BA Insight and Its Ideas for Enterprise Search Success
October 25, 2016
I read “Success Factors for Enterprise Search.” The write up spells out a checklist to make certain that an enterprise search system delivers what the users want—on point answers to their business information needs. The reason a checklist is necessary after more than 50 years of enterprise search adventures is a disconnect between what software can deliver and what the licensee and the users expect. Imagine figuring out how to get across the Grand Canyon only to encounter the Iguazu Falls.
The preamble states:
I’ll start with what absolutely does not work. The “dump it in the index and hope for the best” approach that I’ve seen some companies try, which just makes the problem worse. Increasing the size of the haystack won’t help you find a needle.
I think I agree, but the challenge is multiple piles of data. Some data are in haystacks; some are in odd ball piles from the AS/400 that the old guy in accounting uses for an inventory report.
Now the check list items:
- Metadata. To me, that’s indexing. Lousy indexing produces lousy search results in many cases. But “good indexing” like the best pie at the state fair is a matter of opinion. When the licensee, users, and the search vendor talk about indexing, some parties in the conversation don’t know indexing from oatmeal. The cost of indexing can be high. Improving the indexing requires more money. The magic of metadata often leads back to a discussion of why the system delivers off point results. Then there is talk about improving the indexing and its cost. The cycle can be more repetitive than a Kenmore 28132’s.
- Provide the content the user requires. Yep, that’s easy to say. Yep, if its on a distributed network, content disappears or does not get input into the search system. Putting the content into a repository creates another opportunity for spending money. Enterprise search which “federates” is easy to say, but the users quickly discover what is missing from the index or stale.
- Deliver off point results. The results create work by not answering the user’s question. From the days of STAIRS III to the latest whiz kid solution from Sillycon Valley, users find that search and retrieval systems provide an opportunity to go back to traditional research tools such as asking the person in the next cube, calling a self-appointed expert, guessing, digging through paper documents, or hiring an information or intelligence professional to gather the needed information.
The check list concludes with a good question, “Why is this happening?” The answer does not reside in the check list. The answer does not reside in my Enterprise Search Report, The Landscape of Search, or any of the journal and news articles I have written in the last 35 years.
The answer is that vendors directly or indirectly reassure that their software will provide the information a user needs. That’s an easy hook to plant in the customer who behaves like a tuna. The customer has a search system or experience with a search system that does not work. Pitching a better, faster, cheaper solution can close the deal.
The reality is that even the most sophisticated search and content processing systems end up in trouble. Search remains a very difficult problem. Today’s solutions do a few things better than STAIRS III did. But in the end, search software crashes and burns when it has to:
- Work within a budget
- Deal with structured and unstructured data
- Meet user expectations for timeliness, precision, recall, and accuracy
- Does not require specialized training to use
- Delivers zippy response time
- Does not crash or experience downtime due to maintenance
- Outputs usable, actionable reports without having to involve a programmer
- Provides an answer to a question.
Smart software can solve some of these problems for specific types of queries. Enterprise search will benefit incrementally. For now, baloney about enterprise search continues to create churn. The incumbent loses the contract, and a new search vendors inks a deal. Months later, the incumbent loses the contract, and the next round of vendors compete for the contract. This cycle has eroded the credibility of search and content processing vendors.
A check list with three items won’t do much to change the credibility gap between what vendors say, what licensees hope will occur, and what users expect. The Grand Canyon is a big hole to fill. The Iguazu Falls can be tough to cross. Same with enterprise search.
Stephen E Arnold, October 25, 2016
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