No one expected the info inquisition

So to stay on top of things, financial advisory professionals feel compelled to seek out information constantly in order to stay ahead of the curve. This means advisers feel overwhelmed. That was one of my key observations of industry professionals who took part in a recent three-day useability study here at InvestmentNews. We conducted this testing to assess how users interact with our website. The goal was to find better ways to deliver vital information to our online visitors. We're working on improvements to our site to make using it easier and more intuitive, so stay tuned. In the meantime, take a deep breath and join me in diving into data world. Advisers who took part in our study told us that they receive a torrent of information each day. They find themselves multitasking from morning to night as they juggle input from the Internet, e-mail, mobile phones, tablets and various forms of social media. While the flow is overwhelming, our volunteers agreed that it is necessary because advisers must stay connected and aware of the latest developments that affect their clients. Unfortunately, the nonstop deluge of information seems to make advisers less able to process and evaluate everything they receive, let alone form reasoned opinions. Those of us in the financial media also feel overwhelmed. My desk and those of the reporters and editors around me are piled high with newspapers, magazines and articles printed from online sources, along with well-placed Post-it notes. And then there is e-mail. If you're like me, you wonder where it all comes from (and you dread coming back to your inbox if you've been away for even a few hours). E-mails require merciless management: You read some, delete a bunch and print out others for future reference. So much for the paperless society. The Internet? It's obviously the greatest way ever invented to gather information. But today, in addition to sitting hunched over a computer screen and straining our vision, we now have the ability to access the online world (and sprain our thumbs) on a growing array of portable electronic gadgets. Cellphones, smartphones, minilaptops, iPads and other tablets — boy, do we ever love those gizmos. We have become global citizens who fire off e-mails at all hours of the day or night and expect an answer immediately, no matter where the recipient may be. Do we do this all for the sake of keeping in touch and staying informed or out of fear of missing something? If investing is about fear and greed, information these days is about fear and need. Since I fear being uninformed and need to know what's going on, I cannot recall the last time I went two consecutive days without checking e-mail or surfing the web. Does all this speed and information equate to more knowledge? Does it lead to wiser and more informed decisions? I think the answer lies not so much in acquiring more knowledge as in finding better ways to manage that knowledge. Obtaining information has never been easier, but developing the analytical skills to know which information is important — and how best to use it — has never been more difficult.