And the scale of the challenge is set to increase. 63% of respondents said that not enough structured content (text documents, spreadsheets and pictures) was currently searchable within their organisation today (in contrast, 16% said that more than enough of this type of info was searchable). Not surprisingly, 95% of respondents thought that the amount of searchable content in their organisation would increase in the next three years.
Primary goals for utilising search included accelerating the retrieval of known information sources, improving the reuse of content, faster brokering of people/expertise, increasing collaboration, eliminating silos and improving awareness of ‘what we know’.
So how are organisations responding to the challenge? 24% of respondents said that they already have a strategy in place which set out how their organisation should use search technology to support information access needs and business goals. 38% said that they were planning to set one up in 2013-14. However more than 30% of respondents said they did not have a strategy and there were no immediate plans to set one up.