The Gilbane Conference kicks off this Tuesday in Boston. In addition to attending the event (Coveo is a sponsor), I’ll also be speaking on a panel about “Strategic Imperatives for Enterprise Search to Succeed.” This topic ties closely to how Coveo works with its customers to ensure the success of their knowledge management initiatives.

In the session, I’ll be joined by fellow panelists Urban Hedström, founder of Findwise, John Felahi, Chief Strategy Officer of Content Analyst Company, LLC, as well as Lynda Moulton, principal at LWM Technology Services, who will be moderating the panel. We’ve worked with Lynda for many years. Together we will examine the findings of a recent Findwise survey, which uncovered a disconnect between the expectation and execution of enterprise search.

To reach the expectation of your own organization — employees and customers — enterprise search must be leveraged strategically so that the right — meaning relevant — content finds the right person at the right time. Otherwise, the result is irrelevant, and users lose trust. Our session will ultimately look at the challenges organizations have with their enterprise search strategies, why they have them, and what they can do to ensure that relevant content is found when needed. I plan to discuss the next evolution of search technologies, where we present that relevant content into the context of the user—whether that user is an employee, a customer, or just a website visitor.

Coveo’s priority is to eliminate any barriers that prevent organizations from accessing and using their relevant knowledge. After all, what good is it to have valuable information on file (wherever it may be stored – the cloud, an internal server, email files, a CRM database, etc.), if it can’t be used, accessed at the right time or no one knows it exists?

Gilbane