Our Search and Discovery: Exploiting Knowledge and Minimizing Risk research study revealed an interesting gap between intention and adoption for enterprise search.
On one side, the intent is there. Over 70% of the organizations we polled reported that search was "vital or essential" to their business.
But, the reality shows a gap in adoption. The respondents of this same study also reported only 18% have cross-repository search capabilities, and 58% show "little or no" signs of search maturity.
Clearly, organizations understand the power of enterprise search, yet a gap in adoption still remains. We've been thinking about some ways for organizations to be more effective in deploying search technologies. Below is a list of our recommendations on how to bridge this gap.
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Set out a strategy for search that recognizes its importance for both information exploitation and information governance.
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Agree where responsibility for search should lie. If you have an Information Governance Committee or Chief Information Officer, ensure that search is on their agenda, perhaps by creating a Knowledge Management Steering Group – or consider creating a Head of Knowledge Management.
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Audit existing search tools within the organization. Establish what specific search needs there are within each department, and how well they are being met.
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Evaluate the search capability of your ECM system(s), and whether they can be optimized or tuned for better results
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Look to connect your ECM system search to other repositories to provide a single-point search portal.
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If your ECM system does not provide a strong search tool, is not readily extensible to other repositories, cannot support mobile access, or does not provide the transparency and tune-ability you need, make the business case for a dedicated search product.
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If you do not have the in-house expertise to support and tune your chosen search tool(s), consider specific training or help from a specialist consultancy.
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Include end-user training in search techniques in order to maximize the benefits of your search tools.
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Evaluate your ability to respond in a timely manner to a legal-discovery, FOI, compliance, or audit request across the relevant repositories, particularly email.
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Ensure that you have a robust hold mechanism across each repository, and look at your IT support for the downstream review process.
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Consider specific e-discovery or litigation management products to manage the workflow for pre-trial.
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Look to use content analytics or predictive coding to speed up the review cycle.
