What has Oracle Gained with Endeca Acquisition?
November 17, 2011
Oracle has just acquired Endeca for the alleged price $1.1 billion. If accurate, Oracle paid a bit less for Endeca than Microsoft paid for Fast Search & Transfer and about 10 percent of the price tag for Autonomy. We wonder, is this a good thing for Oracle? For its customers? Jason Busch at Spend Matters believes the answer to both questions is “yes,” as he opines in “Procurement Acquisition Alert: What is Oracle Getting from Endeca? (Part 1).”
In fact, Busch lauds the deal as one of the “best enterprise analytics/applications/search deals in history.” Endeca’s Latitude solutions, he says, superbly complement Oracle’s product line. He also notes Latitude, aimed mostly at the manufacturing industry, currently has almost no direct competition. These are definite plusses for Oracle.
How will the acquisition benefit Oracle’s customers? Busch writes,
Endeca Latitude enables manufacturers to begin to not only discover insights and opportunities in their supply chain that usual spend analysis applications would miss, but to ask the all important question “why.” This is something nearly every other spend analysis or supply risk management application under the sun focuses on as an afterthought, at best. . . . Endeca can provide truly unprecedented views into not only how a supplier is performing (or may perform in the future) but how that performance is impacting other activities in the organization.
So far, so good. The article is the first in a series, so watch Spend Matters for further analysis. Our view on the billion dollar price tag? Happy quack for stakeholders and opportunities for Tier 2 search vendors to vie for the now vacant lockers once used by the graduating seniors of search. Harvest and upsell time for Oracle too.
We think the key acquisition for Oracle was its purchase of RightNow. CRM is a hot area for Oracle right now. Endeca may be a pawn move to counter Hewlett Packard’s purchase of Autonomy.
Cynthia Murrell November 17, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Overcome Taxonomy Writer’s Block in SharePoint 2010
November 17, 2011
Writers despise the dreaded block that prevents a signal new idea from popping into their heads. SharePoint developers face the same issue when they are trying to write taxonomy terms to help organize their content. Even with the Enterprise Metadata Management feature that helps create a rich taxonomy library, the block can still persist. The Microsoft Enterprise Content Management Team Blog discusses this in “Taxonomy-The Challenge of Starting from Scratch.”
The article mentions how most SharePoint customers believe that someone has already solved the taxonomy problem and they are right. There are professional taxonomists who have already modeled business domains and there are people within customers’ companies who already have written a local vocabulary and folksonomy.
However if you’re stuck, SharePoint and WAND, a leading provider of SharePoint taxonomies, have combined their forces and made the General Business Taxonomy.
“The General Business Taxonomy consists of around 500 terms describing common functional areas that exist in most businesses. The General Business Taxonomy can be imported in to the SharePoint 2010 term store within minutes and provides a great starting point for customers looking to build a corporate vocabulary and take advantage of the Managed Metadata Service.”
As a free web tool that was developed by Microsoft to work exclusively with SharePoint, this is something you should not pass up especially if you are struggling with domains. For all of your other SharePoint concerns, SurfRay will solve them!
Whitney Grace, November 17, 2011
SharePoint Creates a Thirst for Information
November 16, 2011
While the physical publishing industry is tapering off, digital book printing is taking off. It has never been easier for knowledgeable IT professionals to publish a book via a web-based publishing service containing their advice, experience, code, and other valuable content. The SharePoint community is full of experts who possess terabytes of important data and using the easy publishing feature, they can share it with the world. Mike Walsh’s WSS and More blog, hosted by Mindsharp Blogs, recently posted “How Many SharePoint 2010 Books Can the Market Take?”
He makes the rather negative observation:
“I doubt if many of the writers of SharePoint 2010 books are getting much payback on the time and stress they have invested in writing the books. Even if there seems to be a fairly large market for books on SharePoint 2010, there has to come a point when there are quite simply too many books chasing these potential readers and I’m fairly sure we reached that point quite a while ago. My own list of SharePoint 2010 books now lists 179 titles.”
Walsh makes a solid point—not every SharePoint title will be the best IT bestseller nor will all of them even be read, but let’s look at it from a different angle. Would we rather have fewer books written about SharePoint or would we prefer more? One of those millions of digital books could contain the one code library to solve your file-sorting problem. If it had never been published, where would you be? While there doesn’t need to be fifty editions of the same book, more SharePoint information on the market make it easier to find a solution. Using SharePoint builds a demand for information and SurfRay technology will help keep it under control.
Whitney Grace, November 16, 2011
Mindbreeze Demystifies Enterprise
November 16, 2011
SharePoint is supposed to be a broad-based solution to solve the enterprise needs of most users. However, there seems to be quite a bit of buzz regarding additional trainings, conferences, and webinars geared toward equipping installers and users on the ins-and-outs of the program. One such list of recommendations can be found here, at “Staffing is key to a successful SharePoint Server 2010 deployment.”
The author, Brien Posey, acknowledges that SharePoint 2010 deployment is happening at a rapid rate, but many are finding the process to be lengthier and more complicated than expected. Here is some of his advice:
“The key to assessing SharePoint staffing needs rests with determining the kind of expertise required for deployment and its long-term administration, and then mapping those requirements to staff roles. Some of those roles can likely be filled by existing members of the IT staff, but organizations might have to make additional hires.”
Posey goes on to provide a lengthy list of staff positions for consideration, architects and administrators galore. Couple this recommendation with the recent boom in SharePoint training opportunities and one has to wonder if SharePoint is not as effortless as advertised. It seems implementation and usage are both fairly complicated.
We like what we are hearing about Fabasoft Mindbreeze and its suite of solutions. Implementation is reportedly intuitive and seamless. However, if problems do arise, solutions can quickly be found via brief tutorials or online training opportunities. Don’t be trapped by SharePoint. Consult the Mindbreeze suite of solutions and see if they might be the right choice for your organization.
*Disclaimer – Mindbreeze is currently upgrading their website. Links will be checked and if problems arise they will be updated. Thanks for your patience.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 16, 2011
Search to Management: The eDiscovery Play
November 16, 2011
New regulations in both the US and the UK have e-discovery vendors anticipating profits. FT.com advises, “E-discovery: Manage Your Data Wisely—Regulators Now Have Teeth.” (This wise publisher wants you to subscribe to read the full document. Get out your credit card.)
Of course, managing data for e-discovery purposes takes time and resources, so most companies tend to put the issue off until regulators come knocking. This can mean last minute scrambling and, as a result, disadvantage in any proceedings. What can be done?
Writer Jessica Twentyman points to some key advice:
Dean Gonsowski, e-discovery counsel in the information management group at Symantec, a security software company, believes the answer lies in making e-discovery a ‘repeatable business process’, rather than a one-off response to a request. That means establishing company-wide rules on electronic information, governing what should be deleted or retained, applying those rules and using e-discovery software to retrieve information quickly, he says.
Perhaps surprisingly, email comes in third as an e-discovery request target. Files/ documents are the most requested, followed by database/ applications data. Social media records, corporate blogs, instant messages, and texts are growing categories.
It’s important that companies understand e-discovery at least as much as regulators do. Do your research and invest in good e-discovery software. Be prepared, even as you hope you never have to respond to a regulator’s request for information.
Vendors of search will have to “move up the value rope”. Finding is no longer enough we believe.
Cynthia Murrell November 15, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Adobe Back Out of the Enterprise
November 16, 2011
We came across another interesting write up from Megan Feil on the shifting business approach at Adobe. Here’s what we found:
When the markets invariably change, does a company follow suit and 180 with the changing times? Well, we know how Adobe responds after reading Mac World’s report on Adobe’s restructuring in their article, “Adobe to Reduce Enterprise Software Investment.” Adobe sees digital media and digital marketing products as the areas with the potential for astronomical growth and they want to cash in.
Adobe is changing things up for their company, but predictably choosing the safe route. It will continue to invest in its Creative Suite products and place more emphasis on HTML 5. As far as marketing goes, they plan on investing in analytics and reporting, especially on mobile devices and social networks.
Mac World quotes their CFO’s statement:
“We believe that by focusing resources on two large initiatives and shifting our business model, we can drive faster and more predictable growth in [fiscal year 2013] and beyond,” CFO Mark Garrett said in a statement.
Their enterprise software brought in less than 10 percent of their overall revenue last quarter, so it seems like they might be making a good move for their business. In regards to enterprise software in general, Adobe seems to be snubbing the possibilities this market has for expansion. With the consumerization of information technology, there are wide open spaces of room for companies to innovate software and applications for the enterprise. It’s all about tapping into what users want: business intelligence with intuitive ease.
We think that this shift is illustrative of how a company’s direction can shift. It is interesting to note that they are concentrating on HTML5 instead of Flash for the mobile world. We did find that Polyspot’s business intelligence approach was already poised to handle the mobile economy. Our colleague Constance Ard over at Answer Maven is pretty adamant about mobile: “If companies do not account for personal and business mobile devices in their enterprise information management they will suffer the consequences.” Guess it’s good that there are software companies that can help.
Andrea Hayden, November 16, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Bing and the Plus Sign
November 16, 2011
Google’s decision to name its social product Google+ was interesting. Non text characters are difficult to search. Many systems use ubiquitous characters like a dot or a minus sign as an “operator”. An operator in this sense tells the system to perform a function such as performing a Boolean NOT operation. Google dropped support for its Boolean AND operator which was the plus sign.
We learned from Boolean Black Belt that Microsoft Bing is Boolean AND friendly. And, the operator is the + sign. “Bing’s Semantic Search, Phonetics and Undocumented Operator” revealed this factoid on November 14, 2011.
The write up added this comment: “the +/Plus sign was serving to remove Bing’s attempt at semantic search and only return results with the exact terms I searched for.” The author then noted:
Now that I am on the lookout for Bing’s semantic search, I’ve noticed that sometimes Bing will slip in semantic search results without giving you the “Including results for ____ / Do you want results for _____” heads-up that lets you know Bing has included results with terms you didn’t actually search for that Bing thinks is related and relevant.
The article contains a number of annotated screen shots. The take away is that Bing has some useful search features. We agree.
Stephen E Arnold, November 16, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Google+ Benefits Debated
November 16, 2011
Everyone who performs a Google search, and honestly we all fall into that category, has noticed the +1 that appears next to certain Web sites. Despite the fact that over 40 million people have signed up for Google+ many people, myself included, remain suspicious of the role it will play in our daily lives.
While there has been some debate concerning the impact that Google+has on our personal lives, few would argue that it impacts our businesses. The Web Pro News article “Google+ Pages A Must For Businesses, But Come Off As Rushed” states:
Social and authorship are two big elements in ranking success these days, and Google+ plays to both of these. The +1 button, which we know influences rankings, is obviously a big part of the Google+ feature set. This is a signal that helps Google determine how good people think a piece of content or a Web site is, and now, perhaps even a business in general. Now, with the launch of Google+ Pages, businesses get to tie the +1’s on their Pages to the +1’s on their site (though this doesn’t seem to be working fully just yet), which should send a stronger signal of brand reputation to Google search.
While Google+ certainly has benefits for businesses, it’s far from a fool proof system. Google relies on fast-cycle product innovations. The idea that services for commercial organizations can be characterized as not “working fully” may be disturbing to some organizations looking to Google for industrial-strength services.
Jasmine Ashton, November 16, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
CRM 2011 Offers Custom Document Management for SharePoint
November 15, 2011
CRM 2011 aims at offering more out-of-the-box document management solutions for its clients, instead of having them rely on third party vendors to resolve their issues. The CRM Consultancy Blog wrote about “CRM 2011 Integration with SharePoint: Custom Document Management.” In the article, they wrote about how in the newest CRM upgrade is trying to work with SharePoint’s new flexibility for a more customized document management feature using document libraries, folders, and metadata.
In order for this to be done, a plug-in to integrate CRM into SharePoint needs to be developed. A simple run down on this procedure is outlined with general tips, tests, and other developing practices.. Next adding the SharePoint Clint Object Model DLL to the GAC is explained in further details. This is the type of useful article that will help you understand the best ways to implement the CRM with SharePoint and to also take advantages of the features without relying on outside technology.
One other thing to consider is a possible governance issue:
“As we have seen here this allows a Solution Architect to consider other methods of governance when storing documents provide the initial folder-per-entity structure that CRM provides by default. The inclusion of SharePoint Metadata then allows this to be taken one step forward towards SharePoint best practise for managing volumes of documents – essentially providing methods for taking unstructured document data and streamlining this into a structure that fits the business. (or in a more snappy way, working the way you do, and not you working the way the software does).”
So upgrading CRM will solve some problems, but could create more issues with governance and controlling content. Great…only trying it out will bring forth solutions. One third party we know that does bring all the solutions is SurfRay.
Whitney Grace, November 15, 2011
Mindbreeze Satisfies Users Need for Findability
November 15, 2011
Stephen Fishman of CMS Wire discusses the problems that arise from Microsoft SharePoint’s desire for broad appeal in, “SharePoint is Crack and Microsoft is the Pusher.” Although a humorous title, Fishman makes some valid points about Microsoft’s attempt at reeling in the masses only to leave them yearning for more. Much like the touted panacea of Microsoft Access or Lotus Notes, SharePoint does not deliver on its promises.
Fishman drives home his main point after rolling out a list of smaller issues:
“But the worst thing about SharePoint by far is that it recreates the problem it was intended to solve, only on a much larger scale. What starts out as a hierarchically organized file share ends up as a hierarchically organized file share with a web interface on top of it.”
The Fabasoft Mindbreeze solution is clear in their latest update: “With the new release, Fabasoft Mindbreeze displays search results clearer and more structured. Index tabs break down search results in specific groups and topics. That way, users see immediately what documents contain the search term and in what context it is mentioned. With this structured overview, users find what they are looking for much faster.”
Fishman also finds fault with SharePoint’s disregard for sound implementation and taxonomies: “SharePoint is constantly rolled out in a slipshod manner with little thought to governance or developing scalable and maintainable taxonomies . . . The resulting organic growth inevitably results in buried content with no easy mechanisms for ambient findability.”
Mindbreeze accounts for synonyms and taxonomies in its search, features that are in place out-of-the-box, but also customizable. To solve SharePoint’s lingering issues of findability and a poor user experience, explore an efficient solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Built with the user in mind.
*Disclaimer – Mindbreeze is currently upgrading their website. Links will be checked and if problems arise they will be updated. Thanks for your patience.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 15, 2011
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