Organizations and Enterprise Search: a Strategic Perspective

Abstract: Nowadays, it is widely known that the available information in an organization only increases. To successfully absorb and exploit that information is a challenge of major proportion. This study aims to contribute with deeper knowledge in regards to Enterprise Search, i.e. how companies work and look upon issues related to how internal search issues are managed. In the past, there is a lack of research addressing strategies for Enterprise Search in general. This study draws upon previous work regarding Information Systems-strategies and proposes a framework which can be used for deeper analysis of Enterprise Search-strategies. Nine interviews with organizations of various sizes were conducted in order to gather data and new knowledge to the unexplored research area of Enterprise Search from a strategic perspective. The study contributes with a theoretical framework for how organizations could approach enterprise search strategically. Our study shows that strategies regarding Enterprise Search are important for organization in their work with these issues and have an impact on the level of maturity of the organization. Our study shows that having a strategy or to strategically work with Enterprise search has significant positive effects. However, we can also conclude that strategy is a diffuse term in itself, nonetheless for enterprise search, and the strategic efforts must not have been written down in print to achieve its positive benefits.