Why professionals waste up to 50% of their time searching for documents.

In our ultra-connected professional world, accessing information has become a conundrum: despite modern tools, professionals waste precious time searching for their own documents. According to IDC, a knowledge worker spends approximately 2.5 hours per day —or 30% of their workday —searching for information.

More alarming figures highlight that 54% of office professionals report spending more time searching for files than actually working . Other studies, such as Gartner's, suggest even more dramatic proportions, with up to 50% of working time lost searching for information, with an average of 18 minutes per document searched.

Concrete impact : reduced productivity, stress, frustration, errors, financial cost, not to mention loss of concentration and demotivation.

Why are these time losses so massive?

1. Information Silos: Files are scattered across cloud, email, SaaS tools, multiple integrations, and more. IDC estimates that document-related challenges account for 21.3% of overall productivity loss.

2. Limited search systems: Often basic binary or keyword searches are no longer sufficient. According to Adobe, 48% of employees struggle to find a document quickly , and 47% find online filing systems confusing or ineffective .

3. Multiplication of platforms: According to a 2025 report, 47% of professionals spend between 1 and 5 hours per day searching for specific information. On average, employees waste 59 minutes per day searching for information in various channels (cloud storage, messaging, tabs, etc.).

4. Uncertain location and versions: Between duplication, obsolete or lost files, the risk of using the wrong version or wasting hours finding it is real. PwC indicates that 7.5% of documents are lost and 3% misfiled , with an estimated cost of $120 to find a lost document .