A new study released by FIND/SVP, a provider of business research, advisory, and consulting services, highlights the economic impact of ineffective and deficient research tools. According to the study, 84% of respondents feel that Web searches take longer than they should due to poor results, resulting in an estimated $31 billion in wasted time. Seventy-two percent of respondents state that they would be more efficient if better Internet search tools were available.

Other results from the survey: more than a quarter of respondents (28%) spend between 6 to 10 hours weekly researching online; 67% of those surveyed find it difficult or impossible to their job without Internet research; more than a quarter (27%) of those surveyed use the Internet to conduct research 15 hours or more per week; half of those surveyed said that their searches produce too much information and finding exactly what they need is too time-consuming; and more than half (55%) of those surveyed said that they receive search results that are unfocused and provide irrelevant information.