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ShareSearch, And Failure Of 'Consumer Effect'
Posted by Chris Murphy on Nov 9, 2009 08:18 AM
We’ve written a lot about the consumer effect, how employees fall in love with consumer tech like iPhones and instant messaging, then demand the same experience at work. So why has this effect failed to drive enterprise search?
Our cover story this week asks “What’s Wrong With Search?” Our research finds that less than 2% of respondents have enterprise search that combs multiple data silos in our companies. The article blames policies and privacy fears, not technology, which InformationWeek contributor Michael Healey says is up to the job. It also prices out a scenario of Google or Microsoft enterprise systems. Healey argues strongly for enterprise search improving productivity, especially as companies cut staff and ask employees to do more:
Getting search technology implemented--and used--is a great way to improve productivity. If your organization has endured layoffs, remaining staffers are as eager as they’ll ever be to adopt search. Chances are, they’ve already felt the pain of looking for information that was in the head—or the e-mail store—of a colleague who was let go. Time to throw them a lifeline.
Why aren’t employees screaming for this? Perhaps consumer versions of tools like desktop search aren’t that great, so people can’t picture how effective in-house search could help them. Let us know what you think.
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