At Findwise we love to see how we can use the power of search technologies in ways that goes beyond the typical search box application.

One thing that has exploded the last few years is of course apps in smartphones and tablets. It’s no longer enough to store your knowledge in databases that are kept behind locked doors. Professionals of today want to have instant access to knowledge and information right where they are. Whether if it’s working at the factory floor or when showcasing new products for customers.

When you think of enterprise search today, you should consider it as a central hub of knowledge rather than just a classical search page on the intranet. Because when an enterprise search solution is in place, when information from different places have been normalized and indexed in one place, then there really are no limits for what you can do with the information.

By building this central hub of knowledge it’s simple to make that knowledge available for other applications and services within or outside of the organization. Smartphone and tablet applications is one great example.

Integrating mobile apps with search engine technologies works really well because of four reasons:

• It’s fast. Search engines can find the right information using advanced queries or filtering options in a very short time, almost regardless of how big the index is.
• It’s lightweight. The information handled by the device should only be what is needed by the device, no more, no less.
• It’s easy to work with. Most search engine technologies provides a simple REST interface that’s easy to integrate with.
• A unified interface for any content. If the content already is indexed by the enterprise search solution, then you use the same interface to access any kind of information.

We are working together with a large Swedish manufacturing company. A company that has transformed itself from a traditional industry company into a knowledge engineering company over the last years. I think it’s safe to say that Findwise have been a big part of that journey by helping them create their enterprise search solution.

And of course, since we love new challenges, we have also helped them create a few mobile apps. In particular there are two different apps that we have helped out with:

• A portable product brochures archive. The main use case is quick and easy access to product information for sales reps when visiting customers.
• A mobile web app that you get to if you scan QR-codes printed on the package.

And even more recently the tech giant Apple has noticed how the apps makes the day to day work of employees easier.