Why Search Initiatives Often Fail

A recent study by IDC called “The Hidden Cost of Information Work” revealed the potential of a properly deployed search solution in an organization. After interviewing 600 organizations from various industries, IDC mapped out how a typical worker spends his day. The report concluded that the average worker spends 25% of his time searching for, and analyzing, information to do their job. With so much of a typical employees’ day consumed by the activity of search, it’s obvious how improvements in this area are not only cost justified, but can make an organization significantly more competitive.

Despite the potential, and best of intentions, search initiatives often fail to deliver the type of productivity improvements hoped for.

The IT Disconnect

The biggest challenge associated with search initiatives is avoiding the mistake of treating them as any other infrastructure project. Since search isn’t tied to a specific business process, search initiatives are rarely championed by a business sponsor and are typically tasked to IT. IT naturally approaches the initiative as they would any other infrastructure project such as email or security.

One of the biggest mistakes IT makes in deploying search solutions is taking the “one size fits all” approach to the problem. What makes search different from other types of infrastructure (like email) is that different departments have vastly different information needs. The type of information needed by the finance group is very different than that of corporate communications or HR, for example. Consequently, these departments find that the search solution delivered to them isn’t at all relevant to their needs. Search deployments such as these often end up becoming “shelfware.”

Structured Content is Almost Always Ignored

Another reason why many search initiatives go awry is that until very recently, search technologies didn’t have the ability to index structured content found in databases, ERP systems, CRM and custom applications. The majority of employees within an organization need structured content to do their jobs. Without having the ability to find the content that they work with on a daily basis, most employees don’t see any value in the search solutions delivered to them.

Office Integration is Key

Users want information where they are working. The need to jump back and forth between applications is another reason why search technologies have failed to deliver the types of productivity improvements hoped for. Someone in Accounts Payable who receives a request for the status of an invoice should simply have to click on the invoice number in the email to be delivered the relevant content.

A New Technology Emerges... Information Access Technologies.

Search technologies are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and now have the ability to rapidly connect to structured content in ERP, CRM and custom systems. What used to be a six- to nine-month system integration effort to tap into these systems can in many cases be done “out-of-the-box.” Providing employees with access to both structured content and related document content in a unified view has the potential to usher in a new era of productivity within organizations.

BA-Insight’s Longitude

Longitude is an example of the type of next-generation information access solutions available to companies today. Longitude automatically and securely connects to database content from ERP, CRM and custom systems. The data in connected systems are SOA enabled. Data from any connected system can be consumed from within any MS Office application with related document content readily available.

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BA-Insight (www.ba-insight.net) is a next-generation information access company, unifying the ease of search with the analytical power
of business intelligence. Combining patent-pending intellectual property and a deep focus on user experience, BA-Insight’s flagship product Longitude helps people quickly connect, find and analyze information in ways never before possible. Leading global organizations like Booz Allen Hamilton, Bechtel Engineering, Lockheed Martin and Time Warner rely on BA-Insight products to deliver actionable insight to every part of their organizations.