UK’s inefficient web searches waste £6.2bn worth of time

Searching for information on the internet costs the UK economy the equivalent of about £6.2bn in time, according to a study by enterprise search specialist Simplexo.

The research report added that the complexity of information in corporate IT systems and inefficient search capabilities meant that much of that time was wasted.

About 19% of the respondents said it took them between two and three days to search for relevant information, and more than 24% said it took over a day.

More than a third of the respondents (34%) could not find all the data they wanted from systems such as CRM, email and accounting programs. Over 50% said they had to conduct detailed searches several times a day, and another 39% said they did so more than 10 times a week.

The study also revealed that 26% still resorted to their IT desk for help in search, and 40% could undertake only one search at a time.

Simplexo chief executive Alistair Handyside said: “The cost of working with inadequate information is one of the most pressing threats to any competitive business.”

He added that the solution was not necessarily a complicated business intelligence system, but a simple device that gave faster return on investment.