Enterprise Search Sourcebook 2008

COMMENTARY out-of-control intranet. With luck and strategy, this risk can be used to provide proof that the intranet needs improvement to become an essential part of how employees work. An intranet manager describes an ironically negative impact of implementing a powerful search tool: “The old system had a search that did not work. It returned nothing. Our new one works very well, but now brings back every little thing, resulting in a mass of results to trawl through. [I’m] not sure which [one] the users get more frustrated with! Once further search optimization has occurred, then it should become a really powerful tool.” Another manager described turning this situation into an opportunity to redefine the intranet strategy and conduct a massive cleanup operation with full management support: “Implementing a powerful search engine in our Intranet revealed old, obsolete, duplicate content and woke up a reaction from senior management to clean documents and the portals leading to them. This was a good opportunity to improve the Intranet global strategy.” of its success is due to the fact that it works a lot like ‘real Google’ and this imparts a halo effect, because it’s a tool users are familiar with and trust.” Search Teaches When asked what solutions are envisaged to improve search performance, the majority realize that the problem will not be solved by buying a new search tool. Sixty percent plan to make metadata mandatory in the content management system, 50% plan to improve navigation, and 36% plan to change vendors. (Multiple answers were possible on this question.) Firsthand experiences show that both content management systems and search engines require greater discipline: “The new search tool has helped us to be more efficient in web writing, more scrupulous in writing understandable titles and relevant key words.” Another says: “Moving to a content management system for both intranet and internet appears to be the best approach to having all documents and data tagged for retrieval.” Search Is Strategic As mentioned earlier, search logs are not studied often enough. Those who take the time to do so consistently can learn what content is missing on the intranet, as well as what types of things people are looking for that may reflect new needs or trends within the enterprise. The search logs can be used as early warnings for content that should be developed. One manager reports: “The most [frequent] ‘error’ which is reported to us by common users is that they are trying to find something that is not on the Intranet.” Another says: “Analyzing search terms can be a great way to figure out what people are looking for on your portal, and can be used to support an argument for a new approach or a slightly different direction with content.” A final suggestion from an intranet manager: “Be sure content exists. We have learned that some of the content searches which associates were [searching] for is not available on the current intranet. We add a field and link to our current intranet search and [it] states: ‘Didn’t find what you were looking for? Click here, to help improve the search engine by telling us what you were hoping to find.’ Implementing this has help our department build content and improve the search.” And, one might add, improve overall intranet relevance. Stay tuned for the 2008 Global Intranet Strategies Study to find out how much progress will be made and what new challenges will be faced for those deploying search inside the enterprise. The Whole-Enterprise Viewpoint Implementing enterprise search is exactly that: an enterprisewide operation. It is a strategic activity, not an IT-limited operation. Business and functions must get involved; there is no other way to ensure that best bets, accurate metadata, related links on the search results page, and other helpful functions and features are effective. The intranet team needs to ensure that the business/IT collaboration is coordinated. One survey participant described what happened when IT worked ad hoc with whatever business managers took the initiative to come to see them: “Unfortunately, what we seem to get is a mismanaged muddled mess that doesn’t work because the IT team tries to fix the search engine piecemeal from business people who make specific requests that may or may not make sense from an enterprise perspective, but makes those specific business people happy.” Changing User Expectations People are getting used to doing fast, effective searches online. They have been “spoiled” and now expect the same inside the enterprise. One participant summed it up: “Users tell us ‘make it work like Google.’ The bar has been raised.” The survey showed that the enterprise search experience for most intranet users is still light-years away from being full and fun. The search results pages are still very basic and leave a lot to be desired. Out of 137 intranets, only 65% let users control the display of search results by date, relevance, and other criteria; 34% offer best bets; 26% offer content clusters and autocategorization; and 18% display news items related to the query words on the search results page. One organization in the survey (and probably others) has decided the Google halo will make users feel better: “We implemented Google enterprise. We’re convinced part JANE MCCONNELL (jane@netjmc.com) is an intranet and portal strategy specialist. She founded NetStrategy/JMC in 2001 and works primarily with companies and organizations with complex intranets and challenges. She initiated the Annual Global Intranet Strategies Survey in 2006 and published the 2007 results in the form of two reports that can be purchased: “Global Intranet Trends” and “Global Intranet Analysis.” WWW.ENTERPRISESEARCHCENTER.COM 29 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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