Access With Security Safely
Improve Knowledge Worker Efficiency with Secure Search
Complete, accurate search results should be presented in a convenient manner and should be able to be used with automated actions, such as posting to team collaboration workspaces, integrating into business processes or sending notifications. While generating relevant search results is critical, the presentation of those results also is vital to ensure the usability of the returned information.
Most knowledge workers today find tremendous value in both internal and external (Web-based) information sources. In striking contrast to traditional solutions, a comprehensive federated solution will have the ability to aggregate and cluster result sets from multiple internal and external information sources. Make sure, therefore, that the solution can merge results from both internal and external sources.
Securely Improving Business Performance
When the right federated search solution is implemented, organizations can keep information secure while improving business performance.
Product development. Utilizing federated secure search to help research, develop and launch new and updated products in ever-shortening cycles can help organizations in industries such as pharmaceuticals, aerospace and high-tech avoid the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars of lost or delayed revenue that can result from a single day of delay. Time matters.
Enterprise search gives clinicians and other product developers single-query access to myriad information sources without the disruption of various search tools, security controls and retrieval mechanisms. Business performance can be improved through the ability to consider similar research which may be in heterogeneous information sources; accelerated research and development results through reuse of development capabilities and expertise; improved competitive position through use of third-party competitive information providers; and the ability to keep pace with changing regulatory requirements during product or service development.
At the same time, the security mechanism of each searched application is invoked (seamlessly to the user) in order to ensure information security. For example, a researcher reviewing drug trial information would not see the personal information of those participating in a study.
Customer support and case management. Call center and government case management personnel face increased pressure to act as less of a problem solver and more of a strategic advisor. But at the same time, they often lack the necessary information and decision support systems that will enable them to demonstrate subject and content mastery.
An enterprise search solution enables customer support representatives to improve their knowledge of complex and rapidly changing product or service features and functions without expensive and time-consuming training. It can provide a consolidated view of all customer interactions that go well beyond traditional support issues, while ensuring that only the information the representative is authorized to see is available. Government organizations benefit through the ability to provide integrated case management and improved customer service to citizens, while again providing a customer service representative, for example, with only the appropriate authorized information.
The EMC Approach to Secure Search
EMC® offers a secure federated search solution that enables querying of all content sources inside and outside of an organization via a single search box. EMC Documentum® Enterprise Content Integration (ECI) Services makes enterprise content accessible with a single query no matter where it resides.
ECI Services is based on the concepts of reuse, adapt and enable. The solution reuses existing indexes, security permissions, metadata and business logic, while leveraging—not disrupting—the current IT infrastructure. ECI Services adapts to content, context and structural changes to information sources and includes a large number of pre-packaged adapters for various content sources as well as the ability to easily customize existing adapters or simply build new ones—usually without changing or writing any code. And ECI Services presents complete, accurate search results in a convenient manner that can enable automated actions, such as posting to team collaboration workspaces, integrating into business processes, or sending notifications, all while respecting the access permissions of the knowledge worker for the information.
ECI Services searches remote information sources using the access rights of each individual user. ECI Services fully manages authentication and authorization mechanisms to meet specific security requirements in the context of federated search. It also provides default support for RSA® and SiteMinder Single Sign-On and extensibility to support other products and frameworks. ECI Services offers pluggable authentication modules from user authentication up to adapter authentication. It delivers an API to create custom authentication providers, enabling authentication using a one-time login token, a PIK certificate or LDAP information. Integrating ECI Services into a single sign-on environment provides a robust security framework.
1 Filing Information: April 2006, IDC #201334, Volume 1, "The Hidden Costs of Information Work"
More information on EMC Documentum ECI Services is available www.emc.com