Inside Enterprise Search

Reality check

“Enterprise search – seen from the inside” is the title of an article I wrote for the Enterprise Search Sourcebook published by Information Today. Two quotes from the article:

• “You get the search you deserve”
• “Out of the 178 enterprises who participated in the survey nearly 3 out of 5 are “not really satisfied” or “not satisfied at all” with their intranet search. When asked how many people were dedicated to working on supporting and optimizing search, well over half responded “less than one person”. In addition, when asked if they looked at the search logs to better understand what users were searching for, just over 40% admitted they never did this and nearly 30 % did this only when they had time.”

Trends

The article just before mine “Enterprise Search: Trends for 2008″ is written by Theresa Regli of CMSWatch. She talks about analysing, navigating, uncrowding and socialising search, along with other insights on trends.

Do your homework

I recommend any organisation looking to purchase an enterprise search solution to first read Enterprise Search Report published by CMSWatch. (priced from 975 $US to 2925 $US depending on licence). I’ve seen so many cases where companies have created major search dilemmas by either having the wrong solution in place or by not realising what’s involved in implementing search.

The money invested in this report will be well worth it. I recommend making it required reading for IT, communication and business managers working on search. Hopefully, all three functions are involved, because search is one of those things that is everyone’s responsibility to get right.

The Enterprise Search Report should be used selectively. Here’s a suggested reading path for your search team:

Pages 1 to 83 – everyone should read

Enterprise Rends for 2008

What is Search and How Does it Work

The Business Case for Enterprise Search

Entreprise Search Requirements (this is not technical) and includes a section on “asking the right questions”

Beginning on page 84, the discussion turns to Enterprise Search Vendors, and the first few pages are helpful for everyone on the team. After that, it is more relevant to team members making the hands-on analysis.

Beginning in page 322 “Advice, Pitfalls and Best Practices”, it’s important for all the team to read.

Using a team approach with this report is a good way to get everyone on the same page, to ensure that the technical team members approach the search project with users and business in mind, and that the non-technical people learn enough about the technology to understand implications of certain choices.

Reality check soon for 2009

The Global Intranet Strategies survey – currently open if you’re interested in participating – has deepened its section on Search, and will provide data that will help us get another reality check in last 2008, early 2009.

(Get in touch if you’d like to participate)

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