Search Delivers a Productivity Benefit
October 5, 2009
When I read “Enterprise Search Improves Productivity, Report Finds,” I was taken aback. Anyone who has a work that involves electronic information knows that work cannot begin unless one can find a letter, email, or other electronic object. Without search, there is little chance that much will get done in any organization. When a computer goes down, work stops.
The Aberdeen Group, an azure chip consulting firm, released a study that appears to “prove” that “Workers at companies that implement enterprise search effectively spend less time looking for the information they need to do their work.”
Okay.
I skimmed through the “data” that make it clear that search systems that work save time and money. For example, Mr. Claburn reported:
- 20 percent of the organizations in the sample of 118 firms using search reported “notable productivity games”. This begs the question of what “notable” means. Not defined to my satisfaction, however.
- 15 percent reduction in support costs. I think this suggests that tech support or internal staff support get fewer pleas for assistance in locating an item of information. Can’t be sure. No definition of “support”.
- When search results are relevant, users are more productive.
By far, the most interesting finding reported in the Information Week article was this statement:
According to White, more respondents said that Microsoft was the most important enterprise search vendor in their organizations — 27% chose Microsoft while 21% chose Google. Overall though, said White, usage of Microsoft and Google enterprise search products across survey respondents is almost equal, with 61% using Google and 59% using Microsoft.
Since I haven’t seen the original report, I can’t offer much in way of goosely commentary. I did wonder what the user satisfaction was. My own research revealed that user satisfaction, regardless of system, is not so hot.
Stephen Arnold, October 5, 2009
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