50% of technical data is "wasted words", new study reveals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Shavy Schwimmer
Date: Dec 1st, 2004 Tel: (718) 307-5767

50% OF TECHNICAL DATA IS "WASTED WORDS", NEW STUDY REVEALS

NEW YORK - A new study has found that more than 50% of data in corporate and government technical manuals and other documents is literally "wasted words". New York-based technology firm Data Conversion Laboratory, Inc., (www.dclab.com), who compiled the research, analyzed documents over a range of industries, including aerospace, pharmaceutical, and defense - and found much of the content was duplicated.

"Our research reveals that most document collections contain more than 50% redundancy," says Mark Gross, president of Data Conversion Laboratory. "This means organizations are maintaining twice as much content as they need to - at twice the expense."

Gross adds that many firms are also updating the same content multiple times: "They are recreating text that has already been written - and are paying for the privilege!"

The Data Conversion Laboratory research found a 83.1% level of redundancy in one aerospace company's maintenance manuals, and 68.3% in a pharmaceutical firm's product data.

In response to this, the firm has developed a unique software service called Harmonizer (TM), which weeds out duplicate and near duplicate data from document sets of any size.

"Harmonizer identifies unnecessary content, such as product specifications that are repeated anywhere else in the document set, and projects the potential cost savings to be had from reusing content intelligently," Gross explains. "Our service also produces files that can be loaded directly into a Content Management System (CMS) or Interactive Electronic Technical Manual (IETM), both of which are the future when it comes to corporate documentation."

Data Conversion Laboratory, whose main business is the conversion of data to XML, offers a "Content Reuse Assessment", which quickly shows companies just how much of their data is redundant and measures the return-on-investment potential they would get from implementing a content reuse strategy.

"Our new tools and services are unique," says Gross, "in that they allow you to gain accurate metrics on what has only been discussed anecdotally in the past - i.e. how money can be saved in corporate and government documentation by cutting out wasted words."

Details of Data Conversion Laboratory's Harmonizer(TM) service can be found at: www.dclab.com/harmonizer_and_content_reuse_assessment.asp

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FURTHER INFORMATION:

- DATA CONVERSION LABORATORY, INC. (http://www.dclab.com)
Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL) has over 20 years in the conversion business with over 10,000 projects completed. It wrote the chapter on legacy data conversion in the "Columbia Guide to Digital Publishing". And has clients in the DOD (Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy), aerospace, pharmaceutical, and software industries.

- DCL HARMONIZER SERVICE
www.dclab.com/harmonizer_and_content_reuse_assessment.asp

CONTACT:
Shavy Schwimmer
Tel: (718) 307-5767
E-mail: sschwimmer@dclab.com.