Does Your Company Have an Enterprise Search Problem?

By Stephen Arnold at 2005-03-09 00:00:00 |

You may sense that your firm has an Enterprise Search problem, but how can you be sure? Using the checklist below, click each box that represents a symptom your enterprise presently experiences. We'll total up your score at the end and offer some feedback. (Privacy note: this is an anonymous quiz, and none of your answers are submitted to our server.)

15 Symptoms of an Enterprise Search problem

The search system is seeing flat or declining usage.

The system is slow in displaying"hits" matching the searcher's query.

The enterprise cannot upgrade / enhance the search system or expand the repositories indexed because of prohibitive software or infrastructure costs.

Searchers frequently find that top hits are not relevant.

Searchers must frequently formulate difficult queries to return the needed information.

Searchers frequently resort to requesting "suggestions" for other search terms or queries from the system to help them locate information.

Searchers report that information that has been indexed cannot be located using the search system.

Searchers say that the most current information does not reside in the system, thus causing them to hunt for needed information via telephone, email, or manual inspection.

Management wants certain information to appear within specific search results but the search system does not support this feature without custom programming.

Searchers must adapt their behavior to different search technologies across multiple internal applications.

Managers find that when the search system is updating, other network processes slow down and may even become almost unusable.

Problems that arise with the search system require an outside party for resolution, leading to delays in getting search working properly again.

The search system makes certain restricted documents available to users without the proper authorization to view the information.

Users and developers want to have certain searches executed automatically (maybe inside another application) but the method is difficult to implement or customize.

Company staff lament, "Why can't our enterprise search system be as good as Google or Yahoo?"

This wont hurt a bit...

This might sting a little...

I'm going to put you in touch with a specialist...

It's worse than I thought...

Congratulations!
You reside among the minority of organizations successfully addressing enterprise search. You may still benefit from some niche technologies, for example classification and relevance ranking. In any case, search remains an ever-shifting challenge -- you can expect to stay busy over the coming years.

Your enterprise search system is a little creaky.
Model your existing information and work flow from having a final version of a document to putting that content in the hands of the authorized user. Along the way, look for opportunities to improve the sequence of actions needed to make the search system work the way you want. Certain problems you face with enterprise search may have little to do with your search software; for example you may suffer from an inadquate network infrastructure or poor implementation of indexing updating processes. Applied technologies could help you substantially in other areas, like storing frequently-requested searches and updating them on a scheduled basis. These stored searches deliver their results without requiring the user to formulate a query and check to see if the hits are relevant.

You have a bona fide enterprise search problem.
Browse this site, investigate the Enterprise Search Report, and start creating a business case for rebuilding your enterprise search system.

Deficient enterprise search is seriously hindering you from doing business in a cost-effective way. Browse this site, consider investigating the Enterprise Search Report, and check out other resources. If locating information is critical to your business, and enterprise search is an important part of your company's overall strategy, then you cannot act too soon...

 

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