ECM systems and Search - Either-Or?

So you want to manage your content and then you want to find it too. Sounds reasonable. Must you pick just an enterprise content management (ECM) or a Search system, one or the other but not both? That seems like a crazy proposition. Although most people (myself included) consider Search and Enterprise Content Management solutions complementary, you’d be surprised what some others think, especially when there is a shortage of funds. In this era of tight budgets, it isn’t surprising to find some who reason “well, if I can’t manage my stuff, at least I can find it when I need to manage it.” A shortsighted view at best, you may rightly think. If you don’t manage your files, and you do search and fine them, then you may find a great many versions and not be sure which one is the authentic version. Oh yes, you can always check the file creation date. And if that file is a Word document, and someone clicked “save” after printing a Word document, then that date itself isn’t meaningful. So you can find things but you can't be sure about the value of what you've found.

And what about the reverse: Managing your files but having no search solution? Luckily that is less of an issue. Every ECM system, from SharePoint to Documentum to Alfresco to name-your-favorite has a built-in search system. Why? Because it doesn’t do any good to store and manage you’re your files if you can’t locate them. Findability is easy when there are only a few hundred files and a few people storing them. That would be the first hour of the first day when an ECM system is first set up. Findability gets hard really fast after that.

Instead of thinking of the "ECM or Search" choice as an either-or, think about the critical benefits each provides the other. Search and ECM together are better than the the combination of each separately. To get the most out of an ECM system (even with its built-in search system) it is worth thinking about how search improves ECM and vice-versa. Ultimately, neither is effective without some good understanding of this symbiotic interplay, and each requires a commitment to improving its use, oversight and continuous improvement. When you appreciate this interplay, and the responsibilities that follow after you get an ECM system running, then you might even consider stepping up to a search system that goes beyond what you normally get for “free” with ECM. Interestingly, two of my favorite ECM systems, Documentum from EMC and Alfresco, both now use Lucene/Solr, and this open source search system doesn’t skimp on power. For more about the benefits of search to ECM, and ECM to search, go to my Guident blog post. You’ll be surprised how these two systems work together, the whole being bigger than the sum of their parts. I’d welcome your comments and thoughts there (and here too).

Thoughts on Enterprise Search Summit 2011

It has been a couple of weeks since ESS 2011 in NYC, and I've had a chance to collect my thoughts about the conference.
The conference, as usual, was a don't-miss opportunity for anyone interested in search systems, search projects, or practical ways to improve search satisfaction. There were more attendees than last year. I found a surprising dichotomy among the attendees and vendors. As to the attendees, they were either new to search or long-time search professionals. Vendors included only one big name (Google, who else?) and many smaller vendors from both the US (such as Basis Technology, H5, and Vivissimo) to vendors from Europe and Australia (Raytion –Germany—and SpringSense –Australia).
As to the themes, they were many. Some could have been from a conference 5 years ago. The enduring themes dealt with such topics as Search projects, and bringing failing search projects back on track (my own presentation) to newer themes of integrating search with social media and search on mobile devices. I was very surprised and pleased to see eDiscovery as a topic and to see at least two vendors offering eDiscovery products and services (H5 and Clearwell).
About 1/3 of the attendees at my presentation requested a copy of Guident's free "Findability Checklist," now expanded with attributed quotes anyone can use in their own search presentation. I've expanded that to include general ECM quotes too. If you want one too, send me an email.
Other observations:

• Google was somewhat cocksure about its position in the commercial search market. This is the second year in a row when I found their presentation hard to understand, hard to hear (speakers need professional presentation training), and as much marketing as new material. Nice water bottles at their booth though ;-). I still believe their search appliance inside the firewall is up against competition, from vendors small and large.
• Improving Search user satisfaction. These systems must be intuitive, and in this respect, Google sets the standard.
• No Bing. No surprise.
• Delivering search on mobile devices, although that is still a nascent theme inside the firewall.
• Personalizing search also remains a holy grail.
• Search systems still have plenty of differentiation, and there is plenty of room for vendors (such as SpringSearch) to add value to others' systems.

Best of show, IMHO, was RealStory's "Search Vendors in 30 minutes." The only disappointment (and a big one) is that they did not make their presentation available after the show.
All in all, a show worth attending.