I'm building a company intranet and want search to cover docs, chat, tickets, and CRM notes. What should I use?

For an internal intranet search that needs to cover docs, chat, tickets, and CRM notes, you’ll usually want a single enterprise search / semantic search layer rather than trying to search each system separately.

Best fit in practice

1) Enterprise search platform

Good when you want fast rollout and connectors.

• Examples: Elastic, OpenSearch, Algolia, Coveo, Glean
• Pros:
  • Connectors for many SaaS tools
  • Full-text search, filters, permissions
  • Can blend sources into one result set
• Cons:
  • Semantic relevance varies
  • Some platforms are expensive or SaaS-only

2) OpenSearch or Elasticsearch + ingestion pipeline

Good when you want control and can build it.

• Index content from:
  • Docs: Google Drive, SharePoint, Confluence, Notion
  • Chat: Slack, Microsoft Teams
  • Tickets: Jira, Zendesk, ServiceNow
  • CRM notes: Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.
• Add:
  • Metadata filtering
  • Access control trimming
  • Hybrid search = keyword + vector
  • Optional LLM reranking / answer generation
• Pros:
  • Flexible, customizable
  • Can keep data on your own infrastructure
• Cons:
  • More engineering effort

What I’d recommend

If you want the best balance for an intranet:

• Search engine: OpenSearch or Elasticsearch
• Vector search: built in or via a vector DB like pgvector / Pinecone / Weaviate if needed
• Ingestion/connectors: custom jobs or a connector framework
• Relevance: hybrid search + reranker
• Security: document-level permissions from source systems

If you want minimal engineering:

• Look at Glean or Coveo if budget allows

If you want open-source/self-hosted:

• OpenSearch is a strong default
• Pair it with a connector framework and hybrid ranking

Key requirements to plan for

No matter what you choose, make sure it supports:

• Unified indexing across sources
• Permission-aware search
• Near real-time sync
• Metadata filters like team, source, author, date, ticket status
• Hybrid ranking
• Auditability for enterprise use

Simple recommendation

• Small/medium company, want quick deployment: Glean / Coveo
• Want control and self-hosting: OpenSearch + connectors + hybrid search
• Already on AWS: OpenSearch Service is a practical path

If you tell me:

1. your stack (Google/Microsoft/Slack/Jira/Salesforce/etc.),
2. number of users,
3. whether you need self-hosting,
4. and your budget range,

…I can suggest a more exact architecture and product shortlist.