On average, business and IT decision makers from UK organisations waste 27% of their time at work on tasks that do not add critical value, according to new research.
This is according to Vanson Bourne research commissioned by Dropbox – “The State of Collaboration” – which revealed that monotonous admin is starving UK businesses of innovation.
The findings revealed that decision makers in the modern workplace are spending too much time on administrative tasks, which is preventing them from focusing their time on creative activities and being productive. As a result, almost two-fifths (38%) said that increasing employee productivity is a main priority for the business over the next 12 months. But in order to do this, the majority (84%) said they need the ability to meet the various collaborative working needs of different teams.
“The pace of technological change has us racing around from morning until night, working every minute and attempting to squeeze as much as we can out of a day. With concerns about a burnout epidemic on the rise, the way we work needs to change,” said Adrienne Gormley, Head of EMEA, Dropbox. “With decision makers being time poor, it is of paramount importance that organisations can reduce this waste and maximise the amount of time that their employees are allocating towards creative and business critical activities.”
Recognising the problem is a good start, with more than half (51%) believing that significant or large improvements are needed when it comes to collaborative working across teams. That’s because, for eight-in-10 (80%), the overall success of their organisation depends on them reinventing the way that teams collaborate. Despite the challenges that could arise as a result of this need for improvement, only 4% have not experienced any barriers to improving collaborative working.
Although moving towards a more collaborative working culture will not be simple, the research found that a connected workspace, which brings together people, tools, content and the conversations around them, can lay the groundwork for a collaborative culture, whilst driving the organisation forward in the process. In fact, 85% say that a connected workspace that does all of these things would improve business results and the way that their teams work.
As such, collaboration tools are among the biggest investment priorities for over a third (35%) over the next 12-24 months. And it’s money well prioritised – 83% believe that investment in a unified workspace will improve the way that employees at their organisation collaborate internally and externally.
“There are so many upsides to implementing a collaborative working culture, and the organisations who recognise this and take timely action to encourage it, will find themselves ahead of those who fail to recognise the importance,” said Adrienne Gormley, Head of EMEA, Dropbox. “But as much as the prospect of a streamlined, focused future is appealing, it is clear that businesses first need to stop, hit re-start, and work with solutions that reduce the noise, not add to it.”
Dropbox’s “The State of Collaboration” report is available for download here
Methodology
Dropbox commissioned independent market research specialist Vanson Bourne to undertake the research. A total of 2,500 business and IT decision makers were interviewed during the summer of 2019. All respondents are from organisations with 250 or more employees, and they must collaborate with at least one person on a daily basis and also use software and applications to get their work done.