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You'd think by now in the age of Web 2.0 that searching for information within the enterprise would be a slam-dunk. Users would easily and effortlessly find the most accurate, up-to-date information they needed. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, that is still not the case (for the most part).

There's the old question: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?" When it comes to enterprise search I have a new question: "If no one can find the information they need when they need it, does it even matter if the information really exists?"

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In the Internet world, search is king. Organic search results get better and better as more Web sites employ search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. Users get savvier about how to formulate their search criteria. Pay-per-click advertising delivers instant results every time. The big search engines (with Google leading the pack) employ super-secret, very complex algorithms to determine what results are displayed when someone searches. So, why does searching within the enterprise fall short?

If your experience is much like mine, you know the frustrations of finding what you need when you need it within the confines of the wild world of a large corporate Intranet. With all the portals, Web applications, file systems, content management systems, and other fancy repositories you would think that the information you are looking for just has to be there somewhere. Problem is you can't find it. Or, you find outdated, irrelevant information.

While the technologies are the same -- a combination of systems, Web sites, applications, databases, and files -- the way they are used, stored, and ranked are different. On the wild Web, search technology can employ criteria like popularity, link exchanges, Web traffic, social networking, and tagging to refine search results. Unfortunately, much of the same criteria and metadata that drives the Web is nonexistent, irrelevant, or inconsistently used inside the enterprise.

Two Paths to Information

Just as on the Internet, you have two types of potential search within the enterprise: browsing and searching. Browsing is akin to the Yahoo type directory where information is filed into browsable cabinets that people can navigate to find what they want. Directories can be built by a combination of manual review and filing (think: someone files it in the "right" cabinet) and through a systematic use of metadata and taxonomy on all documents.

Searching is what we've all come to know as "googling." You type in a word or phrase and a bunch of algorithms chug in the background and spit out the most relevant results (as defined by a "secret sauce" algorithm). Both approaches have their value depending on what a user's needs are.

Where things break down within the enterprise is in the sheer volume of data in the corporate network and the wide variety of ways the information is stored. Unlike the Web, which is primarily driven by Web sites, links, and some cross-platform files (such as PDF), the enterprise is a free range of every file type you can dream up. So, any search tool needs to account for thousands of possible ways the information might be stored with key information (text and content) often hidden within the bowels of a document embedded in a file system or database somewhere.

To make matters worse, the motivation for classifying, linking, and tagging information often vanishes within the enterprise. Even if you attempt to create a standard metadata, tagging, and taxonomy procedure, the vast amounts of information makes it prohibitive to do thoroughly. If you're incredibly lucky, you tag the most important information and hope for the best.

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