Enterprise Search Morphs
March 9, 2016
I read “One Size Doesn’t Fit All with Enterprise Search.” The problem for me is that the article does not discuss enterprise search. Sure, there are buzzwords like knowledge discovery, but the focus is on a quite specific type of search and retrieval application: Customer service.
The idea behind search as a substitute for a human who knows a product is simple. Think money, headcount, and personnel hassles or churn in the parlance of the customer support world. Let software do a thankless job and move on with sales. That support thing? Hey, let the customer find the answer.
The focus of the write up is on what is called the “self service customer.” The person or persona in the write up has a couple of alter egos; namely, a call center agent and a call center analyst.
What this has to do with enterprise search baffles me. No wonder vendors of basic search and retrieval are struggling to close deals. Instead of describing a specific use case and what systems and methods are needed to deflect the customer yet keep ‘em buying, the once useful phrase “enterprise search” is further devalued.
Why not do what IBM has done and invent a new phrase for an enterprise solution which few love and many prefer to view as a utility and a commodity tool? Cognitive exploration, anyone?
Stephen E Arnold, March 9, 2016
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
