Report: Data silos cause employees to lose 12 hours a week chasing data

Airtable’s new commissioned study by Forrester Consulting reveals that large organization business processes are more fractured than they think — leading to poor decision-making, more errors and weaker team morale and revenue.

Amid our increasingly digital world, the proliferation of enterprise software apps and tools is leaving employees overwhelmed. Airtable and Forrester’s Crisis of a Fractured Organization survey reveals that large organizations today use 367 software apps and systems on average to manage their various workflows. These varying tools create data silos that hide critical data, encourage multiple sources of truth, and make it harder for teams to find the information they need.

With all the moving workstreams, teams are feeling out of sync with each other. A majority (79%) of knowledge workers reported that teams throughout their organizations are siloed, and 68% said their work is negatively impacted because they don’t have visibility into cross-functional projects.

Critical insights hidden

Teams are making poor or slow decisions based on the limited information in front of them, unaware of critical insights hiding in different tools. Nearly half of respondents (46%) said poor business processes result in decisions taking longer and a higher risk of making wrong decisions. These fractures hurt revenue and leave employees frustrated and disengaged.

The survey uncovered that the fractures within organizations negatively affect employees’ work. Knowledge workers reported spending nearly 29% of their week (11.6 hrs) searching for the key information they need to do their work. This struggle to find the right information is the No. 1 reason employees say they’re feeling disengaged.

However, organizations understand the critical need for a future fit strategy and foster greater connectivity across data and teams. The majority (93%) of survey respondents said increasing process efficiency in their organization is a high priority; similarly, 90% noted improved collaboration as a top priority. By implementing connected tools to increase cross-functional collaboration and organizational alignment, respondents expect to save nearly 12 hours each week and will be able to devote that time to focus on their core work.

Airtable’s commissioned study by Forrester surveyed 1,022 individual contributors and decision-makers up into the C-suite in the U.S. and the UK. The study was begun in August 2022 and concluded in September.

Read the full report by Airtable and Forrester.