Tired? Disorientated? Confused? That’s probably not all down to the 15 pints of lager you saw the new year in with. No, it may well be because your enterprise search capabilities leave a bit to be desired.

The trouble with enterprise search tools is, of course, that they are gargantuan, costly pieces of technology that require large investments of time and resources to implement, and then yet more in user training. IT teams can face an uphill struggle when it comes to ensuring staff get the most out of these tools, which is probably why they are usually left to chug along with barely half of their functionality ever being used.

Not all of this is the fault of the enterprise search vendors, such as Autonomy and Fast, but the frequent changes and additions that these rapidly growing firms have made to their respective product lines in recent months have hardly helped matters.
But recently I have detected the scent of revolution in the air. Managers who have grown used to the simplicity of web search now want to be able to sift through their corporate data in the same way.

Well, according to the analysts ­ and I have to take everything they say now with a generous pinch of salt since one of my oldest and most unreliable friends recently became one ­ the enterprise search market is more dynamic now than it’s ever been. The incumbents are being challenged by a host of upstarts.

First, there’s that arch-disruptor Google, which is trying to bring the simplicity of its web search offering to the corporate arena with its Google Search Appliance and Mini ranges.

Then there are Vivisimo and Sinequa; the latter a French company that has some pretty impressive customers including Orange, Expedia and various Gallic public-sector organisations.

The vendor says its technology is designed to reduce the complexity and cost of accessing and searching all types of enterprise information sources, including both bespoke and legacy applications.

Exalead is another firm with the likes of Autonomy and Fast firmly within its sights. Exalead emerged from an academic research project and boasts a single unified platform for all of its products, again hammering home the ideals of lower costs, simplicity and more relevant results.

A fourth is Recommind, which is pretty big in the e-discovery space and is popular among law and media firms.

So as you swallow your fifth Alka Seltzer of the day, and set out once more on that age-old quest for a key that will unlock all the value concealed in that ever-expanding mountain of corporate data, take heart that help is out there.