If an IT team decided to block Web search engines for a day, it would be mere minutes before the howling began. But unplug the enterprise search function at most companies and -- hey, was that a yawn I saw?

Yet the reality is that enterprise search can be as vital to users as Web search -- if companies have deployed it strategically. This week's InformationWeek lead story delves into different approaches for enterprise search. Writer Andrew Conry-Murray splits the market in two -- search driven by compliance, and search driven by broader business needs -- and urges companies to be open to different approaches and technologies for the two needs.

Where enterprise search is generating the most excitement, beyond compliance, it solves a very focused business information problem. Conry-Murray describes the distinction:

Business enterprise search is evolving from its original use case, which can be described as "search for search's sake." The goal then was to generate a general index of information repositories and provide a front end for employees to browse through it, the way they would the Web. ... Today, companies approach business search to get better insight into specific domains and address business problems.