Google threat to Microsoft enterprise search say users

By Stan Beer
Wednesday, 19 July 2006 20:38

Your IT - Home IT

Microsoft COO Kevin Turner may vow not to let Google get a look in to its enterprise search business but that does not appear to be the way users see it. A new poll shows an overwhelming number believe that Google is now a serious threat to take over the corporate search business from Microsoft.

An iTWire poll asked the question: Is Google a serious threat to Microsoft in the enterprise search market? Of the respondents 88% answered yes and just 12% answered no.

A recent article on iTWire pointed out that a product recently launched by Google called OneBox which, together with an integrated hardware unit called the Google Search Appliance can crawl through and dig out corporate data at super fast speeds.

As a result, analysts believe the experience that users are getting typing natural language queries into the Google search box on the web will translate to natural language searching for corporate records, rather than users drilling down through applications and directories to find records. The time savings are potentially enormous as anyone sitting on the other end of a phone would appreciate after putting in a query to the accounts payable department about an upaid invoice.

Of course, Microsoft is working to implement similar technology in the enterprise. It's just that Google dominates the web search space and is throwing out the challenge in the corporate arena. Users obviously believe it has a good chance of making a dent in Microsoft's stronghold. {comment}