The network is an inexhaustible source of information and an indispensable work tool for every company. However, most of the business fabric suspends when executing its online strategy and incorporating it into its business processes. How to put into practice the theory of online decision making?

The optimization of corporate search engines is one of the options designed specifically for large companies. In this way, we reduce costs, improve sales and get critical information for our business in real time. But decision-makers’ options are usually limited by web search engines (Google, Yahoo or MSN) without shuffling other options specifically designed for the corporate environment and that have a much higher ROI.

Connecting the information points

Internet is a communication channel with many and varied options (virtual communities, Vlogs, blogs, podcasts, RSS, wikis, etc.), which directly influence purchase decisions. Therefore, the technology that is implemented is essential to achieve the objectives and manage the large cloud of unstructured data and multiple existing sources and formats. More than half of the data that is critical to our business is not structured.

The success of the portal will depend on factors such as the combination of desktop search, search in portals or vertical, social search and Internet in a single platform, which is presented with the company’s brand. With this transformation, the portal ceases to be just a website: it becomes a reliable way of orienting oneself in a universe of information, which ranges from the user’s PC to the web nebula.

The online companies that are better off facing the crisis are those that incorporate search-based applications (SBAs) into their web portals , that is: they maintain and automatically generate quality content with mash up , loyalty to their audiences through experiences of satisfactory searches and with relevant results and incorporate 2.0 and semantic functionalities (typical of web 3.0).

And above all, they are getting a real and growing independence with respect to the big web search engines, thus increasing sales. It is a fact that 85% of all search traffic goes to one of the three great web search engines, although positioning marketing, SEO and other “google” strategies are losing effectiveness for large companies. It is necessary to achieve a strategic independence that provides complete control over the profitability of our website. That is to say, it is the managers of our own company who manage the online business and not be in the hands of a third party. And this is already being done by many successful companies.

From theory to practice: online SBA solutions

Currently, there are multiple options in the market that allow improving access to information for decision making. These solutions should focus on the real needs of each company and not on a standard service pack. Therefore, the corporate search service tends to be increasingly personalized, giving importance to the verticality of the information obtained.

Although the success of web search engines is undeniable, the situation changes in the corporate environment, where the combination of business application connectors (BI, ERP, CRM, etc.) with web information is basic.

In this sense, the use of search engines as part of strategic planning is increasingly common. Not only for its reliability as a source of access, but for its ability to improve the presence of a company in the network. In addition, users demand more than one search engine to track and index their content.

Context that has led manufacturers to develop applications that increase customer loyalty and contribute to strengthening the business model of each organization in the Network. These solutions must: combine the reduction of operational costs for the organization with a better search experience for the user.

The strategies of e-Commerce, must improve the sales through the success in the searches. That is, with a single click offer access to a wide variety of products and services related to the query, including user generated content (tagged) and external content (blogs, forums, videos and images). In addition, work must be done to offer dynamic and updated content.

Also, directories are another possibility that you must combine the database with mash ups and related links that improve the extraction of information for the user.

There are already many great companies that implement these strategies in their businesses. During the last edition of La Red Innova, in which Exalead presented its workshop on Online Profitability , examples were seen as Via Michelin , which obtained more than 15 million indexed documents with 800 queries / second, which undoubtedly has reduced its costs of administration and improved the search experience of its clients. It is one of the most visited portals. Also available on the web is the case with all the details of the n1 real estate portal in England, Rightmove, or even its video on its implementation experience and how they reduced the costs with search-based applications or SBAs by 1/6.

In short, B2C portals must become a reference site to guide their clients, offering a universe of information that goes from the PC itself to the Internet. Companies must focus and maintain 100% control of their brand, their customers and their advertising revenues, while offering a constant flow of innovative and vertical search features.