IT decision makers are expressing real concern that
enterprise search has some way to go before it can add tangible
business value especially in terms of
security, rapid deployment and seamless
scalability.
According to LM Research, on behalf of enterprise search
specialist Sinequa, nearly three quarters of a sample of 2000 IT
managers believed it would take more than
six months for an enterprise search tool to be useable by
employees. Furthermore, an alarming 68% added that it would
probably take between 18 months to two years to generate any return
on investment (ROI). A further 19% estimated that it would take
over two years to generate ROI.
Just 37% of IT managers recognised the value in being able to
connect employees with both content and individuals across the
organisation. When asked about staff productivity, IT managers
placed more emphasis on ensuring bandwidth requirements were
appropriate (29%) and that email was up and running (24%) rather
than on staff being able to locate information relevant to their
job role. Just over two-fifths of firms relied upon default
application search tools to enable employees to search and find
documents, with just 18 per cent having access to a dedicated
enterprise search tool.
Even though the IT managers expressed concern about long set up
times and complex implementations, 97% acknowledged the business
requirement to be able to find information on demand from an ever
growing number of sources and diversity of formats. Yet, despite
this need, 59% left the ability to locate information entirely to
chance and relied on employees saving documents in the right
place.
The IT managers also regarded current enterprise search tools
negatively when compared with consumer search engines. Nearly
two-thirds of IT managers believed enterprise search tools should
be as easy for staff to use as consumer search engines, but the
same amount of people thought that this wasn’t currently the
case.
Commenting on the results, Jean Ferré, CEO, Sinequa added,
“Enterprise search is a complex proposition, but its perceived
inability to replicate the usability of consumer search engines has
led to frustration. However, as finding specific information
becomes ever more critical, businesses need to get on top of
information search – or face the consequences.”
“Deals, negotiations and transactions all happen at lightning
speed. Companies want, and need, their technology to be up and
running in good time in order to accelerate business performance.
Waiting six months to see any ROI does not make good business
sense,” concluded Ferré.