Connectbeam Spotlight Connect for Google Mini and GSA
Enterprise search engines, such as Google Mini and Google Search Appliance (GSA) are making a difference in the world of enterprise search. Google's latest offering gives users the ability to search across several data-sources and content management systems simultaneously, along with other improvements. For many organizations, dedicated search appliances are becoming a requirement.
Even with the advent of such dedicated systems, people in large organizations are still reeling with the "finding the needle in the haystack" problem. In fact, according to a study of large organizations performed by management consultancy Accenture, employees say that "50% of information found is of no value". Additionally, 59% say they simply "do not see internal information that would be helpful." And 36% say "there is too much information, making the right information difficult to find."
What companies are discovering is that adding a layer of collaboration, information sharing and discovery on top of enterprise search can tremendously enhance the relevancy of enterprise search results by attributing context and quality to them based on users inputs. This way when users search for information they get to see what was useful to whom and in what context.
In addition, it also helps to surface the right information based on company context rather than relying purely on freshness. For example, if a document was useful to my predecessor but hasn't been touched in three months, it may still be precisely what I need.
Spotlight ConnectTM for Google Mini and GSA, built and deployed using the Google OneBox framework, solves this nagging problem. Layering the benefits of social bookmarking and tagging as well as expertise location and dynamic profiles on top of Google's search results, gives users a true social search experience. In this way, users can leverage the value of their colleague's user generated content and social metadata to get search results that are informed by the collective intelligence of their particular company.
With Connectbeam SpotlightTM, search results are better informed because tags, bookmarks and other records of interest and actual use are permanently attached to that content. You get significantly greater returns on your existing investment in Enterprise Search. In addition, users don't have to adjust to a new application front-end since Spotlight is integrated right into Google's search results. This way, adoption can happen naturally.
