Enterprise Search: It’s All About Time to Insight

Enterprise search is back in the news—with a twist. Companies that really want to accelerate their results with BI and Big Data are looking to enterprise search as a way to help business analysts quickly find the data they need. Note that I said “data,” not information. Enterprise search has always been thought of as a way to find unstructured content in file shares like SharePoint. But now, it’s being applied to strucutured data as well. And if a search solution can combine data with unstructured content so much the better.

Closing the Data Discovery Gap

As the Big Data market matures—and the analytics mindset becomes second nature to companies—time to insight rises to the top of concerns expressed by C-level and LOB executives and the analysts who support them.

That’s why the renewed interest in enterprise search. There are many value-oriented use cases to which analytics can be profitably applied. But not if analysts are stuck waiting for IT to fulfill their data requests. These opportunities often have volatile shelf lives—measured in days and weeks, not months.

Even more long-range opportunities benefit from faster data discovery. For example, Attivio recently lent its enterprise search expertise to PerkinElmer in the launch of a new solution for its PerkinElmer Signals™ data discovery platform.

PerkinElmer Signals™ Perspectives leverages the advanced capabilities of TIBCO Spotfire® software and Attivio to provide scientists with a true 360-degree view of relevant information that can accelerate their research. Attivio profiles data across silos, instantly identifies the right information for analysis, and unifies disparate sources into a data model for TIBCO.

Make Every Insight Count

Most of us have experienced a moment when something suddenly became clear, only to realize that the time to apply that insight had passed. In other words, we got the relevant “data” too late. When that happens in business, it usually means a lost opportunity—new revenue stream, innovative product idea, or first-mover advantage.

There’s a lot of data out there. The question is can you get to it when it matters? That’s where enterprise search come in. For a deeper look into the importance of enterprise search, check out my article: Enterprise Search Takes Its Place at the Big Data Table.