Risks of working with untraceable documents

An overwhelming majority of professionals are dealing with document-related productivity challenges associated with the inability to locate and track documents, control versions, efficiently complete reviews and approvals, and maintain information security, according to the BPI Network.

Based on a survey of approximately 500 professionals worldwide, a new study finds 92 percent of managers and knowledge workers consider themselves to be document-dependent, including 90 percent who say they are dependent on PDF technology to create and distribute documents. Most expect their dependency to continue to increase into the future.

Top concerns

The study finds that workers are frustrated by a wide range of issues related to creating, finding, sharing, approving, and processing documents. Their top four concerns are:

• Lost time searching for documents
• Wasted time recreating lost documents
• Long waits gaining approvals on documents
• Security and privacy worries.

Three-quarters of all survey respondents say that being able to track the receipt, readership and location of documents would be valuable to their work. Top benefits, according to respondent, would be:

• Ensuring the integrity and trust of each document
• Improving conformance with policies and regulations
• Easier removal of outdated documents from circulation
• Intellectual property protection and control over who sees it.

Key findings

• 92 percent of survey respondents are document dependent, including 51 percent who are “highly dependent”
• 91 percent said the pace of document creation will either increase (58%) or stay the same (33%) within their organizations
• 83% agree that today’s “accelerated pace and connectivity of business” requires them to produce, share, manage more documents
• The most important types of documents: legal contracts/business agreements, price quotes/RFPs, ongoing business communications
• The top frustrations in dealing with documents: lost time searching for them, lost time recreating them, the risk of using the wrong version, security and privacy concerns
• Security and control of documents is a concern to 84 percent of respondents
• 77 percent of all respondents say it would be beneficial to be able to track receipt, readership and location of PDF documents
• The most beneficial features in a next-generation cloud service for PDFs would be: simplified document retrieval, simplified refresh and updating of documents in circulation, ability to easily notify recipients of document changes, the ability to track who is opening and editing a document.