Productivity tools don't always make life easier

While communication apps like Microsoft Teams are growing in popularity, they also present productivity pitfalls for employees who need to search across an increasing number of platforms.

New research from enterprise search specialist Sinequa finds three-quarters of Teams users like the application because it offers a quick and easy way to collaborate with colleagues.

Other benefits named include the user-friendliness of the platform (54 percent), the ability to integrate with other applications (42 percent), and the number of useful features available (36 percent).

However, as workplaces use more applications, finding information can become harder, with employees needing to search in more places to find what they are looking for. Sinequa’s research finds that the most cited drawback of communication applications at work is difficulty finding information across an increasingly-scattered landscape. Content -- from links and documents to other assets -- can be anywhere and is hard to track down, resulting in 96 percent of employees resending information they already provided. On average, employees experience a request to resend information every three working days.

Jeff Evernham, vice president, product strategy at Sinequa says:

Our research has found that, while communication applications are invaluable tools for the hybrid workplace -- enabling quick and easy collaboration between colleagues -- there are also challenges developing as employees are expected to use more and more of these applications and tools at work.

There is a growing risk that productivity is hindered rather than helped by application proliferation and the resulting information sprawl. Looking across multiple applications with different search capabilities wastes employee’s time and their productivity suffers. The best organizations are mindful of the employee experience as a whole, and integrate solutions for a more comprehensive, cohesive, and frictionless digital workplace.

Sinequa for Teams allows users of Microsoft Teams to search within and beyond Microsoft Teams using Sinequa's intelligent search capabilities to make finding the information they need easier.

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