More than half (54%) of global information workers are interrupted from their work a few times or more per month to spend time looking for or trying to get access to information, insights, and answers. The problem: old keyword-based enterprise search engines of the past are obsolete.

This information is typically available within the organization but is not readily accessible and/or searchable. Artificial intelligence is transforming enterprise search as we know it. Moreover, keyword-based enterprise search engines of the past are becoming obsolete. This is why enterprises are making a move toward cognitive search. 

AI under the hood

When someone submits a search query, they implicitly tell the search engine what they’re looking for. Non-AI-powered search engines scan only the keywords provided by the user, search for those keywords in the content repository, and fetch search results that have those keywords in the content. Some of these results may be relevant for the user, while some may not be.

On the contrary, Cognitive Search is the new generation of enterprise search that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to return results that are more relevant to the user or embedded in an application issuing the search query. Forrester defines cognitive search and knowledge discovery solutions as:

” A new generation of enterprise search solutions that employ AI technologies

such as natural language processing and machine learning to ingest,

understand, organize, and query digital content from multiple data sources.”

The cognitive search market is exploding — it’s anticipated to be worth $15.28 billion by 2023, up from $2.59 billion in 2018, according to Markets and Markets — and it coincides with an upswing in the adoption of AI and machine learning in the enterprise.

The distinguishing characteristic of cognitive search solutions is that they use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to understand and organize data, predict the intent of the search query, improve the relevancy of results, and automatically tune the relevancy of results over time.

Lucidworks has been named as Leader in Cognitive Search Evaluation by Independent Research Firm. Lucidworks developed the Cognitive Search Continuum to help companies understand where they’re going, and the steps that need to be taken to achieve better search. The Cognitive Search Continuum is a four-part model showing how organizations can start to evolve their search capabilities from simple keyword search applications to more powerful capabilities like cognitive search and conversational apps.

In the white-paper “Flight-plan: Getting from Enterprise Search to Cognitive Intelligence” Lucidworks walks you through a maturity model that details the stages of how to soar toward cognitive search that leads to insights and action. Are you at stages 0, 1, 2, or 3? Don’t waste a moment – find out now!

Intelligent search applications are transforming our day-to-day lives. And as users become more and more used to these smart apps, they’ve come to expect the same experience in the enterprise.

Employees need access to an enterprise search engine that can help them quickly find what they need, just as they would with an internet search. Cognitive search can give employees access to knowledge from any data source, provide analytics to help fill content gaps, and deliver personalized results to every user. The result is actionable knowledge, higher productivity, and immediate ROI.