Search systems find a bigger role

Will firms be appointing "search engine administrators"?

Enterprise search applications are set to become even more important to firms’ IT infrastructure in future, and a new role of search engine administrator may be needed to manage the technology, according to industry experts.

John Lervik, chief executive of search company Fast, told IT Week that the market for search systems has the potential to grow to $10bn in the next 10 years. He added that search tools will increasingly be used to run mission-critical applications, and may remove the need for costly integration projects to create unified data stores.

“The conventional way of finding enterprise data is to integrate applications through expensive projects – to create data warehouses, for example. But firms should keep their legacy systems and put enterprise search as an abstraction layer on top of them,” he argued.

This extra application layer will make management easier, because integrating search capabilities into back-office systems makes administration simpler, reduces costs and increases the flexibility of IT systems, Lervik argued.

“It will be so easy to use, and [a single] intuitive search interface for users means they will avoid having to learn 10 different applications,” he commented. “They can easily add and delete fields and put in their own personalised analytic and ranking profiles.”

Mike Davis of analyst firm Butler Group agreed that advances in search and discovery technology would add “a new layer of intelligence”, but warned that over-reliance on search tools may cause staff to neglect basics such as taxonomies and accurate filing systems.

“Enterprises have loads of [data] and most of it is stored in places where it shouldn’t be, therefore search must be everywhere so that we can see where we’re putting it,” Davis said. “But as this continues it could make us lazy, and we forget to file things where they should be.”

The importance of search systems in the enterprise will also require a new role of search engine administrator, which will provide “an interesting career path” for IT professionals, predicted Lervik.

Angela Ashenden of analyst Ovum said firms would need a search administrator to take responsibility for the whole organisation. “Enterprise search is not something you can put in and leave be, it must grow with the organisation and be maintained,” she added.