The key to successful enterprise search for many organizations will be simplicity. There are of course
areas of every business where complexity cannot be avoided, but it is worth remembering that the
people who use search technology simply want a button they can click in the applications they use,
and for a meaningful search to be executed.
Estimation of the benefits to be gained from information search is a prerequisite for clear,
unambiguous search activity. Some information is so important that lengthy, expensive searches are
justified. Other information may have so little value that failure to find it during an initial search may
signal the end of the exercise. It is the skill of the people involved that determines whether the
benefits obtained from search exceed the costs. This is a management issue that is often
overlooked, but as information sources proliferate the need for a managed approach becomes more
important.
Some of the problems associated with information search are well illustrated by a typical Google
search on the Internet. Most searches will produce tens of thousands of resulting references. The
search term we use may have multiple meanings, and only after an initial search will we have the