Remember the days when an urgent weekend request from the boss meant having to head into the office to grab files? Or when traveling for work meant going off the grid and making the occasional collect call? Do you remember back when the greatest collaboration tool available was email?

Well, those days are over. But some companies haven’t quite gotten the memo.

How Information Gridlock Can Hold Your Business Back

Today’s top businesses are embracing mobility, cloud, big data/analytics and social enterprise networks to drive better business outcomes. This is not the future — this is the new world of work.

And yet, research from IDC commissioned by Ricoh USA, Inc., the sponsor of WorkIntelligent.ly, reveals that just 17 percent of companies are able to easily access, share and transform information throughout their organization, no matter the time or place. That means a whopping 83 percent of companies are missing out on the business benefits of information mobility.

Do any of the following scenarios sound like your business?

  • Important files and business information are stored in file cabinets (or worse, in several employees’ heads).
  • Employees have to look in multiple places to find documents they need — and sometimes aren’t able to access those documents at all.
  • It’s often difficult or impossible to communicate and collaborate with coworkers while working remotely.
  • You rely on paper when sharing documents, rather than the cloud.
  • The closest thing you have to an enterprise mobile app is a mobile email client.
  • You get a blank stare when you ask somebody about “automated workflows.”

If so, you’ll want to read on.

Become an information mobility champion

The top 17 percent of companies, who IDC calls “Champions” of information mobility, have seen serious benefits to their bottom line. And beyond that, these champions enjoy a quicker time to market, leaner business process workflows, and happier employees.

So, what does it really take to qualify as an information mobility champion in this new world of work?

It’s more than just implementing the latest, greatest technologies — though key business technologies like enterprise search, Business Process Management software, enterprise social networks, intelligent capture, and print/scan support for mobile devices tend to be essentials. Instead, it’s about becoming less dependent on paper. It’s about implementing a strategy that goes beyond individuals, teams, or departments and is synchronized across your entire business. It’s about getting the entire leadership team on the same page to improve the ways your business processes, stores and analyzes information.

Arm yourself with the right tools

In today’s fast-paced business world, even the best management teams may be mismanaging information, or missing important and often-overlooked blind spots. But you don’t have to be left behind — even if your company seems stuck in the 90s.