Search News Desk
Enterprise Search Frustrates and Disappoints Users
69% of Respondents Report that Less Than Half of Enterprise Information is Searchable Online
Jun. 17, 2008 02:30 PM
In a new study on Findability to be released by AIIM, 49% of
survey respondents “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that it is a difficult and
time consuming process to find the information they need to do their job. The
new survey of over 500 businesses conducted in May 2008, suspects that a prime
culprit for the failings of Findability in the enterprise is the admission that
69% of respondents believe that only 50% or less of their organization’s information
is searchable online. Given the ready access that users are supposed to have in
this “Age of Google” – how is this possible?
“Findability has been a common source of frustration in the
enterprise for decades,” states AIIM Vice President Carl Frappaolo. “As
information has become more and more digital, from it’s creation through to
management, the pain of finding enterprise information has moved from the piles
of paper on the desktop and in storage cabinets, to the digital landfill of
file servers, e-mail inboxes, digital desktops, and content management systems.
Despite the advances made in search on the internet, enterprise search leaves
most users frustrated.”
Finding content digitally is only possible if pointers to
content or the content itself is in native digital format, made available for
indexing by search, and/or accessible by information organization and access
techniques (such as navigational structures, taxonomies, bookmarks, etc.). The
lack of such functionality in the enterprise is at the heart of user
frustration.
But fault does not lie with technology solution providers. Most
organizations have failed to take a strategic approach to enterprise search. 49%
of respondents have “No Formal Goal” for enterprise Findability within their
organizations, and a large subset of the overall research population state that
when it comes to the “Criticality of Findability to their Organization’s
Business Goals and Success”, 38% have no idea (“Don’t Know”) what the
importance of Findability is in comparison to a mere 10% who claim Findability
is “Imperative” to their organization.
The lack of strategic understanding, implemented plans and
technological pros and cons to address Findability in the enterprise continues
to cause pain in most organizations, although slow progress is being made.
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