Mittwoch, 07. April 2010

Most enterprises cope with a heterogeneous information environment, with legacy systems, new platforms, file shares and Web 2.0 tools of assorted shapes and sizes. Enterprise search technology offers a way for information workers (i-workers) to access data and information in different information management systems through a common interface. That allows i-workers to find information in the context of their work regardless of where the information is stored. By Leslie Owens

In reality, the reach of most enterprise search implementations is modest. The majority of organizations use enterprise search engines simply to access information in collaborative systems and the corporate intranet. In fact, Forrester surveyed 133 technology and strategy decision makers in its December 2008 Global Role of Search in eDiscovery Strategy Online Survey, and found that less than half include enterprise content management systems or file shares in the scope of their enterprise search program. Only 18 percent crawled line-of-business applications (for example, customer relationship management systems) with their enterprise search technology.

Trustworthy, but hard to find

Without a strong enterprise search initiative to expand access to unstructured information, people spend significant time looking for what they need. Forrester surveyed U.S. i-workers—individuals between  18 and 88 using a computer or other connected device for job-related tasks—about the devices and applications they use, the teams they work in and the activities they engage in. That survey revealed that two-thirds of i-workers consider company information trustworthy, but only half say that the information they need is easy to find from company sources. Employees search the Web and their own desktop far more frequently than their corporate intranet, because they can more easily find Web-based and personally stored information, and it might be more relevant to the task at hand. Many do turn to the intranet for general errands like downloading benefits information. But just 22 percent of i-workers who use an intranet in their job use the team-only content stored there.

Drilling into data

Members of Forrester’s Information & Knowledge Management Council, a group of 40-plus information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals from large and midsize companies, echo that disconnect. They describe an information environment where e-mail and file shares remain the daily “go-to” sources for team content sharing.

Drilling down into Forrester Workforce Technographics data, we see that:

• Enterprise i-workers are more likely to use a search engine to find internal information. Sixty-six percent of employees at firms with more than 5,000 employees search a company intranet at least weekly, compared with 40 percent of employees at firms with fewer than 1,000 employees. In addition, i-workers at large companies are more likely to search online for a coworker to help with work than those at small companies. However, the number of hours i-workers spend looking for information, sharing knowledge and collaborating with employees in a typical week does not vary widely by company size. Although they use different mechanisms, i-workers at firms large and small spend significant time looking for information to fulfill their job function.
• Gen X, Gen Y and boomers all say that it’s not easy to find company information. Younger workers are often typecast as multitasking, tech-savvy information savants. So it comes as a surprise that younger i-workers face the same difficulty as older workers in locating company information. Of course, finding information isn’t just a matter of technical proficiency. Successful i-workers are adept with obscure systems, possess a strong social network and have a knack for identifying quality content. Such skills are distributed across generations.
• Content creators search more than content readers. The survey categorized i-workers who spend more time creating documents for others as “content creators,” and i-workers who spend more time viewing documents that others create as “content readers.” The survey also asked if respondents spend more time working with others vs. working independently. Independent content authors spend the most time looking for information or data at work in a typical week. Forrester believes that those i-workers—who may work in functions like communications—are “power searchers” because they want to find relevant quality information to make their materials (for example, fact sheets, press releases) credible.

Even with empowering tools like desktop search and employee intranets, i-workers can’t locate what they need. It’s 2010; why is it still so hard to find information at work? Many Forrester clients report a mismatch between their information access requirements and their current staff, processes and technology. Enterprises lack coordinated enterprise search engine optimization for their internal information. But the problem is not the technology alone. Many factors contribute to the inability of workers to find unstructured information including: redundant and out-of-date content, incomplete search scope, lack of information retrieval expertise and lack of information governance. To attack that problem strategically, enterprise IT professionals must set a goal to evaluate and improve the quality of content throughout its life cycle.

What and where

I-workers use role-based, specialized information stored all over the enterprise. The top three types of information that i-workers deal with regularly include: administrative content (memos), business data (budgets, performance data, etc.) and specific functional content (architectural drawings, legal motions, healthcare worker patient records and so on). That information is likely stored in a variety of sites, systems and databases, and not consolidated on the intranet. Enterprise IT professionals may choose to use content analytics tools to get an inventory of those assets, understand what they are about and take action to better govern their unstructured information.

The crushing findability problem is not due to a lack of search engines, but rather search functionality is siloed by repository. Almost all information management technology (e-mail, collaborative tools, etc.) has an embedded search box. Those search boxes are not connected, however, so i-workers must use different systems (both inside and outside the firewall) to meet information needs

Ranking search

Companies of all shapes and sizes set aside significant dollars to ensure that customers and prospects can easily find Web site content. Search marketing (for the Web) is a huge business, with literally thousands of vendors providing guidance on how to structure and enrich information so it is easy for Google to find. Forrester has numerous reports with data on search marketing and search engine optimization.

Forrester estimates that search marketing spending will top $32 billion by 2014. But inside the enterprise, enterprise search and taxonomy projects rank behind other information management priorities, such as consolidating e-mail systems and enterprise collaboration. Forrester surveyed 1,018 I&KM software decision-makers in its Enterprise and SMB Software Survey, North America and Europe, Q4 2008. Twenty-eight percent of respondents ranked implementing an enterprise search strategy as important or very important, compared with 51 percent of respondents who said consolidating e-mail systems is important or very important, and 36 percent who said that implementing an enterprise collaboration strategy is important or very important. More recently, in the Q4 2009 update to that survey, only 17 percent of enterprise IT decision makers planned to expand or upgrade their information access software (e.g., enterprise search, desktop search, text analytics) implementation.

The options

It’s clear that enterprise search is quite a puzzle. Enterprises do have several technical options to meet their search requirements: maximizing the integrated search capabilities embedded in their key information management systems, federating to other information systems to expand the scope of search, and/or deploying an enterprise search product. Those options will improve search, but the best option is to enlist i-workers in the fight to make improved access to information a top priority.

If i-workers can start a grassroots movement for prioritizing findability, I&KM pros can build a strong argument for senior management to invest in people, process and technology to make it happen. Forrester Workforce Technographics data shows that increased attention, headcount and technology make sense because:

• I-workers would rather have improved findability than other workplace enhancements. I-workers rank finding the information they need as more important to their success than additional software training or being able to work at home.
• I-workers are willing to spend time searching for solid information. Perhaps based on their experience with Web search, survey responders seem to acknowledge that finding quality information takes time. Just 20 percent agree or strongly agree with: “I spend too much time tracking down the right information or data.”
• I-workers acquire good information management habits from the Web and social media. Workers of all ages tag and upload content, get alerts and follow feeds in their personal lives. As people engage in activities like organizing digital photos and sharing music online, they appreciate the impact of rich metadata on search usability. I&KM pros can capitalize on that increased sophistication regarding information accessibility. How? By making it clear that enterprise search works best in an environment where i-workers practice complementary information best practices (clear document titles, clean HR profiles and strict content expiration policies, to name a few).

Bottom line: Craft your enterprise search strategy to address your i-workers’ pain; frame enterprise search projects using a worker-centered (not repository-centered) approach. You should investigate the trustworthiness and accessibility of key information sources across different worker segments. Those I&KM professionals responsible for improving access to information should understand which i-workers look for what, and where their organization stores vital role-based content. For example, if the majority of your i-workers find it easy to get the information they need from desktop search and e-mails, then critical company content needs to be delivered in that context. If a large number of your i-workers are content readers (as opposed to content creators), then you might market shared bookmarks as a passive way for them to acquire relevant and related content. Rather than focus on the intranet search box as the locus of energy for information access initiatives, I&KM pros should broaden their vision. The enterprise findability problem is far more complex, and I&KM pros should enlist i-workers in the fight to improve information access. 


Quelle: http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/News/News-Analysis/Enterprise-searche28094Cane28099t-find-what-you-need3f-Join-the-club-65996.aspx