A New Angle on Personalization
November 21, 2011
Web site personalization is a broad category with a variety of facets. Should you personalize? How? CMS Wire tackles this issue in “CXM Practices: Beneficial Personalization.”
Pete Iuvara weighs in:
I have seen this firsthand, the tremendous amount of benefits to personalizing content for your website’s audience. I am a firm believer in embracing a customer-centric implementation. It adds time-saving and relevant-first value for your website’s visitors . . . The key here is being transparent. Your visitors should know that personalization has been implemented in the hopes to benefit their experience first and foremost.
We have found that a user’s web site experience is greatly improved by the implementation of effective search. No matter how attractive a web site, if the search function does not allow the user to quickly remedy a query, the web site is essentially worthless. But personalization options, especially for search, can be costly and clunky. One option that we like is Fabasoft Mindbreeze and their InSite solution.
An attractive website is a company’s digital business card; its shop window. Surprise your website visitors with an intuitive search. Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite is instantly ready for use as a Cloud service. It turns your website into a user-friendly knowledge portal for your customers. Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite recognizes correlations and links through semantic and dynamic search processes. This delivers pinpoint accurate and precise ‘finding experiences.’
It’s hard to imagine an organization’s web site being any more essential to their overall image. It is often the first “stop” a potential customer makes when learning more about a company. Personalize your web space in a smart way, and take advantage of smart solutions like Fabasoft Mindbreeze to improve the overall user experience for your patrons.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 21, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Michael Lynch of Autonomy Lauded
November 21, 2011
Another honor for Hewlett Packard‘s Dr. Michael Lynch: Autonomy announces “Dr. Mike Lynch Awarded Outstanding Contribution to UK IT Award.” States the press release:
The UK IT Industry Awards, presented by the British Computer Society (BCS), the Chartered Institute for IT, in association with Computing magazine, represent the benchmark for excellence for the entire IT profession, showcasing best practice and innovation. Dr Mike Lynch is recognized for founding a number of technology companies, including Autonomy in 1996, one of the fastest-growing, highest-margin software companies in the business.
This award joins several others in Lynch’s august collection, including the Confederation of British Industry‘s Entrepreneur of the Year; the European Business Leaders Awards‘ Innovator of the Year; Management Today‘s Entrepreneur of the Year 2009; and an IEE Award for Outstanding Achievement. The man is on a roll!
Autonomy, a subsidiary of HP, is a leader in the field of unstructured data management. Customers worldwide, including 87 of the Fortune 100, rely on the company’s tools to bring efficiency and meaning to a broad range of amorphous information. We will await the “real” consultants’ assessment of Autonomy. There are 10 billion reasons that support Autonomy as a successful search vendor in our view.
Cynthia Murrell November 21, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
ZyLAB Offers Guidance about eDiscovery
November 21, 2011
ZyLAB goes back to the content lore about records management in “eDiscovery and Information Management: Factors that drive solid records management.” The piece emphasizes the importance of meeting legal obligations and points to several sources for guidance: the UK National Archives, the National Archives of Australia, and the US Department of Defense. However, it also acknowledges that crafting a records management program is a highly individual effort:
Although regulatory guidelines exist, every organization is different. . . . There are basic tenants and principles to good records management—not just in terms of ‘managing records’ but also in terms of creating a positive impact on the organization’s overriding knowledge management goals—but this construct doesn’t mean that there is a ‘one size fits all’ solution to every situation.
The article helpfully suggests ZyLAB’s 8-Point Inspection tool for assessing an organization’s data management needs. Clients from corporations to government agencies use this industry leader’s robust tools to cover their backsides.
This is an interesting write up, and a reminder that the content management systems for Web sites are destined to be a hassle.
Cynthia Murrell, November 21, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Inteltrax: Top Stories, November 14 to November 18
November 21, 2011
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, specifically, Some exciting nes among our favorite providers.
The most interesting tale came from, “Tibco and Digital Reasoning Give A Glimpse at Operational Thinking,” which looked at the minds of the CEOs of these exciting organizations.
In “IBM Ready to Take Analytics Seriously” we discovered some interesting news that shows the computing giant is pushing all its chips into the analytic pile.
However, our story “Qlik Tech’s Collaborative BI is Too Much of a Good Thing” shows that too many cooks can spoil one’s analytic soup.
Here’s just another quick sampling of the many ways big data analytics is changing. And we’re following the biggest names in big data everyday, noting the moves and blunders therein.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting http://www.inteltrax.com/
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax.
Open Text Social Framework
November 21, 2011
The dips and glides of the enterprise and content processing sectors fascinate me. I noticed that Open Text, based in Waterloo, Ontario, is on track to remain a $1.0 billion company. As I write this, the company’s stock is nosing toward $60 a share. With Hewlett Packard’s acquisition of Autonomy, Open Text inherits the title of a “billion dollar search and content processing company.”
In the 1990s, I tracked Open Text. As the company evolved into a collection of properties, I shifted to companies which were sticking closer to the “findability” sector. As you probably know, the core of Open Text today sits upon technology which I associate with Dr. Tim Bray. Dr. Bray work at Digital Equipment and worked at the University of Waterloo on the New Oxford English Dictionary project. He founded Open Text Corporation, which commercialized an XML search system which I believe was used in the dictionary. Open Text created a Web index which available as the Open Text Index and then morphed into “Tuxedo,” a Web index no longer available at the link I had on the Open Text Web site. Web search is an expensive proposition, and I understand why a company like Open Text would exit the free Web search service business.
Today’s Open Text owns the SGML search technology, and the company has acquired a number of other search and content processing systems. My view is that Open Text perceived search as a good business in which to compete. With the ready availability of open source search solutions and low cost “good enough” systems, I wonder if the company’s enthusiasm for search and retrieval has dwindled.
Open Text has a number of search technologies. For example, Open Text acquired Information Dimension in 1998. Information Dimensions’ BASIS search system was database management system. My colleague Howard Flank and I used BASIS to build the original Bellcore MARS billing system on the platform shortly after the AT&T breakup was announced. Open Text also acquired Fulcrum, a Microsoft centric search and retrieval system based in Ottawa, Ontario. I remember that one could use Fulcrum to search Siebel Systems content. Hummingbird was acquired by Open Text in 2006. Open Text used the Fulcrum technology in its Hummingbird Search Server product, now a connectivity solution. Open Text also acquired BRS Search (Bibliographic Retrieval Services) in 2001. As you know, BRS was a competitor to Dialog Information Services. BRS was a variant of IBM STAIRS technology, ran on IBM mainframe systems, and could handle sophisticated queries. I recall hearing that BRS technology was used in the Open Text LiveLink product. I think of LiveLink as an early version of SharePoint, blending content, collaboration, and search in a single system.
In 2010, Open Text purchased the Nstein content processing firm, which was based in Montréal, Québec. I think one of my team contacted Nstein to profile them for one of my reports. The firm was too busy. Then in 2009, an Nstein executive scheduled an appointment with me in London, UK, and “forgot” the meeting. Nifty.
Open Text has a basket of technologies to use to solve prospect and client problems. Is the company a model for other search and content processing firms trying to generate top line growth in a tough economic setting?
Since Dr. Bray’s departure, Open Text has been rolling up search and content processing firms. Much of the company’s growth has been fueled by acquisitions and cross selling, not raw innovation. In fact, Open Text has a bewildering array of content management technologies, including PS Software (records management), Gauss (Web content management systems), RedDot (Web content management systems with an embedded Autonomy search functionality), IXOS AG (SAP-centric archiving systems), Captaris (document capture systems which gave Open Text Brainware and ZyLAB functionality), Spicer (file viewing technology), Vizible (an interface company), StreamServe (an enterprise publishing system vendor of direct mail and other collateral), Metastorm (business process software), weComm (mobile device software developer), and Global 360 Holding Corp. (case management solutions).
Shop City Alleges Google Discriminates
November 20, 2011
Search Engine Watch has reported on yet another discrimination complaint against Google in the Nov 16, article “ShopCity Files Antitrust Complaint Against Google.” Shop City has filed a complaint with the FTC, claiming that Google pushed its Web sites down to the fifth page of results for searches, despite Shop City’s having created content within the bounds of Google’s guidelines. In addition to this, Google placed its own results, keyed to a map, at the top of the results, regardless of whether those results were legitimately more useful. Shop City CEO Colin Pape said of the investigation:
Our FTC submission has nothing to do with a lawsuit or damages of any kind. We feel that the entire marketplace would benefit from increased transparency from the world’s most powerful company, and this complaint, requesting a formal investigation, is the way to bring that about.
I think we can all agree that transparency is a good thing when multinational corporations are involved. Whether Google’s alleged discrimination was intentional or unintentional remains to be seen. One wonders if these accursers are looking for a scape goat in today’s tough economy. On the other hand, is Google taking steps to ensure that its revenues remain robust as the financial winds buffet other organizations?
Jasmine Ashton, November 20, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
NARA Criticized for Searchability Limits
November 20, 2011
The US government has a love hate relationship with search, content processing, and predictive analytics. On one hand, agencies have to make information available to citizens. On the other hand, agencies have to be careful about what information to release, when, how, and in what form.
When there is a news story about search, my view is that somewhere, somehow a bureaucrat has tried to run a query and discovered that the system behaves in an interesting manner.
Now there’s been a development at the National Archives and Records Administration that we find very interesting. “NARA Officials Defend Searchability of Electronic Archive,” reports Federal Computer Week. I noted the word “defend”. When this word appears in a headline of a widely read government trade publication, I have a hunch that “interesting” veers toward the “concern” side of the connotative spectrum.
It seems a Federal auditor has criticized the organization’s new Electronic Records Archive because most of it is only keyword searchable, not text-searchable. Yes, that would be important because I like to run queries using what the publisher of this blog calls “free text.” The idea is that I can use my terms and assume that the system will perform synonym expansion, deduplication, and relevance ranking. I will, therefore, see results which have high precision (germane to my query) and high recall (the system does not leave out important items).
NARA official David Lake contends that the agency is doing its best with what it has. Most of the documents have been scanned in, which of course pose problems for content searches. NARA, according to the write up, is working on the system. Besides, according to the article, over time the problem will shrink on its own:
Over the next 10 years, as agencies deliver more material to the e-archive, the born-electronic documents in the archive will increase in number, making a larger portion of the e-archive searchable by text, even while scanned historic documents also are coming in, Lake added.
Big help if you’re researching World War I. The Search application is being supplied by Vivisimo, who inhabits the “information optimization” space. It seems that for $430 million, the contractors should be able to deliver what I think of as “commodity search” without too many Dancing with the Stars twirls. The issue is worth monitoring; it was a big contract and the Federal government is running a deficit. Maybe the US government will be able to deliver a basic search system that supports free text unless the document set has not been converted to a searchable file format. Ah, that pesky file transformation issue. Someone should have budgeted for that or gotten contractors with systems which can handle different file types as part of the standard content processing subsystem?
Interesting information optimization issue.
Cynthia Murrell, November 20, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Thetus on a Map
November 19, 2011
Thetus Corporation and its CEO Danielle Forsyth have been given special attention in Green Data Center Blog’s “Map of Portland Startups, Tech Wizards of the Silicon Forest.” Thetus elevates information management with facets like predictive modeling, outcome evaluation, and semantic knowledge modeling. The company was incorporated in 2003, and released its flagship product Savanna in 2010.
Blogger Dave Ohara writes,
Danielle Forsyth likes to say that Thetus Corporation makes Internet software for ‘people who don’t know what they don’t know.’
“That Rumsfeldian phrase is fitting: Few people in Portland have any idea that a woman CEO—a rare sight on the tech landscape—is helming one of the city’s fastest-growing software startups, a company that’s been profitable for five years mostly thanks to Federal government contracts.
Having a woman at the helm certainly helps a tech firm stand out. Of course, a sound philosophy and a quality product don’t hurt, either. Note that Thetus does not do high profile marketing, but I have been told that the company is doing well in the military and defense markets.
Cynthia Murrell, November 19, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Good Content Wins Fans
November 19, 2011
Suddenly Webmasters are chattering about content. After years of tricks, indexing silliness, and down right misleading search engine optimization games—content is popular again.
With the increased popularity of e-books, and the easily accessible tools of creation, distribution and promotion of web content, there has been speculation regarding how this will affect the quality of content being released.
In the TechDirt article “Good Content Doesn’t Get Buried By Bad Content” we learned:
We have no doubt that much new content being produced is, in fact, pretty bad. I’ve never quite understood the argument, though, that bad content harms good content. You just have to ignore the bad content and follow the good content. What that means is that the world just needs good filters, and we keep seeing more and more of those showing up every day.
The write up asserts that, with sites like Amazon, fans are able to show their support for the good books that they love by writing reviews. This helps separate the good content from the bad.
There will always be skeptics out there challenging technological innovations. I would argue that while it may be easier to make your content available for public consumption than in years past, bad content won’t win over the fan base needed to make an impact.
Jasmine Ashton, November 19, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
The Best SharePoint Denali-SQL 2012 Enhancements for Disaster Recovery
November 18, 2011
At a recent SharePoint conference, SharePoint Joel from SharePoint Land Blogs was astounded to learn about the benefits of SQL 2012 code otherwise known as Denali. SQL 2012 is the primary business intelligence solution for SharePoint farms and their disaster recovery plans. Joel created a list of the “Top 10 SQL 2012 “Denaili” Enhancements for SharePoint.
As a BI solution for SharePoint, Denali includes disaster recovery and resiliency improvements, such as Always On. SQL 2012 combines log shipping and mirroring into one and it will also monitor failure over all servers in a farm. One that attracted out attention the most was:
“Flexible SharePoint Architecture Integration – Architecture scale out and flexibility and topologies are now vastly c.a. Obviously it’s the service application piece that did it, but it’s worth it’s own line to say scale out is big.”
The ability to scale out and change a SharePoint farm is a boon, especially if you’re adding a server or changing the way it is set up.
One last item that caught our eye was SQL 2012 and SQL Reporting Services will now support Claims and WCF communication. This new change will make it easier to work in the extranet in SharePoint 2010 farms. These are the types of upgrades in code SharePoint developers need to protect their farms and data from the inevitable consequences that plague the IT world. Denali is a great BI solution, but so are SurfRay technologies for content management and control.
Whitney Grace, November 18, 2011
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