Enterprise Search Myths and Realities

Understanding the facts about Enterprise Search

Many people think that since enterprise search has been around for years, all its issues should have been solved and its complexity dramatically reduced. In other words, it ought to be a commodity by now. Although search technologies continue to advance, the origin of the complexity is the nature of language itself – full of ambiguity, contradiction, multiple meanings, and many contexts.

While development in enterprise search and web search continue, a new category called unified information access (UIA) is beginning to gain market traction. Unified information Access extends enterprise search capabilities across all types of documents, data, and media. This expanded scope replaces legacy enterprise search, offering all its functionality and combining simple access to data and media. The advantages include being able to assemble all relevant information with one query; connecting content and related data; and searching data with a simple search query instead of a structured query language and formal reports. UIA can co-exist with search or replace it outright.