Be on Top of the Big Data Boom with PolySpot Technologies
December 26, 2012
It may not be as grand or new at the Dot-com boom, but the big data boom is storming ever so loudly ahead and causing many companies to give pause. There are many opportunities to get in on big data, but organizations and businesses are still figuring out where they can fit in. Will they be an information provider, information broker, or something for big data to flow through? Forbes discusses these ideas in “The Biggest Big-Data Opportunities: How to Choose the Right One.”
The author mostly focuses on summarizing and critiquing Constellation Research CEO Ray Wang, who he deems one of the top 5 industry analysts.
However, he also does a solid job explaining the current state of big data in the industry:
And clearly that’s a discovery process many businesses are undergoing today as Big Data is evolving rapidly from some amorphous techy concept to a business-opportunity theme focused on new revenue streams, more-relevant insights, better-informed customer engagements, and the ability to transform a traditional company into a disruptive and growth-oriented leader.
Yes, what was once an amorphous concept is now a money-making machine for many businesses. The key that was not covered in this particular article was the necessity for a technological infrastructure component that enables efficient information access and delivery across the enterprise. A solution that fits this bill looks like one such technology from PolySpot that provides decision-makers with the insights and opportunities they need in today’s big data boom.
Megan Feil, December 26, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Unified Information Access Delivers Growth and Development Opportunities for Businesses
December 25, 2012
Studies or surveys that look into how we utilize time spent at work are inherently valuable since they relate to time, which we all know is money. Venture Beat published an article on the topic of productivity and what does and does not kill it. “When Big Data is a Big Waste of Time…And Powerpoint is Worse for Productivity than a Martini at Lunch” reports on information gleaned from a survey done by business analytic app maker Roambi.
The subjects of the survey were broad: business data, analytics and office life. However, these topics ultimately point to productivity and business growth.
The article states:
And, more than 50 percent of business data is locked away in inaccessible or unfriendly formats, resisting executives’ efforts to review, learn, and react to the most important information in their companies…For instance, 21 percent of those executives said that they could only review and derive value from 10-15 percent of their business data. Another 29.6 percent said they could see and act on between 25 and 50 percent of their business data. For 10 percent, key business data was simply inaccessible.
It is important to note that Roambi surveyed their own customers and their survey said that data was inaccessible. Is there a correlation between using Roambi and not being able to access key data? That is precisely what they have led readers to conclude. To address inaccessible data, companies need to look no farther than PolySpot and their unified information access infrastructure component.
Megan Feil, December 25, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
2013 Will See Search go to Business Critical
December 25, 2012
This last year, 2012, saw a lot of developments in the world of enterprise search. Martin White, an expert on the topic, wrote the 2012 recap article, “Search in 2013 Will Become a Business Critical Application,” for CMS Wire. His recap of 2012 developments goes like this:
“Looking back, 2012 has been quite a year for search. From a business perspective Lexmark acquired Isys-Search, Lucid Imagination changed its name, Attivio gained a US$ 37 million investment, Coveo followed with an US$ 18 million investment, Apache Lucene and Solr moved to Release 4, ElasticSearch set up a commercial arm and Microsoft announced a seriously well-featured SharePoint 2013 search application.”
Perhaps more importantly, White goes on to discuss what 2013 might look like. To sum it up, 2013 will see Big Data take center stage and enterprise search will go from a necessity, to an absolutely necessity. Business will no longer be able to be conducted on any scale without a sophisticated search infrastructure. White recommends that organizations take the following steps, amongst others:
“Find out what skills the organization already possesses in information and data discovery and analysis.
Start to build networks with other organizations using your particular search technology stack. If your vendor is reluctant to help, ask them why!
Plan to be at either Enterprise Search Europe or the Enterprise Search Summit in May.”
I would add another to the list. Check out LucidWorks and see what their solutions can do for your organization. Intuitive out-of-the-box, it offers the latest enterprise search technology without bogging down your existing staff.
Emily Rae Aldridge, December 25, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Math Unlikely to Replace People in Political Predictions
December 25, 2012
One of the victors in the recent election season, though he was not running for any office, was a prominent wielder of big data. Nate Silver‘s remarkably accurate, mathematically-driven election predictions have some asking whether the role of political pundits is waning. Tech Crunch’s Matt Baker asserts that the human element will always be a factor in “Human After All: Why Nate Silver’s Math Revolution Won’t Kill the Pundits.”
It is true that math-based predictions like those of Silver and others, such as Votamatic.org and the Princeton Election Consortium, significantly outperformed gut-based forecasts from political commentators. In fact, Researcher Philip Tetlock found pundit predictions to be “little better than random.” What’s more, he found that the prognosticators with the worst records are the ones most widely cited in the media! One could be forgiven, then, for supposing the more accurate algorithms are bound to replace these purveyors of truthiness.
Baker, however, insists that algorithms, themselves the products of human minds, can never exist outside of human bias. He writes:
“Nate Silver’s mysterious secret sauce is still an unknown, and while he shared many features of his model, it was ultimately inaccessible to peer review. Without transparency, there’s even more danger the creator of statistical models could fall prey to the same faults that Tetlock found in pundits.
“Models are tools. They far exceed our own ability to condense and process the multitude of data available in areas like politics and finance. They can inform us, and even forecast for us, but they are only as strong as the rigor employed by their authors. Nov. 6, 2012, was not the triumph of data over pundits; it was a watershed event in the evolution of our predictions. We’re witnessing a revolution in the tools and accuracy of experts, but our forecasts will always be human.”
So, we can expect math to help our predictions get better, but they will never be free from human influence. See the article for more details and examples that support Baker’s premise. I happen to agree with him, despite my very opinion that the world would be a better place with fewer political pundits in it. Oh well.
Cynthia Murrell, December 25, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Enterprise Priorities Remain Focused on Delivering Insights from Big Data
December 24, 2012
A major player in anything and everything involving enterprise data has released 2.0 of their NoSQL database. What does it look like and what does this mean for other contenders in this arena? ZDNet tells us in the recent posting, “Oracle Updates NoSQL, big data appliance and connectors.”
Oracle NoSQL Database 2.0 uses Oracle’s Berkeley DB storage engine and is more seamlessly integrated with Oracle’s Database and Hadoop environments than earlier iterations. Better performance and decreased latency (measuring in at below 5ms) are other selling points for 2.0. Additionally, the Big Data Connectors release sees the Oracle SQL Connector for Hadoop supported within the Data Integrator Application Adapter.
The most interesting area of the article lies in the positioning from Oracle about this new version of their database.
Oracle development chief Vaishnavi Sashikanth said in a statement:
Oracle NoSQL Database 2.0 provides developers with that ‘last-mile’ infrastructure to enable crucial real-time interaction between an organisation’s applications and its customers. It provides a key mechanism for enterprises to maximise the value of big data.
An important takeaway from this article is that big data is on the minds of every software vendor. Since the priority for businesses is to ensure information access in real-time to employees working hard to deliver insights from big data, that emphasis makes complete sense. Solutions like PolySpot‘s Information At Work were born to deliver these insights.
Megan Feil, December 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Maybe Santa Needs Big Data for Christmas
December 24, 2012
Attivio has had a good 2012. To top if off, it looks like they landed a big account, the North Pole to be specific. All in good fun Attivio has crafted a press release aimed at streamlining Santa’s intense December 24th workload. Read “What if Santa Used Big Data” for an amusing look at Santa’s information architecture needs.
The piece begins:
“We’re not sure how Santa has historically handled all the data required to make his yearly rounds work, but this morning we received a press release from Saint Nick and Attivio stating his new approach: big data. I got a chuckle out of this and figured you might too. This is a big get for Attivio, locking down the North Pole as a customer. On the other hand, it’s a bit depressing that the data will be leading to more coal delivered this year.”
Aside from the downside of more coal being delivered this year, it seems that a smart Big Data solution is good news for Santa and could be good news for your organization too. Attivio has made some headlines, but LucidWorks is another Big Data contender. Built on open source, LucidWorks has been an industry standard for years. Customer support, training, and an investment in open source infrastructure is what LucidWorks brings to the table. Happy holidays, and here’s hoping you find no coal in your stocking this year.
Emily Rae Aldridge, December 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Big Data May Not Be All Its Cracked Up To Be
December 24, 2012
Over the past year, the buzzword has been Big Data. Companies have instituted plans to analyze their unstructured data to learn about new trends and create better business insights. According to the Jonathan Macdonald Report, Big Data may not hold all the answers to making new endeavors in 2013, check out “The Big Data Disaster.” Macdonald makes five predictions about Big Data: the financial rewards are way off the mark, the Big Data experts are going to be conducting damage control, money will be lost, acquisitions bought for projects will lose their value, and then the world will move onto the next big trend.
Macdonald asserts that companies can back out, but probably will not due to them being too deep in the Big Data pool and not wanting to change. Companies are too focused on selfish financial gain and unrealistic approaches to business.
Macdonald plays into the fact that companies may be accessing private data. He states that there will be repercussions, because we live in an age of mass communication and ignorance will come back to bite businesses. His closing remark:
“You seriously consider the above words and ask yourself, as a human, are you in the game of exploiting information regardless of morality, or instead wishing to pursue a purpose that people can believe in, and by doing so enable relationships of mutual value that will bring you profits beyond your imagination?”
Big Data experts are not going to be pleased by this article, but Macdonald does make valid points. What will companies sacrifice in order to make a bigger profit?
Whitney Grace, December 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Another Enterprise Search Vendor Turns Big Data Solution
December 22, 2012
Technology vendors go through many iterations of their image; they change as quickly as the technologies do. Funnelback has announced that they are on version number twelve of its website and enterprise search offerings. Their press release, “Funnelback 12 Delivers Quantum Leap in Scale and Speed of Enterprise Searching for Big Data,” discusses the new features and more.
Big data drives quite the demand and Funnelback is one of many that promises search technology to quell the queries. Search results in this iteration return more date-based facets, easily categorizing results by dates, and TextMiner, a new feature offers definitions of acronyms and terms for users.
According to the article, Matthew Sheppard, Manager of Research and Development stated:
“Version 12 significantly enhances the speed and scale of searching in the enterprise. As the issue of Big Data increases globally, the need for powerful search technology with the ability to search multiple information sources and across large data sets becomes paramount. Funnelback Version 12 unlocks the value of enterprise information like never before.”
Funnelback is now a big data search system just like Vivisimo. It seems that words are more magical than the technologies they describe.
Megan Feil, December 22, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
PolySpot Takes Charge in Putting Big Data into the Right Hands
December 21, 2012
In seeking big results from big data, many smart companies are assessing their needs and formulating a plan. When those steps have been taken, it is then an appropriate time for technological solutions to be sought out. A recent article posted by The Drum called “Define Your Big Data Strategy With These Key Steps” fills us in on more details for how to go about developing such a strategy.
One of the initial steps is to assess the state of current data sets and initiatives. Just because big data is a relatively new phenomenon does not meant that a company has been operating without existing large data sets.
The article informs us of a few subcategories to check out within this assessment:
-Data quality: Check how clean the current data is, assessing volumes of duplicate records across individuals and whether data items captured across different source systems been captured to consistent documented rules
-Data Linkage: different sources of data may operate on different references, e.g. email subscriber lists compared to website transactors. Organizations need to assess how best to link this data together to meet their objectives, again this could be enhanced by considering external data assets
The end goal for many organizations and companies is to increase productivity and create new opportunities for the company at-large. Access to data by any employee that needs it when they need it becomes the most fundamental need for any plan to extract value from big data. Luckily, there are solutions such as PolySpot’s Information at Work that aid in enabling this goal to become a reality.
Megan Feil, December 21, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Elasticsearch 2013 Training Schedule
December 21, 2012
Elasticsearch is a Big Data search and analytics company. Their 2013 training schedule has been publicized and aims to equip users to solve Big Data challenges with Elasticsearch. Read more in MarketWatch’s full report, “Elasticsearch Selling Out Training Classes Worldwide; Announces 2013 Training Schedule.”
The article begins:
“Elasticsearch is open source search and analytics software that has emerged as one of the most popular open source projects in the big data market and is already being used by thousands of companies all over the world. The Elasticsearch training course provides a solid foundation in search and information retrieval, starting with basic fundamental Elasticsearch concepts, best-practices, key features and distributed search application development. The sessions are interactive with time built in for discussions and case-study presentations.”
Elasticsearch appears to be doing well, but there are more established companies who offer specialized enterprise software based on open source technology. LucidWorks has been in the field for several years, with industry-vetted software solutions based on Apache Lucene and Solr. While they may seem like two equal options, LucidWorks offers Solr training and commercial support. However, LucidWorks is truly invested in the open source community, employing one quarter of the committers on the Apache Lucene/Solr project and creating SearchHub, an online meeting place for open source developers.
Emily Rae Aldridge, December 21, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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