The term search is frequently associated with keyword search, as most of the information retrieval requirements of individuals are related to web search. However, the information access procedures have come a long way over recent years, and the enterprise world and its requirements have led to the advent of a more complex and substantially different type of search, namely the enterprise search. As opposed to the web search, which mostly comes down to keyword search, the enterprise search encompasses navigation, advanced search capabilities and relevant information discovery. The process of organizing, searching and mining information within an enterprise is dramatically different from the process on the web. While there are some adaptable techniques, most of the techniques developed on the web cannot be successfully adapted to enterprises.

The success of all the actions in an enterprise relies mostly on good decision making, which, in turn, depends mostly on the access to the most relevant information. When it comes to enterprise search, the search engine software solution should meet the following criteria: customization, relevancy, usability, scalability and management.

When it comes to search in general, and enterprise search in particular, relevancy holds great importance. Although the idea may not seem complicated, implementing it effectively on a large scale is not exactly simple. The area of information retrieval and its applications at the enterprise level are quite demanding, which is why the search engine software that the enterprise uses should have a wide range of features. If the search engine needs to be adopted by several groups of users, the choice of search engine software should definitely be based on its ability to achieve high relevancy.

Speaking in terms of customization, enterprise search engines have to be adaptable to even the most demanding areas. Different enterprises have different needs, and, therefore, your search engine software provider should be one that can deliver everything from standard to highly customized solutions that are most appropriate to your specific business needs.

The community of users within an enterprise is varied and demanding, and making use of the best technology when it comes to enterprise search will not suffice. Simplicity and intuitiveness should be key factors of your enterprise search engine in order to gain the users? acceptance. In other words, the usability of the enterprise search engine holds great importance.

Scalability is yet another important aspect of search engine software. The demanding business needs require that the enterprise search engine be scalable to globally intensive levels. Management is equally important and having a customized enterprise search engine gives its owner the great advantage of being able to completely control the domain and access the statistics resulted from the users utilizing the system.

Some of the search engine software providers deliver search engine paradigms that are highly integrated into the existing information systems of your enterprise. DirectInfo is one such search engine solution, which allows easy access to your information assets. Some of the most important features of the DirectInfo search engine platform include: full text search in documents, web sites, e-mails, databases and portals; comprehensive search options; seamless integration in the existing authorization systems and applications of the company; meta data search and tabular result presentation; availability for Windows/Linux/Unix; easy installation in less than an hour.