Boston January 9, 2003 Search technology is a critical component of enterprise information management, and buyers of new enterprise systems must consider how the growing ability to search the increasing amounts of corporate information content will affect their businesses, according to a new report from technology consultancy Yankee Group.
Search capabilities serve as a bridge between often-disparate components of the information management infrastructure within an enterprise, said Rob Lancaster, Yankee Group Internet business strategies senior analyst and author of the report, "Search Has Evolved to Become a Critical Enterprise Application."
Lancaster wrote that search technology is frequently embedded in, or integrated with, major software applications, including content management systems, enterprise portals, collaboration tools and customer relationship management systems. "The need to unearth the value of intangible assets within a distributed organization is the business driver behind the adoption of powerful enterprise search platforms," said Lancaster.
The analyst said that search technologies have greatly improved since their introduction only a few years ago, evolving far beyond the simple delivery of results to a query. Driven by business problems such as the irritation caused by wasted time and inefficient processes, the technologies being built by search vendors today allow enterprise content to be collaborative, intelligent, intuitive and personal.
As businesses continue to realize the value of effective search capabilities, and as the integration of information management applications and search functionality continues, the Yankee Group foresees that search technology will have a significant effect on the way enterprises operate.
The unavoidable buildup of enterprise content will lead smaller companies to realize the benefits of effective search and retrieval lessons that larger enterprises have already learned.
The selection and implementation of new and effective search technology will affect multiple groups within the enterprise, and buyers must be aware of how search will change their business, Lancaster argued.
