Market study provides insight into world of enterprise search systems

Many companies still find it a challenge to search systematically for in-house data wherever they might be stored – and to actually find them. Enterprise search solutions are designed to provide support in that process. Now, Fraunhofer IAO has brought out a new market study that provides an initial glimpse into the little researched market of company search engines. The market study is acting as a prelude to further research in the field.

Most companies have large quantities of data scattered across a variety of platforms and storage places. One of the challenges businesses face is to achieve standardized access to information – and another is to develop an adequate strategy for dealing with big data. Enterprise search systems offer a solution to the problem: capable of tracking down information wherever it might be stored within a company, these systems make the information available to the user in a suitable format even if a variety of system platforms are in use.

There are by now a range of different systems and integration partners on the market, all capable of searching systematically through businesses' multiple data storage places. Now, for the first time, Fraunhofer IAO is providing a structured insight into the software tools available on the market to assist enterprise searches. The researchers' vendor-neutral "Enterprise Search" market study looked in more detail at nine of these products.

A comprehensive checklist of criteria drawn up by Fraunhofer IAO underpins the "Enterprise Search" market overview. This includes questions on suppliers, on the tool itself, as well as on the interfaces provided. The tools reviewed are not rated; rather, the focus is much more on functionality. This helps to make the overview stretch beyond individual manufacturers to be comprehensive.

The "Enterprise Search" market study is intended as the prelude to further Fraunhofer IAO research activities in the area of enterprise search systems.