A partnership that's expected to be announced Tuesday between Google and professional services provider BearingPoint, formerly KPMG Consulting, aims to make searching across corporate and internal desktops and databases as easy as using Google's Web search page.
BearingPoint has thousands of consultants trained to help companies integrate and customise the Google Search Appliance and the Google Desktop for Enterprise software, Chris Weitz, managing director for BearingPoint, said on Monday.
The Google search appliance is used to let employees at corporations, federal agencies and other organisations search for documents in internal databases and other sources that may be spread across different locations and that tend to be unstructured data hidden from Internet search engines. The Desktop for Enterprise software lets people search for data on their desktops.
BearingPoint will offer companies customised search technology tailored for specific industries, like pharmaceuticals, banking, high-tech and aerospace, Weitz said. The company also will provide software plug-ins for the Google hardware, as well as customised security integration, sales and support, he said.
"Search as an application is becoming more and more in demand from within the enterprise," Weitz said. "Our research has shown that users already use Google all day long and they want to continue to use it in other ways. We are going to extend it into parts of the enterprise it currently does not go."
The deal is expected to increase sales of the Google search appliances, the companies said. Google does not currently have a professional services team to work with companies, however it launched an Enterprise Professional Programme in September, of which BearingPoint is the largest partner, said Dave Girouard, general manager for Google Enterprise.
Under that programme, services companies pay a $10,000 annual membership fee to receive training and developer consultation to learn how to install and customise Google's search appliance and desktop search software and help their customers use it.
Other companies competing in the corporate search market include Autonomy, which is acquiring rival Verity, and Fast Search & Transfer of Norway. Meanwhile, Google competes with Microsoft and Yahoo, among others, on desktop search.
