Planning for enterprise search

For all of the hype that surrounds Google and Microsoft and their entry into the enterprise search market, what is important is perspective. Competition is strong in this market, and neither company has what it takes at the moment to become the be-all and end-all in enterprise search.

But, as Forrester acknowledges, one of the best things Google has brought to the market is a low price point. Enterprise search products are complex, and they have a price to match. This means improvements to search capabilities to most Australian businesses has been out of reach, until now.

For example, when the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA) decided to upgrade its guidelines for payment allocation, from a custom electronic publishing platform to an intranet-based system, offering a guide-specific search would have been a useful add-on.

"We would have loved to have a search capability across the records specifically," says Melanie Randall, manager for knowledge training, library and information services at the department.

However, the tight timeframe for the upgrade (forced by a pending withdrawal of support for the old publishing platform) meant that the department ultimately had to settle for using the basic intranet search options that already existed, rather than enhancing the search options available for use with the guide. "The competition for resources is such that the here and now is the priority rather than the long-term view," Randall says.

By lowering the entry price, Google has effectively expanded the market by bringing in a larger group of potential customers.

A Forrester survey of users found that 61 percent wanted improved search capabilities on their existing sites. While the jury is out on which vendor will dominate the market, at the moment the clear winner is the consumer.

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