I have seen how the use of search technology like Google has made it quick to get information across the Internet. Of course we know the results from these types of forced ranking search technologies. The information generated does not have the relevance required for business where this is just as important as the responsiveness itself. But both of these must be addressed effectively to simplify the need of professionals in business and IT as current approaches have either not delivered the necessary value or stagnated in technology advancements.

A couple of key examples are important to understand my point. I have seen how specific contact center agents in a call center or working at home individuals who need to dynamically access customer information from many different systems. My second example is in IT where the assessment of access and use of IT assets and resources like systems, applications and networks are critical for auditing and compliance and service level agreements. Each of these examples requires the ability to access and index content and data efficiently and make available through application or portal interfaces in the right presentation format.

If you think you knew search technology and how it could work for you, think again. A lot of the first and second generation technologies do not effectively support the relevance and presentation of information for business effectively. Many new technology suppliers like Exalead are making search work for business across contact centers and to commerce to help improve responsiveness to customers. Another vendor Splunk is focused on accelerating the IT data bottleneck by simplifying the access to critical information including system log files. In addition search technology is advancing to provide support for the breadth of content and data that is required by many of these applications. Supporting the business processes more efficiently while advancing the sophistication of information can go a long way to help your business operate.

If you do not have this as a key component of your information management strategy and exploiting your investments, you are missing out!

Let me know your thoughts or come and collaborate with me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Regards,

Mark Smith - CEO & EVP Research