The Search Network is a community of expertise. It was set up in October 2017 by a group of eight search implementation specialists working in Europe and North America. We have known each other for at least a decade and share a common passion for search that delivers business value. We are increasingly concerned by a focus on search technology by vendors that takes no account of business requirements, implementation challenges and the need for a skilled support team. Search is not a product or a project. It requires an on-going commitment to support changing user and business requirements and to take advantage of enhancements in technology.

Members of the Network have web site search, enterprise search and search application development expertise with on-premise, hybrid and cloud implementations. We all work as individuals or micro-companies and have no commercial relationships with any search vendor or implementation partner.

The current members of The Search Network are

• David Hobbs (Washington DC, content audits and content migration)
• Charlie Hull (Cambridge UK, open source application development)
• Miles Kehoe (San Francisco USA, strategy, implementation and recruitment)
• Helen Lippell (London UK, taxonomy development)
• Agnes Molnar (Budapest Hungary, Microsoft SharePoint and O365 search)
• Eric Pugh (Virginia USA, open source application development)
• Doug Turnbull (Virginia USA, open source application development)
• Martin White (Horsham UK strategy, implementation and evaluation)

Search Insights 2018 is our first collaboration. On 10-11 April 2018 Doug Turnbull and Eric Pugh are running the Haystack – The Search Relevance conference in Charlottesville, Virginia. As we see other requirements emerging for information and guidance we will work together to provide solutions.

The Search Network is an informal community, not a hub-and-spoke network. You can talk to any one of the members and they can bring in others as appropriate. We look forward to helping you achieve search excellence.

Martin White