Finding Information in the Workplace

Why did we do the research in the first place? 2

Companies waste and average of $2000 per employee per year on inefficiency. - Forrester 3

Over 50% of staff costs related to information work and retrieval. - Bulter Group 4

Time wasted searching for information can cost up to 10% of an employees’ salary. - Bulter Group 5

One of our client was losing $2,00,000,000 per year in wasted search and information retrieval efforts. 6

2,000,000,000 7

What methods were used? 8

We studied employees in Financial, Pharma, and Technology companies 9

Web surveys, phone interviews, and web traffic analysis 10

70 Enthnographic-based contextual interviews 11

Improve efficiency and make a dent in that $2,000,000,000 13

Help employees find the right information faster 14

Increase adoption of search on the intranet from 30% to 70% 15

Sounds pretty easy. What’s the problem? 16

Companies grow over time 17

As they grow, they become siloed 23

And those silos grow 26

And they often become decentralized 29

This effects their ability to find and share information effectively 32

They start creating documents and information 35

XML SWF CSS DOC TXT

And more documents... 37

XML SWF CSS DOC TXT XML SWF CSS DOC TXT XML SWF CSS DOC TXT XML SWF CSS DOC TXT XML SWF CSS DOC TXT XML SWF CSS DOC TXT XML SWF CSS DOC TXT XML SWF CSS DOC TXT

And finding the one right document in 1,000,000,000 is difficult, if not impossible 39

This often results in duplicated efforts and documents 40

How can we reduce duplication and help people find the right information? 43

What about an intranet and great search technology? 44

Search has failed so often in the past it makes people skeptical about future use. 45

Search can’t surface what it can’t find. 46

You don’t need a new search technology. You need a new search system, which often means redesigning the results themselves. 47

Documents aren’t real-time, or even just-in-time. They’re just recent. 48

Can’t they just bookmark stuff? 49

I need a way to search my bookmarks.” 51

How do people find information? 52

5 The Major Personas 53

The Hunter Gatherer 54

Do Te ma in ch no Kn o lo gy wle Kn dg ow e le Ex dg pe e In rie te nc e rn al Re se a 1 2 3 4 5 In rch T tra ne ool tS s ea rc Co m m Go h un og ity le Pa ge s Bl og s IM Em ai l Sh Ph o ar ed ne Dr ive s Co nf id en ce 1 2 3 4 5 & T Pr od rust uc tiv ity Co m m Re u so Th nit ur y e ce M Sou an ag rce em en t

The Worker Bee 56

Do Te ma in ch no Kn o lo gy wle Kn dg ow e le Ex dge pe rie In te nc e rn al Re se a 1 2 3 4 5 In rch T tra ne ool tS s ea rc Co m m Go h un og ity le Pa ge s Bl og s IM Em ai l Sh Ph on ar e ed Dr ive s Co nf id en ce 1 2 3 4 5 & T Pr od rust uc tiv ity Co m m Re u so Th nit ur y e ce M Sou an ag rce em en t

The Hive Tender 58

The Librarian 60

Do Te ma in ch no Kn o lo gy wle K n dg ow e le Ex dge pe rie In te nc e rn al Re se a 1 2 3 4 5 In rch T tra ne ool tS s ea rc Co m m Go h un og ity le Pa ge s Bl og s IM Em ai l Sh Ph o ar ed ne Dr ive s Co nf id en ce 1 2 3 4 5 & T Pr od rust uc tiv ity Co m m Re u so Th nit ur y e ce M Sou an ag rce em en t

The Supporter 62

What does all this mean? 64

! The goal of 70% adoption of search was a bad goal. 65

! People want to get closer to the source. Help them. 66

How do I know which one is the right one?” 67

! Resident experts happen. Identify, acknowledge, and empower them. 68

! Don’t design based on departmental silos. Take a goal-based activity-centered design approach. 70

! You give them tools. Help them use the ones that work best for them. 71

! Department pages are best for evergreen content. Don’t try and replace them with blogs. 72

! Blogs are better for real-time and just-in-time content. Use it to your advantage. 73

! Communities and social networks will happen. Use them wisely. 74

! The collective knowledge of the masses is more powerful than any one expert. 76

! Let them tag. Help them help you. And help others. 77

! Help them make recommendations to others. 79

! Let them build communities. 82

! Identify experts and empower them to help. 84

! Web 2.0 isn’t just for the Web. It’s a great way to find information in the workplace. 86

Finding Information in the Workplace

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Notes on slide 1

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