Getting Doored by Search
December 28, 2008
Have you been in Manhattan and watch a bike messenger surprised by a car door opening. The bike messenger loses these battles, which typically destroy the front wheel of the bike. When this occurs, the messenger has been doored. You can experience a similar surprise with enterprise search.
What happens when you get doored. Source: http://citynoise.org/author/ken_rosatio
The first situation is one that will be increasingly common in 2009. As the economy tanks, litigation is likely to increase. This means that you will need to provide information as part of the legal discovery process. You will get doored if you try to use your existing search system for this function. No go. You will need specialized systems and you will have to be able to provide assurance that spoliation will not occur. “Spoliation” refers to changing an email. Autonomy offers a solution, to cite one example.
The second situation occurs when you implement one of the social systems; for example, a Web log or a wiki. You will find that most enterprise search systems may lack filters to handle the content in blogs. Some vendors–for example, Blossom Search–can index Web log content. Exalead has a connector to index information within the Blogger.com and other systems. However, your search system may lack the connector. You will be doored because you will have to code or buy a connector. Ouch.
The third situation arises when you need to make email searchable from a mobile device. To pull this off, you need to find a way to preserve security, prevent a user from deleting mail from her desktop or the mail server, and deliver results without latency. When you try this trick with most enterprise search systems, you will be doored. The fix is to tap a vendor like Coveo and use that company’s email search system.
There’s a small consulting outfit prancing around like a holiday elf saying, “Search is simple. Search is easy. Search is transparent.” Like elves, this assertion is a weird mix of silliness, fairy dust, and ignorance. If this outfit helps you deal with a “simple” search, prepare to get doored. It may not be the search system; it may be your colleagues.
Stephen Arnold, December 28, 2008
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
