘Digital Downtime’

The majority of executives encounter frustrations with their organization’s technologies, primarily because they waste too much time attempting to track down and share digital information, according to a recent survey from PointSource. The survey findings reveal that, on average, these inefficiencies cost companies more than $7,500 a year per employee. Infighting between departments over tech budgeting and resources—in addition to outdated IT resources—creates issues as well. With emerging tech accounting for a significant share of IT spending, business and IT leaders are under pressure to resolve these problems. More than 600 senior-level decision makers took part in the research. The following are highlights from the survey, with charts provided courtesy of PointSource.

PointSource reports that 57 percent of survey respondents are unsatisfied with one or more of the technologies that their organization relies upon. When asked to list obstacles impacting the deployment of tech, 90 percent said they waste too much time trying to track down and share digital information internally.

Seven of ten respondents said they waste at least a half hour every day trying to track down or share digital information with others in their organization. Nearly one-quarter waste more than an hour of their day doing this.

On average, companies waste nearly $7,740 a year per employee due to bottlenecks encountered while attempting to track down or share digital information. The utilities industry wastes the most time, at an average of nearly $10,330 a year per employee.

Three of five respondents said conflicts between departments over budgeting and resource allocations create tech hurdles. In addition, 45 percent said they encounter these hurdles because their company’s digital footprint is outdated compared to competitors.

One-quarter of respondents said their CEO is most responsible for tech purchase decisions at their organization, and 21 percent said senior-level decision makers do. Only 10 percent said the CIO makes these decisions and just 11 percent said the CTO does.

When asked what motivates tech purchases, respondents said company interests drive one-half of their decisions, with departmental interests accounting for 26 percent. They admitted, however, that self-interests drive 24 percent of their decisions.

Nearly three-quarters of organizations are currently pursuing voice-activated tech and 55 percent are prepared to effectively use this technology internally. In addition, 64 percent are currently pursuing blockchain, and 46 percent are prepared to effectively deploy it internally.

Two-thirds of companies are currently pursuing artificial intelligence (AI), and 47 percent are prepared to effectively use this technology effectively. Nearly three of five are currently pursuing facial-recognition systems while 41 percent are prepared to effectively deploy it internally.

Among tech departments exploring these technologies, 35 percent plan to allocate more than one-quarter of their budget to voice-activated technology and 31 percent plan to devote that much to facial-recognition technologies. Three of 10 plan to allocate one quarter of their budget to blockchain and 28 percent plan to do so for AI.