Cloud Based Enterprise Search Management
Many companies that manage large volumes of information assets to serve large scale client bases rely on Enterprise Search technology as a critical success factor to help them deliver highly relevant search results that connect their clients with the information they need.
As content volumes continue to grow exponentially and technology continues to rapidly evolve to meet user demands, maintaining a well optimized search service becomes a significant challenge that requires a team of dedicated professionals to manage the search application and the associated data center infrastructure. This can be expensive to purchase, maintain and operate.
Many enterprise search owners are looking for ways to reduce the Total Cost of Operation (TCO) of the search service and are also very much interested to improve customer satisfaction with the search service and increase conversion rates – from visitors looking for product information to buyers.
We are seeing an uptick in interest from clients who would like to have their Enterprise Search service hosted on cloud computing environment and to outsource the management and day to day operational monitoring of the search service.
In response to these requests, ACIS Consulting has launched a Cloud based “Enterprise Search as a Service” (ESaaS) offering.
ESaaS is an end-to-end solution offering that includes:
- Cloud based server infrastructure
- Enterprise search software license – shared or dedicated software licence
- Professional consulting services for search best practices based solution design and implementation
- On-going application management, performance monitoring and management reporting services
The benefits of Enterprise Search as a Service can be divided into two parts: the business benefits of having an Enterprise Search service that is managed by subject matter experts; and the added advantages of implementing it as a cost effective cloud-based solution.
Enterprise Search technology capabilities can be leveraged to deliver engaging search experiences that improve customer retention and meet user expectations. Nowadays, users expect interactive search and knowledge discovery experience that is based on complete and highly relevant search results that are tailored to match their needs and interests.
Experienced search engine professionals are required to make the Enterprise Search system work efficiently and effectively. These experts must be able to:
- Periodically upgrade the search functions/features to match the inevitable evolution of content, to reflect changes in user needs and to take advantage of advancements in technology;
- Regularly analyze what information is being searched for at your website and whether the search results that are being returned are meeting the needs of your visitors; and
- Provide recommendations for search engine optimization to drive more traffic to your website and more conversion during interaction.
Many enterprises find it prohibitively expensive to maintain a dedicated team of specialized search experts and they end up compromising on the quality of the search service despite acknowledging its strategic importance.
Cloud-based Enterprise Search provides an opportunity for a ” think outside the box ” solution that helps address this situation. For low security content that is generally available on public facing websites, an ESaaS service can be deployed as a shared facility with multiple customers all sharing the costs. This also allows the expert resources to be shared by multiple clients and used on “as needed, when needed” basis. The search experts can maintain a detailed knowledge and understanding of your Enterprise Search infrastructure and service needs without being fully dedicated to your system.
EsaaS also provides other benefits that are derived from leveraging Cloud Computing, including:
- Pay-as-you-go billing that is advantageous for both short and longer term usage;
- Predictable budgets while also accommodating possibly significant fluctuations in workload;
- High quality of service and performance due to flexible resource allocation;
- Standardized environment with a up-to-date, professionally managed infrastructure;
- Process agility for change requests to both the search functions and the infrastructure.
For more information about this service and how it can be leveraged to help achieve your business objectives, please give us a call or drop us an email.
