Some of you may recall an article I wrote in April, Federated search in the enterprise. That article speaks to how information is organized in a fundamentally different way in the enterprise than in the internet-at-large and how federated search vendors wanting to enter the enterprise search market need to think differently about how to craft solutions. A recent study adds a new wrinkle to providing search to the enterprise - their data is frequently not searchable.

AIIM recently published an article, Enterprise Search Frustrates and Disappoints Users. If the title weren’t depressing enough, check out the subtitle: “69% of respondents report that less than half of enterprise information is searchable online.” This article, and the associated study, is about enterprise search. What’s the relevance of the article to federated search?

Read the rest of this entry »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed!

Search industry pundit, Stephen Arnold, writes about enterprise search train wrecks in his Beyond Search blog. Arnold sees many enterprise search installations, not as train wrecks that are waiting to happen, but as those that have already happened. Federated search vendors and customers should read Arnold’s article carefully. The article leads with this bold statement:

Enterprise search may be a train wreck for more than half of the people who use today’s most popular systems. The Big Name vendors can grouse, stomp, and sneer at this assertion. Reality: Most of these systems disappoint their licensees. When a search system “goes off the rails”, the consequences can be unexpected.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed!