Five Big Data Habits of Highly Effective Organizations

While every organization addresses information overload differently, there are best practices related to enterprise search technology that the most successful operations have in common.

1. Federate instead of consolidate.
As people create content at a dramatic rate across an enterprise, the costs, resources and processes required to manage all of that information in one system have become prohibitive and unrealistic. Organizations are finding that search technology can provide a single point of access to all types of information wherever it may exist, including legacy sources—delivering the benefits of consolidation without the obstacles.

2. Think organizationally, act individually.
With an enterprise search platform that's flexible and scalable enough to fit anywhere it's needed, successful organizations are empowering individuals to find and share information on their own. Distributing access to content eliminates knowledge silos, helps staff make better and more informed decisions, and saves time and resources.

3. Leave no document unturned.
At the top of the list of enterprise concerns is the accountability of all organizational content. Knowing what's floating around an organization, and being able to easily surface it, is crucial to mitigating risk and supporting compliance. Providing access to every ounce of relevant, unstructured information that exists outside of core business applications also is essential if you want processes to be fully informed.

4. Drive value from data.
Once they've unearthed their valuable information assets, smart organizations are immediately putting that data to use. Enterprise search can drive an operation's ability to analyze results, automate manual tasks and connect people to the right information at every point of need. It's not good enough just to find content, you need to be able to do something with it.

5. Demand simplicity and usability.
When it comes to technology-especially enterprise search-users expect the experience to be simple, straightforward and pertinent to their roles. Top organizations understand those requirements, because buy-in is critical. If a solution is too complex or the search results and functionality aren't ideally suited to them, users will find workarounds. Then you're back to square one.