Search Trends, SharePoint 14, and the Net Generation

The traditional model of information portals is fading in favor of search driven experiences like topic pages that allow for greater ease of publishing and information access.  Social software is becoming part of everything and has stopped being a mere feature.  The vision, business value, and technology that will drive the next several years of enterprise search is available to you today.  What is not as easily accessible are the answers of how do we get there and what change the technology will bring to an organization.  The answers will come as more search driven solutions are developed and best practices shared.  Dell for example gave an excellent presentation on their work with SharePoint and FAST.  I expect there will be at least some search implementation sessions at SharePoint Conference 2009 in the fall.  There definitely needs to be.

SharePoint 14 is poised to drive intranet search experiences for the masses similar to what SharePoint 2007 did for information portals.  FAST Search for SharePoint, the next evolution of FAST ESP shipping with Office 14, along with the recent inclusion announcement of PerformancePoint, is building a solid value-add story for SharePoint enterprise customers.  Microsoft has worked out a licensing model where customers can, and in my mind should, start planning for search solutions using the current FAST and SharePoint 2007 toolsets.  The benefit of search is there, but in most cases is going to require considerable planning.

There was much talk of the Net Generation (Millennials/Gen Y) during the conference, and how this generation is changing the shape of business as they enter the workforce.  While this discussion was very thought provoking, the demand generated by this cohort is not the business case for search within your organization.  While the younger members of your workforce can help speed adoption of new technologies, greater ease of access and management of information is the reason to move toward newer capabilities in enterprise search.

Tweetstream at #ffc09

The Twitter activity at FASTforward was a very exciting thing to watch.  I had TweetDeck open for the majority of the conference and activity was constant especially during the keynote presentations.  Some people acted as reporters, tweeting comments from the speakers in realtime.  Others engaged in further discussion on some of the topics.  Conversation like this a few years ago would have happened in delayed blog posts and not been as candid.  Especially with the virtual conference option for FASTforward, there was a way to keep connection between those in Vegas and remote.  A few speakers even looked at the Tweetstream while on stage to catch the pulse of how the presentation was being received and any questions.  Twitter as much as FAST technologies had a win from FASTforward.

A Changing Microsoft

The talk is turning into action as I saw a changing Microsoft at this event.  This Microsoft was focused on the user experience aspects of search design and providing value to customers.  The technology was there, but not in the frame of technology for technology sake that I have seen in the past.  As the recession continues, it was reassuring to see the energy and innovation at this conference as the work in enterprise search is really just getting started.

Partner Awards

EMC walked away with the User Experience Solution of the Year from FASTforward.  Many people stopped by the booth to see the live demo which incorporated Microsoft Surface.  It was great getting to talk with some of you and hearing some of the current SharePoint implementation challenges facing your businesses.  I’ve included a video of the solution.