Outsell, Inc., Survey Shows Knowledge Workers Turning Away from the Open Web
- Survey Also Uncovers 5.4 Billion "Lost Hours" Searching for Information
Burlingame, CA. May 10, 2005
WHAT:
Imagine finding a treasure chest full of gleaming coins, but then struggling to scoop up the real gold and leave the fool's gold behind. A survey conducted by Outsell, Inc. of 2,000 knowledge workers across functions such as finance/HR/legal, information technology, sales/marketing, science/engineering, and manufacturing/purchasing finds the same phenomenon with the open Internet.
To efficiently gather information and get on with their jobs, professionals are shifting away from their Internet research methods from just four years ago, and now looking more to their peers and colleagues, alerting services and other conveniences.
Anthea Stratigos, co-founder and CEO of Outsell, co-authored the report explaining the survey results, "2001 vs. 2005: Research Study Reveals Dramatic Changes Among Information Consumers." Findings include:
Less reliance on open Web-According to the new survey, 67 percent of professionals now go to the open Web for information, versus 79 percent in 2001. Fifteen percent rely on their corporate intranets (up from 5 percent), and nine percent consult their colleagues (up from 5 percent). In addition when seeking information fewer now prefer to get it themselves (51% down from 68%) preferring to rely on regularly scheduled updates, members of their team, or their library.
Research heads in wrong direction-Both the time spent finding and analyzing/applying information are moving in the wrong direction. Knowledge workers now spend 11 hours per week searching for information, versus 8 in 2001.
In addition, the time they spend analyzing versus gathering information has flipped. Today's professionals spend most of their time (53 percent) seeking out information. Four years ago, knowledge workers were able to spend 58 percent of their time analyzing and applying what they had found. Collectively, the time spent gathering and looking for information translates to an estimated. 5.4 billion lost hours per year for US corporations.
New opportunities - The user shift creates opportunities for certain content providers given the luster of the web has worn some of its welcome. Outsell follows.
About Outsell, Inc.:
Outsell of Burlingame, CA is the leading research and advisory firm providing actionable market analytics for the information industry. Founded in 1994, Outsell helps publishers, commercial information providers, and content software technology vendors identify, maintain, and grow markets and revenue streams. Outsell also works with information management executives in top corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions to benchmark spending, optimize performance, and demonstrate best practices. Outsell invests heavily in unique information industry data assets that form the core of its high-quality, fact-based research, analysis, and recommendations for clients worldwide. For more information, see www.outsellinc.com.
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