Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate our relationships, reflect on how we can improve them and, in some cases, build entirely new connections. In the spirit of the day, we thought we'd have a little fun and turn to the not-so-well-known, but incredibly sage Agnes, patroness of Active Intelligence, to answer some of the vexing questions we've heard from people who are looking to improve their information access relationships.

Our advice seekers include Still Searching, who expects more fulfillment from a search engine, Jaded Explorer, who asks if unified information access is ready for prime time, and Ready to Drive, who needs help improving the value of an eMedia website.

Dear Agnes,

I think I'm finally ready to give up on my relationship with my enterprise search engine. It doesn't adapt well when I need it to accept changes. It insists on a complete re-indexing if I need to add a server. And the cost! It just seems to keep climbing. On top of all this, I'm not seeing the innovation I want.

Its attempts to search structured data are really frustrating because it doesn't retain the table information. I'm feeling like it no longer cares much about my needs.

I know you often tell people to write a list of their needs and priorities, so I did that:

• I just want to ask a simple question and get the information I need. All of it. And not a lot of irrelevant stuff.

• I want the engine to look everywhere, not just in my documents. Sometimes I can't get the real insight without data and content combined.

• And I would so love to be able to get data by asking a simple question instead of building a complicated query

• I want all my information to be connected just like database data is

• I need flexibility - incremental scaling, incremental additions to the index without re-indexing, and when there's new information, please just update that one field

• Oh, and it should be faster, thinner, and smarter

So can you help me? Are my expectations unrealistic?

—Still Searching

Dear Still Searching,

You can indeed have what you want, but you need to look beyond the same old enterprise search you've been attracted to in the past. You'll find what you need in Unified Information Access, which extends search to include all content, data and media. The right UIA platform will let you get any information through a simple, free-form query and help you really find what you need with faceted navigation that dynamically presents suggestions.

UIA platforms should offer the flexibility you want, so be sure to verify the ability to scale, no need to re-index everything, and real-time field updates. Find a partner who meets your needs and has unique features like query-time JOINs of content and data and one who provides links from different sets - and types - of information, such as database tables, news feeds and document collections.

I know a breakup is painful, so you'll be glad to know you can leave your current engine in place as long as necessary. The right UIA platform can federate results from multiple search engines and give you all the benefits of a universal index. When you're ready to let go of the past and embrace UIA, you'll finally find all the functionality of an up-to-date search engine along with the added benefits of unified access to content, data and media. And if you want an enduring relationship, don't settle for less than a platform with workflow and alerts, as well as rapid prototyping and development of information-driven applications.

The good news, Still Searching, is that you aren't unrealistic. What you want is out there, so seize the day.

Dear Agnes,

I know I should be happy. My business is successful, and other than dealing with a puppy that's chewed through every shoe I own, life is good. But in my heart I'm an explorer and I need to be innovative. My company makes software applications, so you'd think I'd have no trouble being innovative, but the problem is that it just takes too long to develop some core functionality I know we need to stay ahead of our competitors. So far we've limped by with technology we licensed, but it's inadequate. Before I buy functionality for our needs again, I need help in avoiding previous pitfalls.

What I need to improve my applications is immediate and easy access to information users need to do their jobs. As much as possible, we want to automate the processes for users so work flows seamlessly from department to department without losing key insights - and with various users able to grab more information as they need it. Oh - and if any new information becomes available, anyone who's been relying on it should get notification.

I've been reading about unified information access. Is it for real? And how can I be sure that I make a deal with a UIA company that doesn't do OEM sales as an afterthought and makes me wish we'd just built our own with open source code?

—Jaded Explorer

Dear Jaded Explorer,

You'll be relieved to know that unified information access is indeed a genuine new category of functionality. It really is possible today to index all types of information together and use it to build more powerful applications.

The harder part is finding the right platform so you can be sure that embedding the technology will work for you. Based on your needs for innovation, rapid time to market, and automating information flows, you should look for a vendor whose focus is UIA and the OEM market. You won't find the right fit or the rapid time to market with products that have just basic search functionality - and that includes open source.

My advice, Jaded, is to make a short list of possible vendors and ask each company to show they can meet your expectations. Narrow your list after you hear the pitches and see demos. Then ask for a Proof of Concept. This exercise will not only prove whether the technology fit is good, it will show you what it's like to develop on the platform. Look for how much information you have to supply upfront (the less the better, because that indicates that the platform is flexible and easy to modify).

Watch how long it takes and how close the POC is to the functionality you ultimately want (shorter and closer, of course, is much better). Demand information about the development environment so your engineers can see how hard it will be to integrate the platform and build on it. And don't forget to compare footprints, latency, and scalability.

When you find the right UIA platform, you'll be free to use your creativity on your core value proposition and not have to worry about the information layer.

Dear Agnes,

From the perspective of my publishing business, the information superhighway has been a lot more like a wild rollercoaster ride. This isn't news, and I know we've had time to change our business model, but we are still hanging on by our fingernails when we should be at the controls. We just haven't been able to define and deliver a formula that sustains the business.

What we do have is a lot of great content and great writers. And we have a lot of data - from the information we use to write material to stats about our readers. But we're not using this information as fully as we ought to and sharing content amongst our properties is a difficult process.

We're looking at more Web 2.0 technologies, which are nice additions but don't really both transform our readers' experience and take advantage of all the content we own plus the reader data we've gathered. On our websites, we've added some ways for readers to contribute, but it's just not enough when there are so many alternatives that are so easy to turn to. I know we really need to make more than tactical changes.

How do we bring all this together to bolster the business and deliver a web experience that truly sets us apart, takes advantage of the assets across our brands and builds our base of loyal readers?

—Ready to Drive

Dear Ready,

It is frustrating when the rules change and the people rich with experience are at a disadvantage. To turn disruption into advantage, you need to fully embrace the kind of new perspective you say you are ready for. So here's my advice:

• Start with the target audience. Define not only what they want from the content you own, but also how they want to consume it. Think about outside content you can leverage to enrich their experience.

• Look for patterns in the data you have. What types of content and presentations have been compelling?

• Brainstorm some ways to create interactivity and personalization on your site. Don't think about technology yet. Just think about what would make their experience richer. For example, what kind of information would they like to explore on their own?

• You need content that lets people be active with it. Create tables and charts with dimensions that people can change.

When you have a good outline of what your readers want, it's time to rethink the role of the content producers. The days of writers writing and readers just reading are over. You need to facilitate the information consumption needs of your site visitors. They want more activity than just adding another comment onto a story. Besides writing, you need experts who can manage communities and host events on your site.

Now you're ready to think about how you can deliver this. You likely need better presentation software so you can enable interactivity, so look into Rich Internet Application (RIA) platforms. And you need an innovative platform that lets you unify information access for writers and readers, facilitates navigation and discovery, and enables your IT team to rapidly add new features like personalization, localization and microsites. That means you need to look at an advanced Unified Information Access platform to manage the information you rely on. A premium UIA platform will also work easily with RIA and enable the rapid prototyping and development you need to express your innovative ideas and keep your site standards where you want them to be.

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