KnowledgeTree Survey Discovers Why Teamwork Can Be So Painful

RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- KnowledgeTree, a leading provider of cloud-based solutions that help companies "rule their documents," today announced the results of a survey that investigated how teams work together on business processes and documents. The study of 1,400 business users across six continents discovered that the process of creating and approving team-generated content is hobbled at the vast majority of organizations.  

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The survey found that teamwork is at the heart of today's businesses, and documents are central to how teams collaborate.

• Professionals rarely work in isolation. 94% of all contracts, proposals and other business documents require teams to produce.
• Documents are repeatedly revised. 90% of documents go through at least three revisions, with back-and-forth of input between colleagues.

The collaboration process is broken, and email is the culprit.

• Collaboration is not a pleasant experience. 79% of professionals said that the process of working across teams was frustrating.
• Feedback is a key part of teamwork, but it's frustrating to manage. 59% of professionals gather input on contracts, proposals and other documents via email. 
  • The cascade of suggestions and attachments via email is why only 16% of these professionals think it is easy to gather input.
• Sharing document-based information across teams isn't easy. The ability to restrict access to just the right people and roles is difficult – in fact, more than half find controlling authorization to be a significant challenge when they share documents via email.

Collaboration is empty without process. But approval processes are inefficient.

• Email is the primary vehicle for approving documents, but it is not effective. 61% of contracts, budgets and other document approvals are done via email, but only 13% of users find the process to be efficient.
  • Why is it so frustrating? In addition to the multiple iterations, 59% of documents need to be revalidated post approval. So, filtering through old emails to find authorizations is difficult.
• Efficiency goes up drastically when email is removed from the picture. Respondents have increased productivity by 43% and saved as much as three days for the average document with a document management system.

"Document management is a challenge for all businesses. This new data reveals that email adds unnecessary obstacles that impair productivity and affect the bottom line," said Daniel Chalef, chief executive officer of KnowledgeTree. "Real-time co-authoring and collaboration tools bring a structured approach to document management that amplifies efficiency and helps companies rule their documents."

KnowledgeTree created an infographic and video to further illustrate the survey results. KnowledgeTree's cloud-based solution makes collaboration truly business-ready. It combines structured approval processes and collaborative tools built for the way businesses work. For more information and a free trial of the solution, visit www.knowledgetree.com/teams.

About KnowledgeTree
KnowledgeTree helps companies turn documents into business assets. Hundreds of global companies use KnowledgeTree to create, discover and manage the business documents they depend on every day. Our cloud-based tools are structured for business and boost collaboration, with no developers required. That means our clients save thousands of dollars per employee each year. Find out why Network World called KnowledgeTree one of the 10 SaaS companies to watch. And learn why Miramax Films, Alcatel-Lucent, Genesys, Fuji Chemical and many other global companies use KnowledgeTree to bring order to their business documents. 

KnowledgeTree is venture-backed and headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. The company can be found online at www.knowledgetree.com.

© 2012 KnowledgeTree. All other brand names are trademarks of their respective companies.

SOURCE KnowledgeTree