The search for success

SurfRay Chairman and founder Martin G. Veise speaks with CXO about the enterprise search landscape and why the company’s recent acquisition of Mondosoft puts the Scandinavian-based company in a strong market position moving forward.

CXO.  Enterprise search technology has come a long way recently.  Do you think it will continue to evolve as rapidly as it has?
MGV. Without a doubt. Enterprise search technology needs to stay ahead of the rest of the technological curve because as computer processing speed and storage capability increases, so does the amount of data that gets warehoused on computer systems. The problem is enormous because the ability to identify and navigate data quickly, and in context, has become critical to the success of any enterprise, large or small. But speed is just part of it. The ability to analyse and interpret search data will become just as important if corporations expect to maximise business efficiency and transform information into knowledge they can use.

CXO.  Did these reasons factor in your company’s decision to acquire Mondosoft last year?
MGV. Yes, very much so. The corporate dilemma on how best to access data is a global one, and acquiring Mondosoft gave us immediate access to an international customer base and channel that already understands the important role that enterprise search plays in their organisation. But beyond that, the acquisition gave us the capability to integrate the exceptional behaviour tracking tools from Mondosoft’s offering into our own powerful search engine products to offer search analytics as part of a fast and comprehensive search solution on a number of enterprise platforms.

CXO.  What makes SurfRay’s technology different from its competitors?
MGV. Well, the fact that we support so many databases, operating systems, and content management systems is a big difference in itself. In fact, we cover the entire spectrum related to the Microsoft universe. So SurfRay technology can help the enterprises access information stored on its corporate Web site, its intranets and extranets, its mail and file servers, and its various databases. Better yet, our foray into integrating analytical components into our high-powered search systems will further distance us from other enterprise search competitors.

CXO.  How do you see your products evolving in the enterprise search market?
MGV. In general, we will constantly evolve our products by adding greater flexibility, scalability, functionality and features, to better address the volume search market. To that end, some of the analytics that made the Mondosoft product suite so compelling to small and medium businesses are being integrated into the SurfRay search engine product for release in April. Later in the year modules will be added that include automatic categorisation and pattern recognition functions that have been the domain of expensive, high-end systems.

CXO.  Explain the role of search analytics.  Why are they an important consideration for enterprise organisations?
MGV. At SurfRay, we consider ourselves experts in the knowledge management business. So while speed and relevance are huge factors in evaluating the performance of an enterprise search engine, search analytics can be equally important. Knowing what exactly users are looking for, interpreting and acting on the statistical results they produce, and how they interact with the search engine, among other factors, help an enterprise decide what pages of data and information need to be indexed or re-indexed, so that employees and users can utilise their corporate knowledge systems more effectively and efficiently. Analytics provide real, objective information that allow companies to make better informed decisions. They can detect market trends, and better position themselves to offer the types of products and services customers seek over any given period of time. Essentially, search analytics can ensure that strategic decisions are always based on the most reliable, up-to-date information available.

CXO.  Any final thoughts on the market landscape?
MGV. Soon we will see enterprise search become broader in scope with market innovation bringing more powerful technology and more high-performance features to a greater number of customers. There will be a democratisation of enterprise search and small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) will enjoy some of the search capabilities now available only to large enterprises on the high end of the spectrum. Our plan in the market is to provide affordable, high-end enterprise search and categorisation to these customers now. And as they evolve, we will continue to develop new, innovative and scalable solutions that keep pace with their future knowledge management and retrieval needs.

About Surfray
SurfRay, a leading provider of enterprise search technology, produces information retrieval systems and search and optimization tools that function as business intelligence systems based on the knowledge creation and retrieval process.

Serving a large global customer base, SurfRay provides information access technology to some of the world’s largest .NET installations in both public and private sectors, worldwide. SurfRay technology supports a large number of portal and content management applications including Microsoft’s SharePoint Portal Server, Windows SharePoint Services, Microsoft CMS and Microsoft Commerce Server.

About Martin G. Veise
He is Chairman of the Board of SurfRay A/S, the search technology company he founded in 2001. Veise’s leadership and passion are the hallmarks of his decade-long experience in the software industry. His current focus is on fostering innovation and market leadership across SurfRay businesses worldwide.