A perfect storm for intranet search: How one company navigates

A “perfect storm” has formed in the intranet search space, where information is doubling yearly, no usable metadata exists, and search users' expectations continue to increase. New information repository types, collaboration methods, and security protocols complicate the design of a comprehensive solution. Over the past two years, the moderator and participants collaborated to lead the successful design, development, and deployment of intranet search and browse capabilities for a large manufacturing organization. Significant lessons learned inform researchers and implementers of behind‐the‐firewall intranet search capabilities, and have implications for information retrieval, recommendation systems, and designs for next‐generation digital workspaces. We attribute success to a focus on user‐centered design, vendor selection and participation, and the diversity of backgrounds of the team responsible for design and deployment. Panel members consist of representative stakeholders of all development groups who participated. Still, significant obstacles to continued success remain, and panel members have differing perspectives on how best to proceed.