Discover Point: Search Shows the Unseen
February 16, 2012
Discover Point comes at search and retrieval with the “automatically connect people with highly relevant information.” I find this interesting because it makes search into a collaborative type of solution. Different from a search enable application, Discover Point pops up a conceptual level. After all, who wants another app. When I need information, I usually end up talking to an informed individual.
Government Computer News reported on this approach in the write up “An Info and Expertise Concierge for the Office.” GCN perceives Discover Point as having a solution for the US government which “prevents agencies from constantly reinventing the wheel and instead helps users move forward with new tasks and projects…” This is an interesting marketing angle because it shifts from assertions that few understand such as semantics, ontologies, and facets.
GCN continues:
DiscoverPoint from Discover Technologies is designed to point users in the direction of the most relevant information and subject-matter experts within the shared platform environment. As your job focus changes, so do the searches that DiscoverPoint makes….But the really cool things start happening after you’ve been using the system for a while. As more personnel and documents relevant to what you are doing become available on the system, they will show up on your discovery page.
The idea of having a system “discover” information appeals to the GCN professionals giving Discover Point a test drive.
Discover Point is compatible with SharePoint, Microsoft’s ubiquitous content management, collaboration, search, and kitchen sink solution. Discover Point’s news release emphasizes that the firm’s approach in unique. See “Discover Point Software Selected Product of the Month by Government Computer News.” The Discover Point Web site picks up this theme:
Discover Technologies’ approach is truly unique, in that we do not require the manual creation of databases or MySites or other repositories to understand the needs of each and every user. We continuously analyze the content they dwell in, and establish an understanding of the users’ interests based on that content. Once this user understanding is gained, and this happens very quickly, then the proactive delivery of information and ‘people’ is enabled and the cost savings and quality benefits are realized.
Unique is a strong word. The word suggests to me something which is the only one of its kind or without an equal or an equivalent. There are many SharePoint search, retrieval, and discovery solutions in the market at this time. The president’s letter tells me:
‘Discover’ is able to understand what your users need, in terms of both information and ‘experts’ with whom they should be collaborating. This understanding is gained via our patent pending algorithms, which are able to examine user related content and ‘understand’ the subject matter being addressed, and therefore the subject matter that each and every one of your employees is focused on. Once this takes place, our products can deliver both info and people to your users, personalized to match their individual needs. The bottom line is that you need your experts, your most highly paid and critical personnel, to minimize the amount of time they spend doing administrative or manual activities and to maximize the time spent tackling the key problems that they are uniquely qualified to address. That is what DiscoverPoint does for you, and it pays for itself in very short order!
The company offers an Extensible Search Framework and an Advanced Connector Engine. The company also performs customer UIS (an acronym with which I am unfamiliar). The firm also has a software integration business, performs “high performance data indexing”, and offers professional services.
The company has an interesting marketing message. I noticed that Google’s result page includes a reference to IDOL, Autonomy’s system. We will monitor the firm’s trajectory because it looks like a hybrid which combines original software, a framework, consulting, and services. Maybe Forrester, Gartner, and Ovum will emulate Discover Technologies’ Swiss Army knife approach to findability and revenue generation?
Stephen E Arnold, February 16, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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SharePoint Development means integrating SharePoint into the existing software development environment. SharePoint is a Microsoft Product, which is used to develop information portals in the organization. These information portals enable the people to connect and collaborate with the information available in the organization.