DOMINIC BARTON: What one not-yet-available technology would I like to see that could significantly improve worker productivity?

Predictive search comes to mind – the ability to find the most relevant information, either within an enterprise or beyond, and deliver it to people where and when they need it.

We are all drowning in data.

Knowledge workers spend about 20% of their time searching for information.

What if we created a system that was able to anticipate the information you need, proactively pull it in from your company’s databases, the implicit knowledge held by people, or the broader Internet, and deliver it to you at the time and place you needed to make a decision?

That would deliver a huge boost to productivity.

Dominic Barton is the global managing director at McKinsey & Co.