Is Enterprise Search Mission Impossible?
November 13, 2011
Our feeling about enterprise search is that it is difficult, complicated, and nearly impossible. Apparently we are sailing this ocean alone. Emily Rae Aldridge seems to think that the folks over at Polyspot are accomplishing the mission quite effectively. Here’s what we learned: Most people have low expectations for what is considered a usable search engine. Energy and attention in development are often devoted to the “bells and whistles” when that same energy should be put into improving the basics of search itself. Lynda Moulton expounds on the topic in her blog entry, “Why Isn’t Enterprise Search Mission Critical ?”
Why isn’t ‘search’ the logical end-point in any content and information management activity? If we don’t care about being able to find valued and valuable information, why bother with any of the myriad technologies employed to capture, organize, categorize, store, and analyze content. What on earth is the point of having our knowledge workers document the results of their business, science, engineering and marketing endeavors, if we never aspire to having it retrieved, leveraged or re-purposed by others?
Hot trends such as big data analysis and business analytics are just buzzwords if not underpinned by strong search basics. In terms of software, big data analysis and business analytics are enjoying the sharpest current growth. However, are these new approaches tangential? Do they save the user time or energy?
PolySpot thinks information management should turn isolated data into shared information. Through its open search solutions, PolySpot is keeping search mission critical. From their solutions page:
“According to IDC, information system users waste 25% of their time searching for information using multiple applications and spend several hours each week recreating content which, unbeknown to them, already exists.”
In the business world, 25% of any resource is a sizeable investment. Keep search central and invest in software solutions that improve the user’s experience and efficiency.
Information management is a topic near and dear to some of the ArnoldIT members, in particular Constance Ard. She reiterates that “software alone can’t accomplish enterprise search, it requires governance, accountability, processes, and technology.” Even she agreed that Polyspot seems committed to helping organizations accomplish the mission by concentrating on those same factors in their enterprise applications.
Jasmine Ashton, November 13, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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