Poor Data Management Causes High Costs

For companies, accessing data is no longer a challenge. Filtering out relevant information from the mass of data, on the other hand, is complex. And it is data management that is fraught with cost traps. If the right information is not available at the right time, this affects employee productivity and causes additional work. What are the reasons for poor data management?

Time wasted due to long searches

Nearly two hours a day is wasted by the average employee searching and gathering information because the data in their organization is disorganized. Traditional folder-based storage systems, in particular, can lead to a lot of wasted time because employees who have not created the hierarchy of folders and subfolders can find it very difficult to understand the organization and find the right files. Often employees spend more time searching for information than doing actual work. The wasted time and lost productivity add up to huge costs.

Missing information costs time and money

If employees can’t find the information they need, they have to search for it until they can complete their task. The problem with this is that often much of the company’s knowledge is not centrally searchable. This means that most employees spend more time recovering existing knowledge than capturing new knowledge. As a result, expensive production time is lost.

Lost revenue due to missed sales opportunities

If customer information is not evaluated, companies will not know anything about their needs. Poor data management often leaves employees without access to important information such as research results, user feedback and customer requirements. Companies then cannot optimize their products based on this information. Result: missed sales opportunities and the loss of existing customers have a negative impact on the company’s overall growth.

Missing data leads to wrong decisions

Both employees and higher levels of the business make decisions based on information. If data is missing or incomplete, it directly impacts the quality and future of the business. Thus, poorly managed knowledge and inadequate data quality impede long- and short-term business decisions.

One solution is KnowKnow on which data from various sources can be centrally collected and stored to facilitate the continuous exchange of information within the company. Some have unified search capabilities that allow users to search across all data sources, avoiding cost traps. “Every company has a valuable knowledge base that can contribute significantly to business success – at least if employees have access to it at all times,” says Sridhar Iyengar, managing director of Zoho Europe. “In order not to let this potential go unused, knowledge management tools are indispensable.”