The Data Strikes Back—Search Requires More Than Force 

“The first amendment, the second amendment, the third amendment, the fourth amendment, the fifth amendment…” 

“Stop!” 

“The sixth amendment, the seventh amendment, the eighth amendment…” 

“Alexa, stop!” 

“The ninth amendment, the tenth amendment, the 11th amendment, the 12th amendment…” 

“Alexa STOP!” 

“The 13th amendment, the 14th amendment…” 

“ALEXA STOP!” 

One of my kids asked me a question about a constitutional amendment. I asked Alexa. Alexa couldn’t answer, which seemed odd. So, I tried various permutations of the question, none of which gave me any information. Finally, I asked Alexa for a list of constitutional amendments and got the above response. And Alexa kept going even as I yelled, “Stop.” I felt like I was trapped in the Bob & Ray Slow Talkers of America routine.  

It’s ironic: we are surrounded by devices that give us instant connectivity to all the world’s knowledge, and we can’t find answers to simple questions. Perhaps I should have tried saying, “Alexa, these are not the answers I’m looking for,” but I was afraid I would receive a delivery of droids that I wasn’t looking for (at least Alexa is honest about her loyalties). 

Traditional Search Strikes Out 

As hard as it can be to find information on the web, finding internal company information is even harder. Internal information isn’t constructed to be SEO friendly. For over two decades now, search has been the fine art of creating structure out of unstructured data—and the unstructured data is gaining the upper hand. As the diversity of data types, applications, and locations continues to expand, the problem is only getting worse. 

The more locations we must dig through, the more different ways of asking the same question, the more irrelevant results we have to read to figure out what matters, the more exhausting finding information becomes. No matter how much we might find the lack of useful answers disturbing, we might also remember that even Darth Vader had trouble finding the information he wanted, despite his gratuitous use of Force (I can only imagine how Vader would have reacted to Alexa’s “helpful” answers). The Rebel Alliance, on the other hand, did manage to find what they needed, and they did it without using the Force. 

Unfortunately, the most common solution being offered today to solve the information search problem is some variation on a brute force approach: moving all your data into a vector database or uploading it all to a vendor’s cloud. Although these solutions often seem attractive, under the surface lurks a phantom menace. Even if you could somehow vacuum up all your data, you’d just be creating a new set of problems, including maintaining security (AIs are leaky), creating one large target for hackers, and keeping everything synchronized as new data is created. Let’s face it, data in an app such as Tableau is there for a reason. Pulling it all out defeats the purpose. Brute force solutions are not going to save the day. 

A New Hope 

However, there is another… solution: SWIRL AI Search. SWIRL is Zero ETL (no data migration or uploading necessary) and connects securely to over 100 (and counting) different data sources. It can simultaneously search them all to find the information you need when you need it. By providing a single interface to all your data, SWIRL eliminates the headaches of: 

• Searching individual sources one after another,  

• Remembering the specific search incantations for each location, and 

• Keeping track of which locations you’ve searched this time 

Instead of forcing you to wade through endless results that feel like an attack of the clones, SWIRL uses AI to return results ranked by confidence and relevance. Unlike a certain other AI, SWIRL’s results are useful. Instead of being a brute force solution, SWIRL is a force multiplier.  

Was the Rebel Alliance so successful because they used SWIRL? We’ll never know for sure, but they did get useful results. To see how SWIRL can help you quickly and easily get the results you need, contact us today for your free demo. And may the Force (multiplier) be with you.