InQuira Publishes Application Sheets

January 30, 2011

Search vendors are trying to figure out how to cope with free search (Lucene/Solr), bundling of okay systems with other enterprise software (Microsoft, Oracle), and lower cost search systems (dtSearch, Fabasoft). InQuira’s approach has been to craft specific info sheets and make them available on at least one Web site we track, ITVerdict. Here’s a run down of the info sheets for the InQuira NLP content processing system:

InQuira for Contact Centers at http://www.itverdict.com/inquira-for-contact-centers/
InQuira for Knowledge Applications at http://www.itverdict.com/inquira-for-knowledge-applications/
InQuira for Sales Intelligence at http://www.itverdict.com/inquira-for-sales-intelligence%E2%80%94building-a-smarter-sales-force/
InQuira for Social Communities at http://www.itverdict.com/inquira-for-online-social-communities/

These are verticalizing write ups. Most search and content processing systems position themselves as a platform or a framework. The idea is that once the system is in place solving one problem such as customer support, then that search system can be used for other problems. Well, sometimes the client does not feel comfortable using a smaller firm’s technology as the foundation for big applications. For the “big” jobs, the licensee falls into the gravitational pull of the IBMs, the Microsofts, or the Oracles of the world. Is this a good choice? Who knows? People want to keep their jobs and working on a system that requires certification is a baby step to becoming indispensible for some folks.

An increasingly popular approach is to just go after ready-to-run vertical solutions. I understand the sales intelligence angle. That’s a bit like business intelligence narrowed to know which sales person is likely to track backlog, close business, or cost in commissions. I am on the fence about the social stuff, mostly because it is expensive to do well and darned fuzzy. With regard to knowledge applications, I want to use the system.

If you are tracking the way search vendors are positioning themselves in 2011, the InQuira approach is interesting. More information about InQuira is at www.inquira.com.

Stephen E Arnold, January 30, 2011

Freebie

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Business strategy, Marketing, News, Vertical search

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.