September 28, 2023

Melissa Mullen

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5 min. read

SearchStax was founded to make powerful search easy. Since our founding in 2015, it’s been our mission to simplify search infrastructure and site search operations for web teams.

The Importance of Operational Excellence

Search innovation comes in many forms. Recent headlines include advancements in generative AI and large language models, along with technical innovations in search algorithms and learning methods. 

But many organizations are still struggling to get value out of existing search technologies. That’s why we believe a key area of innovation lies in the practice of efficiently operationalizing search to deliver reliable, scalable services in any cloud.

A high degree of operational excellence cannot be understated for any organization relying on search to transform digital experiences. We strive to ensure that our customers and partners can confidently run and scale their businesses, instead of getting stuck dealing with incidents and the distractions of managing search. As the legendary former Intel CEO Andy Grove stated: “The greatest danger is staying still.”

G2’s Momentum Grid displays products that are on a high growth trajectory in their respective spaces over the past year, based on a combination of “user satisfaction scores, employee growth, and digital presence.” 

SearchStax has earned Momentum Leader once again in the category of Enterprise Search Software, meaning that we’re helping our customers and partners stay ahead of search challenges. 

We’ve done that through our two offerings, SearchStax Cloud and SearchStax Studio, and have repeatedly been recognized by our customers and partners. Previously, we’ve been recognized as a G2 Leader and earned badges for Best Support, Best Usability, and High Performer. 

This fall, we’ve demonstrated impressive acceleration as a company and continue to obsess in our goal to deliver customer and partner value. One key area we’ve invested heavily in is user experience, as evidenced by many of the G2 reviews written by our customers.

Putting User Experience First

When it comes to running search technologies, accessibility and ease of use translate to efficiency, which translates to a higher degree of operational excellence. Which is why accessibility and ease of use is always top of mind at SearchStax. One of the biggest reasons that search infrastructure has been so overwhelming to manage is because of how much care and feeding it requires – from provisioning, to scaling, to managing Solr clusters, and even upgrading and maintaining security and compliance – Solr infrastructure management is a massive, complex task to handle on your own.

In addition, site search has been difficult to operationalize because it has been too complex to use on the back end, especially when you’re in a less technical role like marketing. Marketers need to be  able to do things  like promote specific search results and obtain detailed search metrics without having to go through a months-long developer sprint. 

Usability scores in G2 market reports are composed of several factors: ease of use for each product; ease of admin for each product; user adoption percentage; and the total number of reviews received on G2. Best Usability means that when you evaluate SearchStax, you know your peers in the industry have put into production a search solution that will eliminate the headaches of managing software, not give you a migraine before it’s even stood up. You also know that day-to-day maintenance and incident handling won’t be a huge drain on your time, either, enabling you to focus on what’s really important — building and growing the business.

Our users consistently find SearchStax products customizable and easy to set up. “The customizable nature of SearchStax has been a game-changer,” a recent reviewer says. “It empowers us to fine-tune search algorithms, configure relevancy profiles, and tailor the search experience to our specific requirements. This level of control has drastically improved the accuracy and relevance of our search results, resulting in enhanced user satisfaction and engagement. The benefits of this customization extend beyond search relevancy; they encompass our ability to provide users with a truly personalized experience.”

Another reviewer says, “I was surprised by how easy it is to set up and configure since the SearchStax team will prepare the instance to be Sitecore-ready for you. I am now always recommending SearchStax for all our present and future clients because of my excellent experience with them.” 

Lastly, still another reviewer concludes: “It helped build the search page very quickly without many customizations. We could reduce lots of development effort and save time during the implementation. As it is a SaaS product, we are off from the maintenance burden. Marketers can make all their changes without much help from the technical team. Rich analytics are helping to understand better what our customers are searching for.”

What Lies Ahead?

As we grow, we remain committed to listening to our users and building on our momentum of delivering market-leading operational excellence in search. Here’s what you can expect as we head toward the end of the year.

First, we’re on the road more than ever—which means more chances for you to talk to us in person. Catch us at DrupalCon Lille, Acquia Engage, or SUGCON NA. We’re sponsoring each event, so stop by our booth or workshop — we’d love to share some awesome swag and hear about your search challenges.

Second, even if you’re not a customer or partner yet, check out our resources that anyone in the industry can benefit from. Visit our website to check out our Mini Solution Guide on Hosted Solr, or learn more about how our approach to Solr High Availability, enterprise-class Solr Security, and Solr Disaster Recovery can give you peace of mind. Or if you’re ready to kick the tires, get moving with a free trial of SearchStax Cloud, our fully managed Solr offering

If you’re in the market for an out-of-the-box site search solution, we’ve got resources for you as well. Check out SearchStax Site Search. We’ve also hosted a step-by-step webinar demonstrating how you can maximize your site search analytics using GA4, and we run a podcast where our search experts unpack hot topics like federated search and data ingestion, giving you best practices, tips, and tricks on how to be more effective when deploying site search. For those of you in the non-profit sector, we also started SearchStax For Good, a program that allows non-profits to experience SearchStax Cloud Serverless — our managed Solr offering for smaller environments — free for six months, then at a 40 percent discounted rate once the six-month period ends. 

And lastly for now, remember that search is a key differentiator when it comes to digital experiences. Maintaining operational excellence for your search-based applications and enabling your users to find the right information quickly can make or break your business and your brand. Don’t take it from us, take it from our G2 reviewers — you can’t underestimate the positive impact of reliable, scalable search infrastructure or easy-to-use site search solutions. We thank you, our customers and partners.

Learn more about how SearchStax  simplifies search infrastructure  for web teams today.

By Melissa Mullen

Principal Content Strategist

"I am now always recommending SearchStax for all our present and future clients because of my excellent experience with them."

-- G2 ReviewER

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