Talking about Advanced Search today can be translated as finding the right information at the right time, even the ones you don’t know you have. But let’s take a step back. Companies are a collection of information that grows over time. Even if many companies are optimizing their recovery and storing activities, thanks to increasingly advanced data platforms and warehouses, many remain hidden inside documents. Here then, an Advanced Search solution can make the difference.
The Risks Of The Pond Effect
Accumulating information is rarely the solution to a company’s problems. Indeed, the risk is to leave them “stagnant” in documents scattered across various devices, applications and company databases. This type of siled management can lead to cascading productivity losses and inefficiencies. Only when the corporate document database is easily accessible can it bring a competitive advantage. An issue that becomes even more pressing with a high turnover, where the documents and the information contained therein risk being lost and forgotten when the resource leaves the company. Silos trap everything:
- Commercial reports
- Technical procedures and manuals
- Organizational and regulatory documents
- Technical drawings
- Legal documents
- Scientific papers and patents
Therefore, solving them to embrace a culture open to exchange and innovation is a priority for business growth.
Who Seeks Finds, With The Right Tools
People in the company spend about 19% of their workweek researching and gathering information. Simplifying the search process, therefore, means saving time for those who work to be employed in activities with greater added value. An advanced search solution helps instantly find information among tens of thousands of documents and sources, whether on corporate servers, the cloud, CRM or corporate Drive. Furthermore, proper document research management leads to better collaboration.
If teams don’t work well with each other, it’s often because they’re misaligned. They can’t access the same information, sometimes they need to learn it exists, and they struggle to get an overview. For example, a company’s marketing and sales teams typically have common processes that work only if both parties can find and share specific information promptly. Using an Advanced Search solution, none of them will have to wonder or asks their colleagues: “Where can I find this document?” and collaborating will be easier and more intuitive.
Keyword Research And Cognitive Search
We’ve seen how effective search capabilities increase the efficiency of an organization on all levels. However, there are two basic elements to consider:
- Not all companies know their document base, so they cannot implement complete knowledge management processes.
- Documents are nothing more than the result of business processes and often contain keywords that can identify them.
Some oppose keyword research to cognitive search, while they should be considered sides of the same coin. An effective Advanced Search engine can use full-text and semantic search interchangeably without having to choose between one of the two, customize the results with filters and return a 100% relevant result with your searches every time. In particular, cognitive search can enrich the results based on the search intent and the context: who is it? What team does he belong to? What do you usually look for? What documents does he have access to? They are all information that can influence the results shown.
Let’s go back to the example of the marketing and sales team. If a person involved in digital marketing searches for a customer’s name, he probably wants to know information related to acquiring her. At the same time, a salesperson may need the company registry or VAT number. Advanced Search will highlight specific information and documents for each making the search process more flexible. In summary: full-text search, combined with advanced cataloging, finds the information you need in seconds, while cognitive search technologies automatically extract hidden values and concepts from the entire document base. Furthermore, an Advanced Search solution can show related results through talking knowledge graphs.
Four Words For A Successful Advanced Search Solution
There are numerous solutions on the market that, however, often need to be implemented in practice because they are too rigid and not in line with the needs of the individual company. Here are four words that, in our opinion, encompass the characteristics that an effective Advanced Search system must have:
Documents
Thanks to a constantly updated library of connectors and converters, it can integrate and access a company’s documents, no matter the format or application they are in.
Meaning
It exploits the power of natural language processing to find information starting from the semantic meaning of the search. It allows a new way to explore the entire document base quickly.
Learning
Use Machine Learning and trained AI to extract all the information from documents, even those you didn’t initially know you had.
Representation
It guides people through all stages of research thanks to the user-friendly interface and aggregates related information in knowledge graphs, facilitating their understanding and knowledge.
What Are The Advantages Of An Advanced Solution For Document Research?
Choosing an Advanced Search solution is an investment that pays off daily and affects the quality of people’s work. Many companies are already moving to implement it within their routine, aware of the competitive advantages it brings, including:
- A custom search engine that can extract hidden knowledge in documents into valuable insights
- a world of documents and information just a click away, thanks to the possibility of integrating the solution with any company tool
- An intelligent system that uses implicit and explicit feedback to learn and perfect its results
- reduction of the average search time
- Greater satisfaction of people who finally have a “really useful tool” at their disposal.
Also Read: Sandboxes: What They Are And What They Are For
