Enterprise Search
Source: News.Com Study: "Shoddy Search Prevents Worker Success"
An article about a new study from the Neilsen/Norman Group. From the article, "As companies look to cut costs amid a prolonged economic downturn, many are turning to technology to automate services previously handled by employees. Automation isn't always the solution, however; the time required to properly understand tools can become a drain on efficiency, too...According to the study, titled "Designing Usable Intranets," the group estimates that a poorly designed intranet can cost an average company with 10,000 employees $15 million per year in lost productivity." The point about "understanding tools" is true for all search resources. Knowing what a search tool is capable of and then being able to utilize its "power" is essential skill for an info pro. Then, being able to train staff on how to easily maximize a search tools power is a very important skill for many of us to have. Yes, Google, Teoma, and AlltheWeb are easy to use but with a little training these resources become even more impressive. Just reminding people to place phrases inside "quotation marks" can be a good place to start. It's "power" is easily illustrated when a user begins seeing more precise result sets. See Also: More About the Study. Full-Text is fee-based.
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