Manufacturers could save money and improve business using content management systems

That’s the verdict of a report ‘Enterprise Search and Retrieval’ published today by analyst Butler Group. The report goes on to suggest that ineffective search and discovery strategies are hampering business competitiveness, impairing customer service and ultimately putting companies at risk at a time when systems do exist to manage their structured and unstructured information. “Over 50% of staff costs are now allocated to employees performing so-called information work,” says Richard Edwards, senior research analyst at Butler Group and co-author of the report. “Employees are suffering from both information overload and information under-load,” he adds. “As a result, the typical information worker now spends up to a quarter of his or her day searching for the right information to complete a given task.” Sue Clark, another co-author and senior research analyst, says: “Search and retrieval solutions enable organisations to exploit the information assets they already have. They also enable companies to identify opportunities, reduce risk and garner insight.” Enterprise content management (ECM) software vendors currently dominate the market with appropriate systems, offering document management, records management and web content management. However, Edwards predicts a shake-up in the market. “In recent months, business intelligence (BI) vendors, such as Business Objects, Cognos, Information Builders and SAS, have been integrating their wares with solutions from Autonomy, FAST, IBM, Google and others. This has led to speculation that an acquisition might be imminent, and that search technology could finally unite the otherwise separate worlds of structured and unstructured information.” As well as providing a comparison of the leading search and retrieval solutions on the market, Butler Group’s report suggests that these solutions can deliver real business benefits and improve competitive advantage. The report also highlights why these systems are useful for compliance, where the technologies should be positioned within the organisation’s IT framework, and how search and discovery can be utilised through a service orientated architectures (SOA) to enhance portals and line-of-business applications.