What is Enterprise Search–and Why It’s Not Enough on Its Own

Most organizations today don’t suffer from a lack of information; they suffer from a lack of connection. Knowledge and data can be scattered across platforms, locked in silos, and buried in formats AI tools can’t understand. Even when it’s technically accessible, it’s often out of context or outdated. 

According to Okta’s 2024 Businesses at Work report, companies now manage an average of 93 workplace apps, with large organizations handling as many as 231. Gartner also reports that the average desk worker juggles 11 different apps daily–up from only 6 in 2019–and that 60-73% of collected data remains underutilized simply because employees can’t find it.

Enterprise search alone can’t fix this fragmentation. It retrieves, but it doesn’t always clarify, connect, or certify. This is why a platform like Bloomfire helps teams move beyond isolated search results by connecting knowledge pools—the first of the five principles of Enterprise Intelligence— to transform scattered information into usable insights.

What is Enterprise Search?

Enterprise search platforms allow employees to search once and retrieve results from across all their organization’s data sources, such as document libraries, intranets, knowledge bases, and cloud apps.

By aggregating content from multiple systems, enterprise search helps employees find what they need without toggling between platforms. 

While AI Enterprise Search helps employees locate information, it doesn’t connect ideas, resolve contradictions, or surface insight across context. That requires something deeper: connection logic.

Where Does Enterprise Search Fall Short?

While enterprise search technology retrieves information, it doesn’t always help employees trust or act on what they find. Without proper structure and context, it often overwhelms users rather than informs them.

The challenges with platforms using strictly enterprise search include:

• Relying on pulling in content from other systems that oftentimes don’t provide the flexibility to create and review content essential to many teams, especially those in customer support functions.
• Providing a simple answer strictly by searching data across the company instead of providing valuable connections across relevant, actionable knowledge.
• Lacking robust curation capabilities that enable admins and moderators to build knowledge experiences around essential content areas.
• Presenting scalability issues as they are expansive in terms of what they bring into search and AI results, but risk pulling in content that isn’t vetted or accurate. 
• Struggling socialization and engagement capabilities are essential to fostering a culture of knowledge engagement and collaboration due to a lack of essential tools.
• Searching that requires perfect queries for the correct answer, while connection surfaces what is relevant and actionable, even with an imperfect query.

When knowledge isn’t connected, workflows stall, productivity suffers, and the organization misses out on insights it already owns. Enterprise search is a critical component of knowledge access, but reaching true Enterprise Intelligence requires integrating, cleaning, and contextualizing knowledge across all platforms, teams, and formats.

What Is a Connected Knowledge Pool?

A connected knowledge pool is a structured, living network of knowledge from across systems — documents, messages, intranet pages, and expert know-how — made searchable, surfaceable, and contextually relevant.
Unlike a basic search index, connected knowledge pools are continuously curated, connected, and enriched with metadata so employees get insight, not just information. Connecting knowledge pools is one of the first steps in achieving Enterprise Intelligence.

How Do Connected Knowledge Pools Function?

Connected knowledge pools combine structured and unstructured data through various integrated platforms, automatically curating and connecting knowledge with AI tools and metadata. Not only do they surface direct matches, but also show related insights and verified knowledge—even from imperfect or exploratory queries.

With Bloomfire, teams access relevant knowledge from tools like Slack, Salesforce, and Google Drive—all in one unified experience.

This connected structure improves collaboration, prevents duplication, and ensures the right knowledge flows to the right people at the right time.

How Bloomfire Helps Connect, Not Just Search

Bloomfire enables organizations to unify scattered knowledge, apply intelligent metadata, and deliver relevant answers when and where they’re needed, helping teams progress toward Enterprise Intelligence.

This approach goes beyond simple searching by enabling organizations to align faster, make smarter decisions, and adapt with greater agility. Bloomfire is more than a platform that just searches for knowledge; it also connects relevant information, enabling employees to receive the most accurate and comprehensive data possible.

AI tools help resolve content duplication, fill knowledge gaps, and surface relevant insights directly within user workflows—even before a specific search is initiated. Recommendations, tagging, and content analytics allow information to be proactively shared across teams, not just retrieved on demand.

Outcomes of Connected Search (Not Just Enterprise Search)

Organizations that move beyond traditional enterprise search see tangible outcomes:

• Reduced Information Silos: When teams can access knowledge from all connected sources and integrations on a single platform, they directly eliminate siloed knowledge and prevent lost time searching for information.
• Enhanced Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: When employees can easily access relevant information, they are more likely to share it, thereby encouraging knowledge sharing within your company.
• Less App Switching: Employees no longer need to manually search across multiple various platforms like Slack or Salesforce. Using Connected Search with Bloomfire ensures information is unified across various platforms and that relevant knowledge is automatically brought forward, reducing the time spent searching.
• Productive Employees: When employees can quickly access relevant knowledge, their workflow becomes much more productive. Bloomfire data shows that 46% of teams say their day would be significantly more productive with easier access to cross-functional knowledge.  

Connected search enables smarter decisions, faster alignment, and better results by connecting—not just retrieving—what matters.

Integration Capabilities (Technical GTM Support)

To truly build connected knowledge across your organization, your platform must do more than index content—it must structure, classify, and govern it. Combining generative AI, enterprise search, and knowledge management integrations creates a flexible, integrated, connected knowledge pool that enables:

• Scale across the enterprise: Expand the reach and impact of knowledge with seamless Enterprise Search integrations that eliminate the burden of curation, migration, and provisioning.
• Optimized efficiency with AI search: Eliminate context and app switching with a flexible, unified AI search engine. Ask once and get direct answers across certified, curated company knowledge whenever you need it, with the freedom to access information in ways that best suit your workflow.
• Collaborative, strategic outcomes: Build a culture of operational excellence through robust engagement and socialization tools that leverage enterprise-wide expertise and data.

Bloomfire integrates everything for connected knowledge pools, along with other apps like Google Drive, Salesforce, and Slack, so your knowledge pools have easy access to all of your company knowledge.

Why Fully Integrated Knowledge Management Systems Are Important for Your Organization

Enterprise search is no longer enough. In a knowledge-rich but context-poor world, organizations need more than retrieval—they need connection. That’s why connecting knowledge pools is the foundation of the Enterprise Intelligence framework—and why Bloomfire helps organizations make it real.By integrating connected knowledge pools with a knowledge management platform, Bloomfire helps companies achieve Enterprise Intelligence. We emphasize the importance of creating a certified, connected knowledge base that provides trusted answers to employees, empowering organizations to unlock their full potential and drive growth and innovation.

This content was originally posted in July 2024, and was updated with fresh content in October 2025.

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About the Author

Sanjay Jain

Sanjay Jain leads a visionary team responsible for developing our platform and advancing capabilities for digital knowledge workers. With a relentless commitment to innovation, Sanjay and his team empower organizations to scan, search, select, synthesize, socialize, and signify their knowledge with the transformative power of AI.