Overwhelmed with the sheer amount and diversity of data, many organizations struggle to provide employees — from top management to front-line staff — with easy access to the most relevant information and analytic insights.
More and more, the term deep search is being buzzed about in industries that rely on having the most up to date information– areas like life sciences, biotechnology, chemicals, and agriculture.
The concept of deep search originated in the early 2000s to ask the question: how can we search the breadth of content across the internet when it is not indexed by standard search engines?
We spoke with CCC’s Vice President and Managing Director of Corporate Solutions Lauren Tulloch to learn more about deep search solutions for advanced research purposes, and the ways CCC fits into the conversation.
Q: In the context of business, how would you describe deep search solutions?
Deep search solutions provide automated capabilities that gather, analyze, and deliver targeted data from a range of online sources.
Deep search solutions focus on what you are looking for by gathering targeted intelligence from data sources you choose and content types relevant to you, leveraging ontologies that are meaningful to your company. This then creates a view into that data that makes sense to for your organization and offers insights that your teams can act on.
Q: How do deep search capabilities differ from traditional web searching?
To find information, we know companies usually start out with a combination of search engines and curated databases. Using a traditional search engine is not only time consuming for this advanced level of search, but it’s easy to miss critical information because search engines do not index all web pages and may exclude pages with information of value to you. We also know they can introduce bias based on ad spend and algorithms, so search engines may offer only the information the provider thinks interest you based on what others find interesting or what will generate the most clicks on ads. In addition, results may be surfaced that display editorial bias and geographic bias. When you’re tasked with gathering all the information, you don’t want to be beholden to a search algorithm that has other priorities .
Curated databases are important but may not be enough. For competitive advantage, companies need to find the information beyond what everyone else has.
Q: Can you give an example of what deep search capabilities look like in the context of a life sciences company?
Take, for example, a company that is interested in grants data, and specifically, the link between a principal investigator, their affiliation, and licensed grants. The traditional way of searching for this information would be time-consuming and laborious, often producing results that may be irrelevant for your specific need. With deep search solutions gathering information from funding organizations’ websites, the ability to target and connect these disparate pieces of information becomes easier and quicker.
Consider a life sciences company wanting to monitor the competitive landscape – especially the emergence of new players. Deep search solutions can automatically alert you to potential partners or collaborators.
Deep search solutions can help highlight signs of early invention in the marketplace – say from conference posters – which may indicate direction of competitive intentions.
All of these are typical use cases for companies to gain advantage by deploying deep search solutions.
Q: What are the main benefits for companies looking to explore deep search?
The first is getting a competitive edge by gaining access to information first. And the second is efficiency and time savings. By streamlining the process of gathering and analyzing information, employees can make well-informed tactical and strategic decisions sooner.
Q: What’s the CCC Connection?
CCC recently acquired DS9, a powerful set of software solutions that makes it easy to collect and analyze information from a variety of internal and external sources. Several multinational life science and crop science companies already use this technology to support a wide range of use cases.
Deep search solutions from CCC are available immediately as we build on what DS9 has created with the help of our software professional services teams. As we look to the future, we will integrate these capabilities into our RightFind suite of solutions for our clients, creating new ways to capitalize on the data our deep search solutions can provide.
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