Mining Your Knowledgebase for Hidden Gems
As businesses scale up in size, they often find that they have a rapidly growing, geographically diverse pool of employees, all of whom are contributing more and more documents and data on a daily basis. Over time, so much knowledge and detail can accumulate that potentially valuable information is often lost because it was never seen by the team members most able to take advantage of it.
Finding a way to comb through that information and find these hidden gems is one the great challenges to modern companies. Luckily, SharePoint can help organize and collate that ever-expanding sea of data. By using advanced search technology, SharePoint can provide an intuitive user experience that belies the great power beneath its surface.
A Seamless, Intuitive Response
When a user types searches for data in a search query, he or she expects to get a fast, accurate response and not have to think about it twice. A search interface is most effective when it is barely even noticed by the end user, whose attention should be exactly where it belongs: on the search results being delivered.
Although the concept is simple, the execution of such an intuitive search is a masterstroke of design choices and a deep understanding of the user experience. Like a stage performer who makes the most amazing feats appear easy, SharePoint excels at this ability to deliver outstanding results in a simple, direct manner. But simple does not mean limited. SharePoint has fully customizable search options, allowing users to narrow, filter, and focus their searches, all without being bogged down by the technical aspects of search technology.
The Power Under the Hood
Just as important as keeping the end user’s interface simple is keeping the actual search engine robust and powerful. SharePoint, especially with the 2013 release, has stepped forward to push the limits of search technology, both for in-house document management and full enterprise cataloging.
While SharePoint comes equipped with powerful search technology, if a company is in need of a little extra horsepower in one area or another, a wide array of apps can help focus and customize search functionality. Or a customized deployment can help find the resources that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.
Hidden Gems
An element of enterprise search that has long been overlooked is the ability to find assets that are already contained within the organization, but have not yet been identified properly. SharePoint allows users to search not only documents but also areas such as the expertise and backgrounds of other team members to find the best solution to a problem. Just as a creative mind makes connections between disparate concepts in order to come up with unique solutions, so too can SharePoint aid in connecting elements of an organization that previously unknown to each other.
This concept of found information is a groundbreaking area for search, and SharePoint is at the forefront of its development. In order to properly pour through the wide range of various documents and various formats in which a company stores its wealth of information, some groundwork must be done first. A thorough and professional deployment of SharePoint is required, in which the proper data taxonomies are established, detailed records management is implemented, and customized searches are developed. The upfront work invested in such a deployment can be substantial, but the amount can be tailored to meet the needs of individual organizations, and the reward of truly wide-ranging, deep search can be astonishing.
SharePoint’s enterprise search excels in the two areas that matter most: the ability to retrieve the best, most relevant information in response to a query, and the complete invisibility of that structure to the end user. With numerous apps to choose from and the option of deployment custom tailored to meet the organization’s needs, there is a SharePoint solution available for every application imaginable.