Investing in the right enterprise search software is not a decision to be taken lightly.

Enterprise search software has evolved far from a simple keyword-matching system. There are now plenty of solutions that offer additional features to differentiate themselves.

Some of the features we will discuss today are quickly being established as industry standards, while the others are still novel and potentially very useful.

Given that enterprise search serves as a central knowledge management hub in a business, it offers a solid ground for many additional and useful features to be implemented.

In 2025, the focus will mainly be on implementing AI to power conversational search (think asking questions in plain language) and generative AI features that can create concise summaries of complex information.

Let's take a look at some of the features you'll want to see in your enterprise search software.

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1. Conversational Search

With the advent of AI, your searches can be a truly conversational experience. It's no small thing to make sure your queries will always be understood because your search understands the intent behind the keywords.

If you have ever talked with LLMs (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot), you know how natural it is to ask queries and guide them toward the results you want. You'll want that in your enterprise search, too.

Imagine the efficiency of simply asking, "Give me all the documents related to sales in Q4 2024." An intelligent, conversational enterprise search engine understands your intent and does more than just find files with those exact keywords.

The search engine may surface reports, presentations, or even email threads relevant to the search, even if they don't explicitly use those terms.

This means no more data indexing and keyword matching. You need to look for an enterprise search that understands your internal database and gives the user the most suitable results.

2. Implementation of Generative AI

You probably know by now how handy generative AI can be. That's exceptionally true when applied in a workplace setting where you can couple it with your must-used tools, enterprise data, and all the documents in your usual workflow.

Some enterprise search software now offers integration with large LLMs that allow the use of generative AI.

The integration of generative AI models within enterprise tools holds immense potential.

Through its ability to generate text, translate languages, generate summaries, write different kinds of creative text formats, or answer your questions in an informative way, generative AI can save time on mundane tasks.

This means that you can have at your fingertips a tool that answers numerous commands like “What are the average sales for April in the past four years?”. It's like having a personal assistant who is familiar with your company data, which can really save a lot of time and give you all the necessary info to feed your thought processes.

This frees up employees to focus on more strategic and creative work. 

Additionally, generative AI can uncover new insights from the data and point out the patterns.

3. Integrating with Other Business Tools

A truly effective enterprise search solution means looking across ALL the tools your team uses. It's about finding what you need, regardless of whether it lives in an email, project board, chat message, or document.

The search should understand where the information is coming from. This will allow it to refine search results and help your team make better use of the information.

A unified search experience is a massive time-saver, letting your employees focus on their core tasks instead of hunting for information across applications.

Absolute essentials include email clients (Gmail, Outlook), cloud storage (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox), and task/project management tools (Asana, Jira, Trello), which form the backbone of most teams' daily workflows.

A modern enterprise search should also integrate with your chosen CRM, such as Salesforce. This surfaces customer data, past interactions, and deal-related documents for an overview of any client relationship.

We must not forget the communication apps. Platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Discord host a big part of workplace communication, and valuable information can be found there.

Lastly, enterprise search software can also integrate with marketing automation platforms (Hubspot, Marketo, Mailchimp) and analytics tools (Google Analytics). This allows retrieval of campaign results, audience data, and lead information as needed.

When in doubt about whether your preferred business apps can integrate with the specific enterprise search software, it is best to contact the vendor. Many vendors allow for customization and can integrate with various tools depending on the business need.

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4. Security

When it comes to handling your business data, some of which might be sensitive, security is one of the top priorities when choosing enterprise search software.

A good enterprise search solution needs to respect existing security protocols and safeguard data at every stage.

Here's what to look for:

• Encryption: A good solution will use strong methods like AES-256 for data at rest (stored on servers) and TLS 1.3 for data in transit (moving between systems). This means that even if someone gets a hold of the data, they can't read it without the right key.
• Certifications: Certifications like SOC2 Type II show that a company is serious about handling data securely. These certifications are issued by independent auditors who rigorously examine a company's systems and processes for handling sensitive data. They signal that a company has proven it meets high standards for security, confidentiality, and data management. 
• Matching Your Existing Security: Your enterprise search should work within the permissions and access levels you already have in other tools. This means people should only see search results they're already allowed to see. This system is called Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).
• Keeping Track: The ability to see who searched for what and when is important for sensitive stuff. Look for solutions that can provide clear reports and logs for tracking purposes.

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5. User Experience

The idea of enterprise search is to make work easier and quicker. It aims to assist employees in everyday tasks, but for that to happen, it needs to be intuitive and accessible. 

We already discussed the conversational experience made possible with natural language processing (NLP), which is a big part of the intuitive and practical use of enterprise search.

However, you really want to make sure that all the extra features work well and are easy to use. This means the intuitive interface and even suggestions from the software.

Depending on the size of the organization, think about whether the software is capable of handling large volumes of data and high user traffic without lagging, especially during peak times.

Smart enterprise search platforms recognize that UI is as important as the search engine itself. By providing pre-built components, customization tools, and seamless integration, they make it easier to create an intuitive, user-friendly search experience that truly boosts your team's efficiency.

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6. Personalization

Each employee has unique work patterns, frequently used data sources and specific information needs.

Enterprise search engines powered by machine learning can track what documents a user clicks on, the questions they ask, and their interactions within different tools. This creates a rich profile of their work habits.

This profile teaches the search engine to rank results that align with the user's interests, project involvement, and frequently used resources.

Machine learning can uncover connections between data that wouldn't be obvious to the user, suggesting documents, contacts, or past projects that might be unexpectedly helpful.

The goal is for each employee to experience the search as if the enterprise search understood their work context.

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7. Proactive Insights and Notifications

With proactive insights, the enterprise search tool can be used to analyze user behavior and organizational data trends to provide timely, predictive notifications and insights. For example, it could notify users of upcoming deadlines, relevant document updates, or emerging trends across frequently searched topics. This feature would add value by: 

• Enhancing Decision-Making: Users receive insights based on real-time data, helping them stay informed on projects or areas they may not actively be monitoring.
• Boosting Productivity: Employees no longer need to manually check for updates or dig into reports; they receive notifications that are relevant to their roles or ongoing projects.
• Personalization: Learning user patterns delivers more refined, targeted notifications, keeping each user aligned with the most pertinent information for their needs.

Proactive insights would help transform enterprise search from a reactive tool to a proactive one, enriching user experience and maximizing efficiency.

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Ask Any Question, Get Any Answer

The idea of enterprise search is to enable a workplace where employees can ask any question and get any answer.

With smart enterprise search, employees can find any information they need from any source (documents, chats, etc.) using a simple, natural language query.

In addition, search results aren't just a list of documents; they're enriched with analysis and context, revealing connections and answers that go deeper. It understands your role and the projects you work on and tailors the results to be the most relevant and helpful for your needs.

While enterprise search solutions share most of the core functionalities related to the common goal of making information more accessible, many of them have special features that make them more or less suited for certain applications.

For a full breakdown, you can check out our detailed guide to all important enterprise search features.

Ultimately, the right enterprise search should create a completely connected environment that allows for connections between the different data points, tools, and teams, where everything is easily accessible and, therefore, easily utilized.

If you want an enterprise search solution that offers all the essential features and much more to help utilize your organization's data, check Akooda.

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