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
Scribe Software Leads Pack in Integrating CRM with Enterprise Search
December 21, 2012
A leader in CRM data integration recently announced impressive Q3 results and consistent growth, thanks to long-term investments, CRM integrations, and increased ISV partner adoption. Scribe Software also states that integrating CRM with enterprise-wide systems is all about accelerating business pace, according the article “Scribe Reports Consistent Year Over Year Growth, Up 22% YTD” on MarketWire.
President and CEO of Scribe Software, Lou Guercia, continued on the success of the company:
“Today’s businesses need their data and need it now — to better serve customers, to make their sales and account teams more effective and efficient, to close more sales faster, and to earn better return on their technology investments. We enable ISVs, systems integrators and businesses to integrate critical customer data while saving time and IT costs and we do it well, as our business results show."
The company was also recently recognized as one of the industry’s top software companies and for having the best cloud application, we learn in the same article.
We completely agree that successful integration of management, search, and back-end functionality is a critical component for comprehensive information solutions. Options exist and one that you may want to pursue is with IBM’s Pure system, coupled with the mature, open-source based Intrafind enterprise search solution.
Andrea Hayden, December 21, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
LucidWorks is Go To Vendor for Enterprise Search
December 20, 2012
Frost & Sullivan is a top business consulting firm offering market analysis, market research, and reports. Their latest report reveals LucidWorks as a quickly growing industry standard in the enterprise search market. Read the full press release on PR Newswire at, “LucidWorks is Rapidly Emerging as the Go-To Vendor in the Enterprise Search Market, Notes Frost & Sullivan.”
The press release begins:
“Based on its recent analysis of the enterprise search market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes LucidWorks with the 2012 Global Frost & Sullivan Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award for leveraging inherent strengths and displaying tremendous entrepreneurial skills to emerge as a vendor of strong repute in the global enterprise search market. ‘The award not only recognizes LucidWorks’ strong all-round growth but also its vision in forging a unique path without feeling compelled to follow the established trends in the market,’ said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Sashankh Kale.”
The Frost & Sullivan award recognizes a strong entrepreneurial spirit, a solid business plan, and robust growth. LucidWorks is definitely worthy of the honor. The company’s redesign early this year pointed toward the commitment to serving customers well with a streamlined product line based on test open source software. This past year has been a good one for LucidWorks, but 2013 is shaping up to be the best yet.
Emily Rae Aldridge, December 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Big Data Build Up Reaffirms the Need for Reliable Enterprise Search Solutions
December 19, 2012
Since 2005 Coveo has been researching ways to improve enterprise search and now they are ready to make a move. The Wall Street Journal’s “Coveo Raises $18 Million for Enterprise Search from Tandem Expansion Fund” talks about the search and indexing technology that they feel will set them apart from other providers during the next enterprise search evolution.
Coveo is banking on big data buildup and improvements in the economy insuring that companies are prepared to investigate the next big step in enterprise search:
“Many companies delayed investments in search during the recession and now find they’ve got hundreds of internal sources of information, including many new ones. They’re saying, ‘our employees can’t find anything and we’re at risk because if we get sued, we don’t know what we have in our files that could financially or otherwise embarrass us. Costs have to be kept down and search becomes a necessary ingredient.”
Coveo has a philosophy and business model for continual improvement even if they may appear slow in actual development. Continual improvement to a system based upon open source technology and a strong academic foundation with frequent product enhancements may be a preferred choice for some enterprises who want excellence sooner rather than later. Intrafind has been a stable resource for enterprise search solutions since early 2000, offering customers a high performing, user friendly interface that provides relevant results and user support throughout companywide operations.
Jennifer Shockley, December 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Coveo and Sitecore Combine
December 19, 2012
MarketWire hosts a very interesting announcement: “Coveo and Sitecore Offer a More Personalized, Relevant Approach to Enterprise Search.” It sounds a lot like what you would get if you combined Endeca and Vivisimo. The press release tells us:
“Coveo integrates seamlessly with Sitecore’s Customer Engagement Platform to provide the extensibility and scalability to enable more personalized website searches. Coveo accomplishes this by enabling unified information access from an unlimited number of disparate data sources, directly within an organization’s website, as well as UI configurability and other advanced search and navigation functionalities. . . . Using Coveo and Sitecore to power customer self-service sites enables customers to solve even complex challenges online, reducing customer support costs and increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.”
Coveo taps into meta-data to bring contextually-relevant, faceted search to Sitecore’s platform. The companies are renewing the partnership after successfully pursuing a number of joint projects. Sitecore’s Amar Patel praised Coveo’s ability to deliver relevance; J.P. Provencal of Coveo admires Sitecore’s passion for innovation.
Sitecore combines web content management with customer intelligence in their Customer Engagement Platform. Sitecore serves several big-name companies, like American Express, Microsoft, and Nestle. Established in 2001, the company now maintains offices around the world.
Coveo was founded in 2005 by some members of the team which developed Copernic Desktop Search. The company serves organizations large, medium, and small with solutions that aim to be agile and easy to use yet scalable, fast, and efficient.
Cynthia Murrell, December 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Hybrid Cloud with Cloning Capability May Not Bode Well for Cloud Platform Developers
December 17, 2012
The introduction of hybrid technology comes as no surprise, but one has to wonder how current developers will feel about being cloned in the future. TechCrunch’s article “CloudVelocity Launches With $5M from Mayfield to Bring the Hybrid Cloud to the Enterprise” discusses the introduction of a hybrid cloud and its growing potential, along with its cloud cloning ability.
This new technology could save companies a bundle off initial investments, but smart platform designers may take precautions against cloning in the future. One has to wonder what preparations have already been made, if any. Investors want to be certain the risk of this approach is worth the effort.
“One Hybrid Cloud platform, aims to extend the enterprise data center to the public cloud, by enabling multi-tier applications to run without modification in the cloud and access services that reside in the enterprise data center. In a nutshell, the startup allows enterprises to get the benefits of private clouds in the public cloud. Users can discover, blueprint, clone, and migrate applications between data centers and public clouds. Currently, CloudVelocity supports full server, networking, security and storage integration with AWS but plans to integrate other public clouds.”
The excitement around startups and cloud solutions is great but corporations are reluctant to take chances with sensitive data. Those enterprises seeking stability in the growing hybrid cloud universe may find some assurance in relying on a mature, capable enterprise provider. Intrafind offers consultative solutions and reliable cloud solutions with secure access.
Jennifer Shockley, December 17, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Coveo Funding Hits a Deep Drift $34 Million
December 14, 2012
I was slogging through the Swedish snow when my mobile phone beeped. I glanced at the tiny screen on my Canadian-engineered BlackBerry and saw an interesting headline: “Coveo, Canada’s Big Data Offering, Nabs $18 Million as It Edges Closer to Profitability.” The article told me:
Coveo, the Quebec-based big data analytics company, has received a massive $18 million from local growth equity firm, Tandem Expansion Fund. It is best known for its recently-launched Coveo for Salesforce product, a cloud-based application which delivers quantitative insights about customer interactions. The app works by pushing relevant real-time information to sales and marketing teams, whether its an account, a lead, or new opportunity.
Interesting positioning. I thought about Vivisimo—the company with the deduplication and on-the-fly categorization technology—transforming into a Big Data company after IBM’s PR department wordsmithed the company.
The Venture Beat story about Québec-based Coveo included another fascinating factoid, which I assume is accurate. How am I to judge coping with the brisk wind howling down the fjord? To wit:
The company will use the funding to build out its sales and marketing team, as it anticipates “hyper-growth” in 2013, according to a press release. It anticipates that it will be “operating at or close to profitability” in 2013.
I highlighted the words which stuck in my mind: hyper-growth and close to profitability. Both are good notions, particularly when there are millions of investors’ dollars waiting for the Canada goose to yield its down. (My arctic grade overcoat is stuffed with goose feathers from Canada, by the way.)
The pointy icicle which lodged in my mind was contained in this statement in the story by Christina Farr:
All major existing investors also participated in the round, including BDC Venture Capital, Propulsion Ventures SEC and Fonds de solidarité FTQ. This round of funding brings the company’s total investments to $34.7 million.
Coveo was founded in 2004, according to Wikipedia. Note that source. Assume the data are correct. Coveo has been generating revenue but has required the alleged $34 million to get near profitability. In eight years, the company has required $4 million in year plus whatever it generated from the license to its software.
The Wikipedia write up is not clued into the actual Big Data functions of Coveo. In fact, that source, which may be out of sync with reality, points out that Coveo is in this business:
CRM and Contact Centers for sales & service, WCMs for one-to-one marketing, and Enterprise Content for engineering and operations. Coveo Role-based Insight Consoles™ provide advanced navigation into consolidated, correlated information mashups, within any application, including Coveo for Salesforce.
Coveo’s own Web site is the definitive source. Here’s what the company says is its core competency at www.coveo.com:
The three main lines of business, which I may be misreading as the snow collects on the screen of my outstanding BlackBerry mobile device, are:
Get Beyond the Latest Enterprise Buzzword with Feature Rich Solutions
December 13, 2012
Today’s successful company buzzword is agility, but one does not see cheap prints mimicking the word plastered on office walls around the globe. It would be unnecessary because according to The Enterprise Architect’s article“Enterprise Agile: Extending the Agile Process Outside Development” agility takes teamwork to an entirely new level, without the use of pictures.
There may not be an i in teamwork, but there is in agility. Individual departments continue to work separately while working together for a common goal, ROI:
“Solutions need to be fit in an existing ecosystem: the definition of done needs to include compliance and multiple teams working towards a common goal. Agility is only possible when the whole organization adopts the mindset: in an agile enterprise the marketing and sales side of the organization is balanced with product development. In an agile enterprise the entire business is organized in a way that it can respond quickly to changes in the market. All departments are fully integrated with the overall value stream, there is end-to-end agility.”
Companies need results in order to generate ROI, so agility is a great way to respond to the buzz of big data and enterprise solutions. Smart corporations know that the latest trendy buzzword will not provide results. They have to get beyond the buzz to reliable, feature rich search solutions with a provider like Intrafind… the other ‘I’ in agility.
Jennifer Shockley, December 13, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Big Data Drives Business Decisions with Enterprise Search
December 12, 2012
Big data is making the transition from a catchy trend to a serious power in the business world. A flurry of acquisitions involving big data and enterprise search systems are proving that value is being added to big data. According to recent article “Structuring the Unstructured: Why Big Data is Suddenly Interested in Enterprise Search” on CMSWire, this can be attributed to the inclusion of unstructured data (hard-to-predict human content,) into big data analyses, and companies are becoming more and more interested in creating actionable insights from this data set.
The article continues to explain the need to obtain value from unstructured data:
“It is the hands-on application of processes, pragmatism and checksums that produce the most value from unstructured data. A focus on transparency of process creates confidence in data provenance and enables actionable intelligence from unstructured data. That combination of technology and process is what is driving recent acquisitions and what can drive your business to make better, more accurate decisions based on your unstructured big data.”
The whole point of making structured and unstructured data available is so that the right information can drive business decisions. Intrafind makes finding the right data at the right time a bit easier in the age of big data. The company’s software and enterprise search solutions can help you target necessary information from the big data madness and also provide the consultancy services to help you decide what to do with that information.
Andrea Hayden, December 12, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
The Journey Through Enterprise Search Benefits from a Reliable Roadmap
December 11, 2012
The KM World 2012 Enterprise Search Conference brought to light some interesting tips for success in the enterprise. It also provided an opportunity for Martin White, the Managing Director of Intranet Focus Ltd to promote the release of his new book, ‘Enterprise Search’, from which key points were made during the discussion for the future of enterprise search.
According to KMWorld’s conference review “12 Tips for Enterprise Search Success”, White outlined twelve critical success factors during the conference that will not only affect enterprise search now, but will continue to affect it in the future:
*Invest in a search support team.
*Get the best out of the current investment in search.
*Enterprise search is an approach and not a technology
*Set search within an information management context
*Content quality is essential for quality search
*Understand user requirements and monitor user satisfaction
*Search then browse then alert then search then alert.
*Provide location-independent search
*Undertake intelligent log analysis.*Search is a dialogue
*Procure value not functionality.
*Search is a journey
Enterprise search is indeed a journey… and for a pleasant trip one should always acquire a reliable road map in order to prevent getting lost or stuck in a detour. These 12 tips are a good place to vet enterprise solutions, partners, and approaches. Combining a dedicated, reliable vendor such as Intrafind can be a key component to blending these tips into a complete solution that excels in execution and gets companies where they want to go.
Jennifer Shockley, December 11, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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