What is Enterprise Search?

Enterprise search is a software solution that allows authorized employees to do instant searches and retrieve information from one or multiple sources

15:50 22 April 2022

A regular search engine has always been sufficient for many enterprises and organizations for their digital asset extraction needs. However, with the advancement in technology, times have changed.

 

We live in an information era, where there is a lot of data available for us at our fingertips. Whether small or big, organizations generate vast amounts of digital information all day. As a result, simple search engines are no longer sufficient for searching and extracting digital assets for various uses. That’s why enterprise search has become such an essential tool for most organisation’s daily operations.

 

This post will discuss what enterprise search is, how it works, its benefits for enterprises and the criteria for selecting an enterprise solution for your organisation.

 

What is Enterprise Search?

Enterprise search is a software solution that allows authorized employees to do instant searches and retrieve information from one or multiple sources within the enterprise’s digital platforms. The intelligent search platform has become a valuable tool for many organizations as it significantly reduces the time it takes for an employee to retrieve the information they need. But how does it function?

 

How Does Enterprise Search Work?

Since enterprise search is an intelligent search, it delivers formatted results personalized to suit each user and their query. That involves a series of tiny steps:

 

• Content collection - Content collection, also content awareness, is the first step and involves bringing together all the digital data platforms that the search can access.

 

• Content processing - This step involves converting content into plain texts using document filters. In most cases, different databases store data in different formats, including XML and HTML. Converting them to plain text is essential to ensure they can be searched efficiently.

 

• Indexing – Once the content has been processed, the next step is indexing. That involves categorizing the resulting plain text and storing parts of them in indexes optimised for fast lookups.

 

• Processing queries and delivering results - The query processing step is set in motion when a user submits a query. It involves comparing the search keywords with the saved indexes and generating results based on what the user entered in the search box.

 

Through these steps, enterprise search can decrease the time it takes to retrieve data from digital platforms while also ensuring more accurate results.

 

Why is Enterprise Search Strategic for Businesses?

Enterprise search is strategic for many businesses in various ways. Here are some of the top business advantages of enterprise search.

 

Boosts Productivity

Enterprise search can boost employee productivity by significantly reducing the time it takes to access and retrieve information. Regular searches can be time-consuming since they require your team to submit structured queries. Additionally, a user has to key in their query in each of the sources they require information from. Enterprise search cuts the time in half and reduces the need to hire additional personnel.

 

Cost Saving

Apart from boosting productivity, implementing enterprise search saves your organization on IT costs. The tool ensures a central access point to all the company’s databases and information. By so doing, it eliminates the need to invest in multiple systems with separate search tools, thus saving you on implementation, licensing, support and maintenance costs.

 

Improving Customer Experience

Another advantage of implementing enterprise search for your business is improved customer experience. The tool makes it easier for potential customers to find what they are looking for, increasing their chances of spending more time on your digital platforms. Additionally, it minimizes the time they spend searching and browsing, which creates a positive perspective of your brand.

 

Improved Decision Making

Enterprise search improves decision-making in different capacities. For instance, it makes it easier for executives to access important data, such as financial legal and financial documents, when they need to use them for critical business decisions.

 

Criteria for Selecting an Enterprise Search Solution

Before you select an enterprise search solution, you should answer the following questions:

 

Is the Enterprise Search Solution AI-driven?

Any effective workplace solution should be able to index all the company’s content. But that is not enough to create the best possible data extraction experience for the users. So, it is crucial to get an AI-driven workplace search solution. That ensures the enterprise search solution can analyse and understand the indexed content and piece together insights from previous user behaviours to ensure it returns relevant results.

 

Does it Use Federated Search or Unified Search?

Enterprise search solutions use different methods to gather data and make it searchable by users. While some use a federated search approach, some employ a unified search method. But what is the difference?

 

A federated search approach, through query-time merging, can pull search results from different search engines using a single query. Although it is faster, the results have a lower level of search relevance as the system does not establish relationships between the content it gets from different sources.

 

On the other hand, a unified search approach aims to improve relevance by making a connection between content regardless of the source. The system brings all your data into a single search engine, making it suitable for enterprises with vast amounts of data.

 

What is Your Budget?

As trivial as it may sound, your budget is an important thing to consider when choosing an enterprise search platform for your organization. Establishing a budget involves calculating your implementation, maintenance and licensing costs. Establishing your budget ensures you are well prepared financially for the upgrade. Also, it helps you avoid overspending unnecessarily.

 

Conclusion

With the benefits they offer, enterprise search solutions are gradually becoming an essential tool for many businesses. It helps organisations and enterprises maximize their employees’ potential by making it easier to perform their daily tasks. However, it is essential to invest in the right enterprise search solution to enjoy these benefits. So, ensure you consider the criteria for selecting an enterprise search solution before making any decisions.