All Hail (or Curse) the Interface!

The survey for our Market IQ on Findability is wrapping up - leaving it available for those of you with 25 minutes of spare time over the weekend :) - but while I've got your attention, something to consider...

We made this the Market IQ on Findability rather than the Market IQ on Search (or Enterprise Search) for one very basic reason. Even search isn't just about search... search is about getting RESULTS.

Ideally, it's THE result that you want. The ONE result that helps you drop in the language you need in your contract RIGHT NOW and ship it out the door to close a sales deal.

Or a multitude of results that help you explore/discover a range of potential directions for new drug development, based on the interpretation of the research you've already done to narrow the field.

Or being able to rapidly assemble a project team from a cast of thousands, maybe tens of thousands of potential candidates from your firm, by integrating your search with availability information (working, on the bench, on vacation, etc.), a skills/profile database, and your project management system.

Or in e-discovery, where you may be desperately hoping NOT to find something (not by hiding information, but genuinely not finding evidence of wrong-doing).

So, much of the effectiveness of findability has to do with the interfaces we have, whether it's in typing in or otherwise provide a search query, through navigation through faceted systems, or millions of other possibilities.

With that in mind, get yourself some inspiration for what is possible from the presentation below (it's not mine, sadly, but is the brainchild of Stephen P. Anderson, who has some truly enlightening and stunning presentations), and I'd love to hear feedback on whether YOU and YOUR organization is doing anything a bit "out of the (search) box" - and whether it is effective, or distracting, to the end goals you have.

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