To the general public search equals Google and its ubiquitous, maddeningly simple search entry bar. But enterprise search is about a lot more than finding a bunch of blue links based on popularity and similar criteria. Enterprise users are looking for very specific internal documents, such as billing information, personnel, and customer files and product information. So it's a lot less about the quantity than the quality of results.
I expect significant innovation in the enterprise search space in 2009 as these companies, including Google, find better ways to present users with the information they truly are after. Microsoft shook up enterprise search at the start of 2008 with its $1.2 billion purchase of FAST (Fast Search and Transfer) and has had a year to figure out its next moves (which it probably needed given the distraction of the on again-off again Yahoo acquisition talks. Look for FAST to have a much bigger profile in 2009.
Other players, like Autonomy, are at the cutting edge of finding results for all kinds of media types — images, video, voice, etc.
Google is making headway with its own enterprise search products, but it would seem to have little chance to dominate as it does the consumer space. "Enterprise search is not a homogeneous market segment," said Eric Rogge, senior director of product management at enterprise search vendor Exalead. "It's more like the Balkan states; there are lots of different niches where specific competencies are most important."
For example, one area Exalead focuses on is the logistics market. Rogge cites the example of a car company that hears about a freight stoppage. "We can help you find out in real time what cars were on that train. We're offering information retrieval coupled with business intelligence."
Another example, still in development, Rogge said e-mail could be searched to help analyze sales trends. "You see there's a drop in sales and it might be helpful to analyze e-mail threads to see which deals went well or not."
Will Hulu Dance Around YouTube?
Here's an easy prediction to make, because it's become a mainstay of Internet forecasts the past several years: Video on the Web will explode. But several industry insiders have made more specific guesses on what's to come in online video.
Benjamin Wayne, CEO of online video provider Fliqz, predicts "the death of the online video ad model" in 2009.
Wow, video ads, we hardly knew ye!
Wayne claims video advertising on the Web is a "broken model" that is due to be done in by inventory shortages and what he says is the "prohibitively high cost" of creating effective ads.
Instead, Wayne predicts a shift to subscription-based models, as well as more businesses creating and marketing their own branded videos.
I fully expect the online ad model to evolve, but I don't expect it to go away anytime soon; Google's got a lot more tinkering left to do with YouTube to get it right as a thriving platform for advertisers. A big challenge is making sure blue chip advertisers don't get anywhere near some funky user-generated video like cats swimming in tapioca, though the Jello folks might like that.
Another provocative prediction is from Spock.com co-founder Jay Bhatti, who thinks in the next 18 months Hulu.com will come to dominate Web video at the expense of YouTube. Bhatti claims "advertisers hate user-generated content (just ask Facebook and their challenges making money) and trust the content on Hulu will be of high quality and will make their brand appear to the user."
He also notes Hulu is already off to the race, projected to generate $70 million in revenue this year — versus $100 million for the more established YouTube, and may well eclipse YouTube's revenue in 2009.
Hulu has very good buzz. I've not only read this, but anecdotally, I can report many people I know have recommended it. But my personal experience has been disappointing. I used Hulu to watch some network shows I missed, which was useful, but found watching a full-length show on my computer, like Heroes (43 minutes), less than satisfying. There's plenty of room for Hulu to be successful, but I'm betting services like YouTube and others that cater to short-form videos will also thrive.
