In the previous entry, I talked about information being the food that IT serves to the rest of the organization. One way to present information in a more timely and useful manner is through what I have dubbed contextual enterprise search. Enterprise searching is using search engine technology within an organization's documents, databases, and e-mail. For example, if an individual is working on a licensing agreement with Acme Corporation, that person can find all information within the organization that discusses Acme Corporation in a manner that is similar to searching for Acme Corporation on Google.

As you can imagine, in the traditional web searching sense of using enterprise search, the user has to make an active effort to find information. The user is forced to open a browser window or start an application and then must perform the search based on whatever keywords they want to use. In contextual search, the search results are presented to the user based on whatever document or information they are editing or viewing.