Gilbane Chats Up a Silly Goose: The Arnold Interview
June 18, 2008
On Wednesday, June 18, 2008, I will be interviewed in front of an audience completely unaware of why a fellow from Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky, is sitting on a stage answering questions. No one is more baffled than I. Based on my knowledge of the big city, I anticipate confusion, torpor, and indifference to my comments.
In this essay, which will become available on June 18, 2008, the curious will have a reference document that summarizes my thoughts on issues about which I may be asked. There has been no dry run for this interview. The last one in which I participated–the Associated Press’s invitation-only gathering last year–left the audience with little appetite for food. Some found the beverage table a more welcome destination.
Anticipated Question 1: What’s “beyond search” mean?
In research conducted by me and others, about two-thirds of the users of an enterprise search system are dissatisfied with that system. “Beyond search” implies that we have to move to another approach because what is now available in organizations with which I and the other researchers have investigated is not well liked. Due to the cost of some systems, annoying two-thirds of the users is tantamount to getting a D or an F on a report card.
Anticipated Question 2: What’s “behind the firewall search” mean?
I wrote about the search elephant here. Many different functions involving information access are made available to an employee, contractor, or authorized user. The idea is that “behind the firewall search” is not public and made available by an organization to a select group of users. The “search elephant” refers to the many different ways in which search is understood and perceived within an organization.
Anticipated Question 3: Why are there so many search vendors and more coming each day?
There is a belief that existing systems are not tapping into what I have estimated to be a $2.5 billion market for information access in the enterprise. Entrepreneurs and people with money look at Google and think, “We should be able to make gains like that in the enterprise market.” I also think that the market itself is trying to figure out the search elephant. Buyers don’t know what is needed. When entrepreneurs, money, and confused customers with severe information access problems come together, we have the type of market place that exists today.
Anticipated Question 4: What about Microsoft and Fast Search & Transfer?
I understand that it is business as usual at Microsoft and Fast Search. For Microsoft, this means trying to get 10,000 motorboats to go in roughly the same direction. For Fast Search, the company continues to license its Enterprise Search Platform and service customers. There are many bits of grit in the working parts where Microsoft and Fast Search mesh. It is too soon to tell if these inhibitors are trivial or whether the machine will sputter, maybe stop. What I tell people is to ignore the Microsoft-Fast Search tie up, and get a solution for a SharePoint environment that works. There are good choices ranging from a lower cost solution like dtSearch to a competitively priced system from Coveo, Exalead, ISYS Search Software, or another Microsoft Certified vendor.
Anticipated Question 5: What’s the impact of the Google Search Appliance?
Many vendors will tell you that Google has delivered a second-class system. That’s not exactly true. With the OneBox API, Google has a very solid solution. The impact is that Google has about 10,000 enterprise customers. These are sales made, in many cases, under the noses of incumbent vendors. Google’s a player in the enterprise market and a serious one. I have uncovered one impactful bit of research at Google that could–note, I said, could–change the search landscape. I have tried to ask Google about this development, but the GOOG thinks I am do not merit their attention. Too bad for me, I guess.
Anticipated Question 6: What’s the impact of text processing, semantic search, and other new technologies on enterprise search?
These are hot terms that will open doors. Some vendors will make sales because of their ability to mesh trendy concepts with more traditional search.
Stephen Arnold, June 18, 2008
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