Exclusive Interview: John Steinhauer, Search Technologies
August 29, 2011
A few days ago we were able to interview John Steinhauer, Search Technologies’ vice president of technology. In the discussion, Mr. Steinhauer talked about the rapid growth and Search Technologies’ approach to search-related engagements.
He told me:
We bring hard-won experience to customer projects and a deep knowledge of what works and where the difficult issues lie. Our partners, the major search vendors, sometimes find it difficult to be pragmatic, even where they have their own implementation departments, because their primary focus is their software licensing business. That’s not a criticism. As with most enterprise software sectors, license fees pay for all of the valuable research & development that the vendors put in to keep the industry moving forward. But it does mean that in a typical services engagement, less emphasis is put on the need for implementation planning, and ongoing processes to maintain and fine-tune the search application. We focus only on those elements, and this benefits both customers, who get more from their investment, and search engine partners who end up with happier customers.
I asked him about where the search industry was heading. He told me:
There are now two 800 pound Gorillas in the market, called Microsoft and Google. That’s a big difference from the somewhat fractious market that existed for 10 years ago. That will certainly make it harder for smaller vendors to find oxygen. But at the same time, these very large companies have their own agendas for what features and platforms matter for them and their customers. They will not attempt to be all things to all prospective customers in the same way that smaller hungrier vendors have. In theory this should leave gaps for either products or services companies to fill where specific and relatively sophisticated capabilities are required. We see those requirements all over the place.
For more information about Search Technologies, visit the firm’s Web site at www.searchtechnologies.com. The full text of the interview is located in the Beyond Search interview collection.
Stephen E Arnold, August 29, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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