Enterprise Search Sourcebook 2008

COMMENTARY built-in capacity to analyze the rich information found in their logs. Using analytics to improve search is a nobrainer. You can find out what people are actually looking for, what they’re finding (or not finding), and how often. Unfortunately, even systems with nice query and reporting interfaces often don’t link directly to the administrative panels (e.g., for hit boosting or best bets) to redress the problems you find, but arming yourself with good metrics is a useful start. Uncrowding Search Enterprise search vendors are making their default search results look like Google’s, even down to the green titles and blue hyperlinks. Why? Evidence suggests that searchers have more confidence in Google-like results pages. But enterprise search is often more complicated than public web search; sometimes employees need more bells and whistles on the results page, such as folders categories, and other data. That’s one of the reasons we use a scenario-based analysis to evaluate search technologies, and you should too. One tool does not fit all. But overall, let’s simplify the search results page. Options are one thing, but to have “facets,” “buckets,” and “folders” all in one set of results doth not make for a more usable experience. Socializing Search Many tools now allow you to rank, discuss, and blog about a search result right next to it, functionality that seeks to catch the trendy Web 2.0 wave. We can’t get too excited about this when many searchers still can’t type a simple keyword and get the results they seek. While using the so-called “wisdom of the masses” to refine relevance rankings can be helpful, it’s no replacement for cleaning up content, providing more semantically rich hooks into content through consistent metadata, and building a better index. Savvy enterprises will focus on getting these search basics right, then maybe turning their attention to social tag clouds … in 2009. Talking Search/BI Convergence In 2007 the marketplace saw substantial discussion and speculation about the “convergence” of big-time structured search, usually under the auspices of Business Intelligence (BI) tools, and big-time unstructured search (usually by traditional enterprise search products). At CMS Watch, we think the convergence remains mostly talk. Most enterprise search tools that could retrieve information from unstructured datasets could also access and index databases as well. However, vice versa was not always true: BI vendors—and their customers—aren’t as savvy with unstructured content. For now, the two software segments remain quite distinct, mostly because customers are still trying to solve basic search and BI problems before moving on to more advanced challenges. Google Continues Long March to the Enterprise We’ve done a lot of research on the Google Search Appliance, the Trojan horse of the enterprise search world. Google continues to improve its appliance—and intimidate competition—even though (as we elaborate on in our report), the appliance remains somewhat deficient as an enterprise search tool. Long-term plans for the appliance surpass simple search. Google can use it as a platform for other enterprise applications, perhaps some offered on a hosted basis. But it’s a long way from the public web to the enterprise, and customers report that once you reach the limits of the appliance, you’re pretty much stuck. Google found a great, underserved niche for simple search and has exploited it well, but don’t expect plug-and-play magic. Platforms, Products, and the Application Management Conundrum One of the great surprises—and, for many customers, disappointments—of enterprise search is how technically challenging it becomes after you get beyond the basics. And this can happen pretty quickly. Is the fundamental problem with enterprise search a lack of power or a surfeit of complexity? The marketplace doesn’t seem to be able to decide. Some vendors, such as IBM, continue to expand on their multifaceted search toolkits. Meanwhile, competitor Oracle is working to simplify its offering and conceal or abstract much of the underlying power. Neither approach is universally ideal, but it is a measure of a maturing market that vendors are tending to go one direction or the other. The good news for you, the buyer, is that you have clear choices: fulfill an immediate business need or develop long-term capacity. That debate is as old as enterprises adopting software. We make no judgments, but we point out in our report that you have solid alternatives either way. If search is a software application, then it should be managed like one. This sometimes comes as a surprise to even the most seasoned enterprise IT team who may labor under the misimpression that even a lower-end search product is “install and forget.” Even the lowest-end search platforms (even appliances like Google’s) can be configured and extended. But, of course, configurations beg management and testing themselves. In short, enterprise search has the enduring need for proper software development lifecycles and code and configuration management. As search tools get ever more powerful, the more it becomes incumbent on you to manage them with the same care that you manage your other complex, mission-critical applications. Treat search like the serious project it is before you invest in any tool. THERESA REGLI is principal at CMS Watch, a buyer-focused and vendor neutral analyst firm covering content management, enterprise search, enterprise portals, and web analytics. She is contributing analyst and editor of the Enterprise Search Report 2008, available at www.cmswatch.com, where you can also read more 2008 search trends. WWW.ENTERPRISESEARCHCENTER.COM 27 http://www.cmswatch.com http://WWW.ENTERPRISESEARCHCENTER.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Enterprise Search Sourcebook 2008

Enterprise Search Sourcebook 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Publisher’s Note Findings and Figures Why Enterprise Search Will Never Be Google-y Searching for Search Usability Your Users Are Talking to You What’s Your Search Story? Search Is Dead—Now What? Delivering on the Promise of Enterprise Search Taming Multiple Search Engines in Your Organization Enterprise Search: Trends for 2008 Enterprise Search Seen From the Inside Open Source Search: Elixir or Poison? Avoiding the Big Mistakes in Search Semantic Search Takes Root in the Enterprise E-Discovery Essentials: The Rules You Need to Know SharePoint Search: An Enterprise Contender? Integrating Security Into Your Enterprise Search Infrastructure Engineering a Better Search Infrastructure Letting End Users Ask the Questions, Stat! The Power of Knowledge Legal Research Using Enterprise Search: A Developer’s View From Treading Water to Full Steam Ahead Pulling Out All the Stops With Midas A Natural Search Solution An Incremental Approach to Improving Enterprise Search The Enterprise Search Sourcebook Showcase Directory Index to Advertisers and Companies Mentioned

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