Data is the
primary commodity online. For most businesses especially those reliant on
online systems, the importance of data is even more underscored. Companies and
businesses handle a wealth of data, from organizational files and records to
sensitive data such as customer profiles and contact information. In this
modern digital age where data accessibility is an important functionality for
both customers or clients and company employees, a system for data mining
should be part of a company’s or a business’ digital infrastructure.
The
power of enterprise search capability
A popular system
for data indexing and mining is enterprise search, a tool that allows a search
to be made within an enterprise and indexes and aggregates data from a
wide-range of sources, including files, emails, the business’ own database,
intranets, and other information systems used by the enterprise or business.
Unlike the more common web search, the search function for this one is
predominantly focused on indexing and mining information from the enterprise’s
own information sources rather than documents and mentions in the Internet.
What can this mean
for businesses?
A major value
attached to enterprise search technology is the reach and coverage it provides
to a business or company online. Indexing and mining data from the enterprises’
own information sources like its intranet and databases can mean higher results
and ranking in online searches on the company or business. A client doing an
online desk research of insurance companies, for example, may easily have
access to a company’s annual reports, investment portfolios and other similar
documents.
As far as
improving a company’s MIS (management information system), enterprise search
solutions can provide a central repository of data by indexing and integrating
files saved in various databases, deleting duplicate files, and updating files
saved in several formats. This makes it easier for company employees to search
for and access files and documents, both active and archived. In a lot of ways,
it also facilitates knowledge sharing within and outside the company or
business.
Enterprise
search technology has many applications in various industries and sectors –
from businesses and corporations to the academe, government institutions, and
nonprofit organizations.
The
key features of an enterprise search solution
The choice of an
enterprise search solution is not a simple task. It is as much an investment as
it is a critical component of a company’s digital infrastructure. A report from
Google identifies seven important features that a good enterprise search
solution should offer.
1. Relevance. This pertains to how a search
solution can easily turn up the exact information that users are looking
for. Measured in terms of precision, the
enterprise search solution should yield the information within the top 3 – 10
results. However, more than precision, relevance is also evident in the way
that the search solution can yield updated content across all queries.
2. End-user
experience.
The solution should make the search as easy as possible, in turn, delivering a
satisfying experience to the user, whether it’s the company employee or the
external public. Results should be in within seconds or less. Relevant results
should be easily displayed at the top of the page so the user won’t have to
scroll down for more search results. It should also help the user make sure
that they made the right search through features like auto spell check,
suggested queries, stemming and synonyms.
3. Reach. Search results should be as
extensive as possible, covering all sources of information available. An
enterprise search solution should turn in unstructured content found on other
sources like documents, PDFs, slideshare presentations and other shared files
aside from those in typical databases. Furthermore, the solution should be able
to support the format in which the said information was created (i.e., open PDF
files or play certain audio/video formats).
4. Fresh. A smart enterprise search
solution should be able to efficiently crawl information, yielding relevant and
fresh information.
5. Access Control and Persona. By making searchable
certain company and business documents, databases and internal management
information systems, businesses and companies also expose themselves to higher
risk of infiltration and data theft. The search solution should ensure that it
yields only the documents and information that are allowed for the user identity accessing or performing search,
making sure that these information are the only ones that turn up in the search
results. That requires the search engine awareness of the person accessing the search, his role and authority within the enterprise. This is called the Persona, and the awareness of the search engine about the persona enables securing the results according to roles and authorities within the enterprise. Also, persona attributes can affect the relevance feature of the enterprise search mentioned above, so the role of the individual within the enterprise is taken into consideration while ranking search results.
6. Scalability. As a company grows and
expands, so does the data. A good enterprise search solution should consider
future expansion, both in terms of the data it handles and the human resource
needed in light of this expansion. In most cases, businesses plan for a period
of 3-5 years.
7. Total cost of
ownership. It
is bound to cost something. Companies should figure in the budget items such as
yearly software license cost, implementation cost, hardware maintenance cost,
and user training cost among others.
Besides these
basic features, it’s also good to check other key functionalities that an
enterprise search solution can offer. According to a Forrester’s report in
2011, other functionalities that a search solution may offer include mobile
support, support for social tags, and support for other operating systems.
2 comments:
Nice article. But why are you stating that enterprise search solutions make content publicly searchable?
Integration with enterprise security systems and making sure that content is only found based upon credentials is one main feature of an enterprise search implementation.
You are right Edwin, that was misstated. The statement wasn't supposed to mean this. I updated the article. Enterprise search results should be trimmed out and downsized within the boundaries of the authority of the logged on user.
Post a Comment