To Metadata or Not To Metadata "Given the rather pathetic record that many metadata efforts have racked up, it is little wonder that organizations have begun to question the entire value of adding metadata. However, there is another side to the story. First, the cost of adding metadata can be reduced in several ways. For example, the $200K for a metadata initiative performed by outside consultants can be greatly reduced by not starting from scratch in each case, but rather starting with existing metadata standards and controlled vocabularies and taxonomies. The cost of a unique custom job will always be higher than one that at least starts with predefined components.
In addition, the cost of doing metadata has to be weighed against the cost of not doing metadata. Assume for the moment that adding metadata would solve all of the problems associated with search. One estimate from IDC puts the cost of bad search at $6 million for a 1,000 person company. Now it is unlikely that adding metadata will solve all search problems, but even if it only solves half, that is still a savings of $3 million per year. In this context, $200,000 for metadata doesn't seem so exorbitant."
"You wouldn't think of running a company without organizing your employees, why do you think you can create access to information without organizing that information?"
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