SharePoint 2007

Enterprise Search

In the next year, we will produce more documents than we have in the last 5000 years.

Before there was search we used directories and classification and we filed and found information using the same mechanism. However, directories are no longer appropriate for information finding as corporations now hold an increasingly large amount of information. Search has long been the de-facto method for finding information on the internet and it has now become the de-facto tool within the enterprise.

What is enterprise search?

Enterprise search increases productivity and reduces information overload by providing your employees, partners and customers the ability to find relevant content in a wide range of repositories and formats. SharePoint 2007 allows your users to go beyond documents and across repositories to unlock information, find people and locate expertise in the enterprise.

Common barriers to enterprise search

Did you know that an average member of staff spends 15% of their working day looking for information?

Common barriers to effective enterprise search include the following.

Information overload
Large amounts of data in leading to critical information stored in multiple repositories such as file servers, Exchange public folders, Lotus Notes, Documentum, CRM and other Line of Business (LOB) applications, external websites and SharePoint.
Lack of search capabilities across these islands of information
Inability to deliver tailored relevant results securely, manageably and quickly

Features and Benefits of SharePoint 2007 enterprise search

Enterprise search enables users to gain access to the right information at the right time, thus allowing your staff to be more productive and your customers to be most satisfied. SharePoint offers users the familiar tools that they use every day, thus taking away the responsibility from IT and providing more power to the users.

SharePoint 2007 allows users to unlock the value of data to the business by taking advantage of the following benefits.

Lower your cost for storage

Reduce duplication

Federate queries to repositories, business systems and online services

Search file shares (Z: Drives, etc)
Include your company website
Include competitor's websites
Include the industry

Find data, not just documents

Information in line-of-business (LOB) systems is often hard to access
Index websites, file shares, Exchange public folders, Lotus Notes, Documentum and FileNet repositories
SharePoint 2007 can bring that data to your users
- Data is accessed through the Business Data Catalog
- Data is exposed to many features in SharePoint
Search can easily index the data
- No need to write code
- Highly customisable results
- Integrated with scopes and search centre

Find people and expertise

Leverage 'people search' capabilities to find people not only by department or job title, but also by expertise, social distance and common interests.
Use Microsoft Office Communications Ser5ver to gain access to live presence, allowing users to contact the experts directly.

Ensure compliance and protect intellectual property (IP)