denotes premium content | Feb 7 2012 
Enterprise Information archive
Volume 1 Issue 6
Editor’s letter
Welcome to the December 2004/January 2005 edition of Enterprise Information (ei). As you will notice, the magazine has benefited from a new layout that features an expanded news section, multi-part workshops and several regular columns. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome on board Kate Clifton, the magazine’s new editorial assistant, as well several new freelance writers. Together, and with the help of the magazine’s invaluable editorial board, we will endeavour to provide you with a bigger, better, altogether more lively publication.
Changes aside, this month’s cover story looks at the rapidly changing face of the enterprise-search marketplace. Over the past decade, search technologies have experienced significant evolution, with myriad tools and complex algorithms now becoming part of the corporate mainstream. But as these tools start to become commoditised, established vendors will have to innovate if they want to continue to compete on functionality rather than price.
To fully understand and appreciate the dynamics of existing enterprise-search solutions, we look at the strategic movements of the key vendors that dominate this space and consider the impact of Google’s foray into this domain. I hope you enjoy this month’s issue.
As always, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me at jschofield@ark-group.com. I very much look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, and together with everyone here at Enterprise Information, I wish you a happy and prosperous new year.
Editor
Jason Schofield
Features
The 7Cs of intranets
Intranets are all around us, but how many genuinely deliver sustainable value to their host organisations? The 7Cs is a consulting and change framework that focuses on delivering value through sustainable change. Applying this framework to the development or redevelopment of intranets will help ensure that your intranet doesn’t become a nightmare for users and the business.
Collaboration and beyond
Caterpillar’s Knowledge Network incorporates some 2,700 communities of practice and almost 40,000 users, many of whom work in partner organisations rather than in Caterpillar itself. And some communities are realising an ROI of over 700 per cent.
Intranet consolidation
Winner of the ‘Best intranet/extranet project 2004’ category at the recent International Information Industry Awards in the UK, Boots has successfully consolidated seven intranets into one. Read on and learn how.
Project ASTRA saves the day
With IT systems that were almost 12 years old and built on technologies that were about to become unsupported, Intertek had no option but to implement an entirely new IT solution. By Michael Barber.
Regulars
The Last Word: When outsourcing, forget software licences at your peril
Software licences are often overlooked when outsourcing business applications and processes. To avoid costly mistakes, make sure you understand your licence restrictions and the options available from your outsourcer. By Alexa Bona, Gartner analyst
Showcase: Simon Forster profiles Diagonal’s flagship EDRM solution, Wisdom
Diagonal’s approach to the information market is based around identifying opportunities where technology can be implemented based upon the integrated needs of the process and not simply by looking at the silo centric needs of individual technologies. To this end, our value added competencies are not just based around our track record of supplying Microsoft Content Management Server (MS CMS), but doing so in a way that provides both incremental opportunities for MS products such as Office 2003, Visio, MOM and Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server (SPS), and also a more holistic solution for the customer by supplementing CMS with collaborative and electronic-document and records-management (EDRM) solutions.
Audit used to be the hardest word
A content audit can serve a number of functions in supporting improved information management, ensuring that people have access to information that is current, reliable and accessible. This article is the first in a two-part series.
You know that rule of thumb that says if you haven’t worn something in two years then get rid of it? Wouldn’t it be great if we actually did this? But the simple truth is that aside from moving or simply storing things on the floor, we are lazy and don’t want to tidy up if we don’t have to.
PIMs anyone?
As manufacturers and retailers struggle with information overload, what promise does PIM, the industry label applied to the group of business processes that aggregate product content, really hold? By Jessica Twentyman.
Enterprise search: A commodity in the making?
Over the past decade, enterprise-search technologies have experienced significant evolution, with myriad tools and complex algorithms now part of the corporate mainstream. But as enterprise-search tools start to become commoditised, established vendors will have to continue to innovate if they want to compete on functionality rather than price. By Jason Schofield.
