Improving the Search Experience in SharePoint
September 12, 2012
Connecting employees to the right information improves workflow. J. Peter Bruzzese discusses the importance of search in his post, “Bring Better Search to SharePoint.” Search challenges are explained:
If only SharePoint’s search capabilities were better. If only users weren’t spending so much time searching for relevant data or the appropriate personnel in the company. If only users weren’t re-creating data they already have ‘somewhere.’ The problems with search have been an absolute failure point for many users of SharePoint 2007. The more they pushed data into SharePoint and grew their farm environment, the more they ran into the wall of search results being less relevant.
In response, Microsoft brought in Fast in hopes to add better results relevance and previews. The author points out that despite Fast, many companies looked to other tools to improve search including BA Insight‘s Longitude Search which attempts to rank content based on user behavior.
Another search solution that may be worth considering is is Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise. Mindbreeze Enterprise Search lets you “be well informed – quickly and accurately. The data often lies distributed across numerous sources. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise gains each employee two weeks per through focused finding of data (IDC Studies). An invaluable competitive advantage in business as well as providing employee satisfaction.” Boundless data search and clearly structured search results as just two of the solution’s benefits worth taking a second look at.
Philip West, September 12, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Enhance a Public Facing Site with Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite
September 11, 2012
A public facing Web site is a digital business card and often the first way potential customers meet your company or organization. Messe München International (MMI) realized the opportunity in powerful site search and so employed the Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite solution. Patrick Kapfer discusses the MMI decision in the post, “Global Trade Show Organizer Opts for Mindbreeze InSite.”
Kapfer explains,
The product stands out with its intuitive, user friendly search. As a Cloud service it’s ready to use straight away! Further advantages lie in the fact that it’s more than just a search. Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite recognizes connections using semantic and dynamic search procedures. In this way it delivers a pinpoint accurate ‘finding experience.’ No installation, no configuration, no maintenance. What more could a company wish for?
Consider taking advantage of the no obligation 14 day free trial InSite demo and test the enhanced finding experience for your Web site. As the Messe München International (MMI) attests the fast search and clear results make Insite a viable search option for customers seeking functionality and ease of use. Other customer comments can be found online if you are seeking additional testimonials about the capabilities of Mindbreeze. The search service “runs on high performance servers in the Cloud and can be up and running in a few days. There’s nothing to install – Mindbreeze InSite is available straight away via our self-service.”
Philip West, September 11, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
SharePoint 2013 Looks to Improve the Web Content Management Experience
September 10, 2012
Niraj Tenany discusses Microsoft’s evolution in Web Content Management environments in the Netwovenblogs.com article, “Is SharePoint 2013 Ready for Prime Time Web Content Management (WCM)? You be the Judge!”
Tenany explains the development:
Microsoft acquired a company called nCompass back in 2002. nCompass’s Content Management System (CMS) become the foundation of the WCM capabilities in SharePoint. Since then, Microsoft has been adding features to support WCM in SharePoint.
The launch of SharePoint 2013 preview presents an interesting opportunity for companies to consolidate all of their web infrastructure to SharePoint 2013…this can provide a great of value to companies by reducing the overall management costs as well as having a focused team.
Tenany also provides a summary of SharePoint 2013 improvements to support WCM, including the ability to work easily with video content, multi-lingual site support, and analytics and recommendations.
When it comes to creating Web site content and managing a Web presence, organizations may also want to look closer at their site search. With no installation, configuration or maintenance required, Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite is designed to intuitively find information on your site with a user friendly interface. Here you can read how InSite “recognizes correlations and links through semantic and dynamic search processes. This delivers pinpoint accurate and precise finding experiences.”
Philip West, September 10, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
IntelTrax Top Stories: August 31 to September 6
September 10, 2012
The IntelTrax advanced intelligence system blog provides summaries of articles pertinent to the world of data analytics and security. This week, we learned how the analytics market is continuing to grow, as well as some companies that offer excellent tools to help your company grow along with it.
“Cristobal Addition Strengthens Digital Reasoning” spotlights an important new addition to the board of the Tennessee based text analytics powerhouse, Digital Reasoning. Cristobal Conde has a rich history of working in the information technology field.
He states:
“I’ve been in information technology since the late ’70s when you had to build your own database manager. When companies like Sybase and Oracle developed commercial database managers – they made sense of structured data and allowed thousands of applications to be built on top…There is a pressing need to do something similar in unstructured data, and I believe Digital Reasoning is the company best positioned to do this.”
While the United States has a wealth of data analytics solutions to choose from, the Asian analytic market continues to gain in power and importance. According to “Asian Analytics Changing Fast” the big data analytics market in India is expected to double to $680 million by 2015.
Patrick Roland writes:
“This piggybacks on lots of other Aisa-centric analytic news. While many nations are flexing their muscles in big data, some American companies are catering to the industry, too. One prime example is the Chinese language support of Synthesys recently announced to aid the burgeoning data market in China. We expect more and more as places like the Philippines and Hong Kong begin making strides just behind power players like India and China.”
According to “Business Intelligence on the Rise” BI is one of the fastest growing industries and therefore smart businesses are utilizing this technology as a tool for growth.
The article explains:
“The big data opportunity is one of the biggest growth propellants for analytics. The vast amount of data that is available for analysis is exploding, however, it is housed in multiple silos of information with little or no cross-channel analysis of how the data correlates. For forward-thinking enterprises, big data can create value. Whereas BI traditionally performs structured analysis and provides a rear-view mirror into business performance, big data analytics provides a forward-looking view, enabling organizations to anticipate and execute on the opportunities of the future.”
We obviously are living in a world where BI and data analytics solutions are becoming an necessary part of business. Digital Reasoning offers a smart BI solution called Synthesis that delivers automated understanding for big data. The results are saved time and money.
Jasmine Ashton, September 10, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
What Designers Should Expect with the SharePoint 2013 Release
September 7, 2012
Brian Alderman discusses expected changes for designers in the upcoming SharePoint 2013 release in the third installment, “35,000-Foot View of SharePoint 2013 for Designers,” of his four part series.
Alderman explains the major change to expect:
One of the biggest changes in SharePoint 2013 is that SharePoint Designer is no longer necessary for branding a SharePoint site. Now there’s a new utility called Design Manager that designers can use for branding SharePoint websites…it is part of the publishing portal site collection template…and introduces a brand new interface that serves as the central hub for branding. With Design Manager, designers can use HTML, CSS and Jscript in any of their favorite HTML editors.
Workflow changes are also discussed, including the new platform called SharePoint 2013 Workflow which allows SharePoint Designer created workflows to include functionality for Windows Azure Workflows. If you are a designer, the brief read may be worth it to stay in the loop on what’s coming.
To maximize your SharePoint investments beyond implementation, consider Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Part of the full suite of solutions is the Fabasoft Folio Connector, which provides uniform, reliable management of your digital content. Here is a highlight:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise is able to search all data sources connected to the platform simultaneously. In addition to data from, for example, Microsoft Exchange or the file system, the Fabasoft Folio Connector allows to query information objects and documents from Fabasoft Folio, too.
With on-premise and Cloud information pairing capabilities, Mindbreeze provides a comprehensive and enterprise-grade solution that adds rich value to your business knowledge. Read more at Mindbreeze, where they seem to have the benefits of a proper installation down pat.
Philip West, September 7, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Digital Reasoning Adds Cristóbal Conde
September 6, 2012
Digital Reasoning, the leader in unstructured data analytics at scale, has announced that is has added former SunGard’s president and chief executive officer, Cristóbal Conde to the company’s Board of Directors. As a director, Mr. Conde will advise the company as it expands from serving the government and U.S. intelligence agencies and enters the financial services market.
Mr. Conde said:
I was looking to support the right company in the unstructured data space. So, after months of research and getting to know the company and its senior leaders through FinTech, I decided to join Digital Reasoning’s board. I’ve been in information technology since the late ’70s when you had to build your own database manager. When companies like Sybase and Oracle developed commercial database managers – they made sense of structured data and allowed thousands of applications to be built on top. There is a pressing need to do something similar in unstructured data, and I believe Digital Reasoning is the company best positioned to do this.
Tim Estes, CEO of Digital Reasoning, told Beyond Search:
We are very pleased to have Mr. Conde join our Board of Directors. As an industry leader in Financial Technology and a CEO of a global Fortune 500 software and services company he brings an incredible amount of experience in the financial services and technology markets. His vision, integrity, and drive to improve the world around him also deeply aligns with our company’s values and mission. So, as we write the next chapter of our company, he will be a vital part of our team in building the industry leader in automating understanding of unstructured data for the enterprise.
Mr. Conde stepped down as SunGard’s president and chief executive officer in May 2011, a post he had held since 2002. Previously, he headed up SunGard’s Trading Systems division, which he started in 1990. At the time of his departure, SunGard had revenues of $5.6 Billion, employed 26,000, was ranked 380 on the Fortune 500 list.
Mr. Conde is also a senior advisor to TPG Capital, Providence Equity Partners and the Executive Chairman of True Office. He serves on the boards of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), the College of Mount Saint Vincent, and Business Executives for National Security (BENS). He is a partner at the Partnership for New York City, a member of the Centennial Society of The Economic Club of New York, and a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
Digital Reasoning has developed Synthesys®, a platform for making sense of unstructured data. Modeled after the human understanding process, Synthesys reads, resolves and reasons across hundreds of millions of documents to automatically understand and isolate critical information such as risks, opportunities and anomalies. Having solved problems for US intelligence agencies for the past decade, Synthesys is now delivering Automated Understanding for big data challenges in finance, healthcare and legal markets. Digital Reasoning is based in Franklin, Tennessee, with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York. For more information, go to www.digitalreasoning.com.
Stephen E Arnold, September 6, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
Information about Search for SharePoint 2013
September 6, 2012
We have been tracking useful sources of information about search for SharePoint 2013. You will find the three minute video prepared by Search Technologies an excellent place to begin. Search Technologies points out that the Fast search technology, acquired by Microsoft in 2008, and it is at the heart of SharePoint 2013. Technologies and ideas from Bing and elsewhere have been added to the mix to provide a comprehensive set of enterprise search capabilities, with plenty of room for customization. Search for SharePoint 2013 includes a rules-based query parsing framework. Search Technologies indicates that pricing has not yet been formally announced, but it is generally assumed that this search functionality will be a standard part of SharePoint 2013. See http://www.searchtechnologies.com/sharepoint-15-search-overview.html.
Microsoft has done a great job of providing information about SharePoint 2013 search. I wanted to make sure you knew that a series of articles is pulling together much of the Microsoft information and adding some insights that could be difficult to locate.
We can point out another useful source of information in this Microsoft document.
The author is Nicki Borell. The first three parts of his coverage of SharePoint 2013 discuss:
- Office 365
- What Happens with Fast in SharePoint 2013
- Search Dictionaries, Query Builder, Query Client Type.
Two more articles will appear in the near future, and these will cover administrative changes and user interface modifications.
Our engineers at Search Technologies track SharePoint 2013 on an hourly basis. We found that the discussion of dictionaries, query builder, and query client type were useful for two reasons:
- The articles include screenshots which make it easy to get oriented in a graphical or PowerShell environment
- There is sufficient descriptive narrative to make clear the specific feature; however, for those working with certain large SharePoint environments, additional explanation might prove useful to some system administrators.
Search Technologies has the deep experience required to handle basic and advanced SharePoint configuration, customization, and integration for any size SharePoint deployment. For more information, visit http://www.searchtechnologies.com/.
Iain Fletcher, September 6, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
Using Fabasoft Mindbreeze as a Customer Service Solution
September 6, 2012
Daniel Fallmann of Fabasoft Mindbreeze explains the beneficial customer service applications of the Mindbreeze suite of solutions in the post, “Call Center: Mindbreeze Leads to Success!” With the ability to bring on-premise and cloud information together, Mindbreeze’s powerful search can be applied to call centers for quick and efficient access to information and an improved user experience.
Fallmann explains:
Via information pairing all related information, whether structured or unstructured, from internal or external applications (e.g. client portals), new or old, is linked together. A company’s entire knowledge becomes instantly accessible. Instead of combing through 20 different applications, you need just one tool. Mindbreeze makes customer service quicker, easier and more efficient, whilst simultaneously increasing quality and customer satisfaction. As a bonus, costs are reduced and your call center employees are happier!
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise turns business data into relevant knowledge with efficient and scalable processing capabilities. When many organizations mismanage call centers and customer service, use Mindbreeze to give your employees streamlined and relevant access to information without the redundancy of multiple applications.
Philip West, September 6, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
For SharePoint 2013 Less Might be More
September 5, 2012
As the discussion continues surrounding the new features rolled out in SharePoint 2013, an interesting conversation is taking place. Many experts believe that SharePoint is drowning its users in too many options. Chris Wright at CMS Wire continues this conversation in his article, “SharePoint 2013 Needs Less Features, Not More.”
Wright begins:
SharePoint 2013 is packed with lots of new and exciting features.
Users can experience the revamped MySites, with FaceBook style activity feeds and the ability to ‘follow’ pretty much anything. Developers have ‘apps’ to get their teeth into, allowing them to create SharePoint components in pretty much any language they wish . . . The list of new features goes on and on . . . All of these new features are very exciting, but what do end users make of it all? Will they actually notice? Will they get a better experience? I’m not so sure.
Wright states that there are lots of things that SharePoint 2013 does well, yet wading through all the unnecessary options is daunting. For small to medium size organizations, it might be worthwhile to invest in a smart third party solution. Investing in something like Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise can intuitively customize your existing enterprise infrastructure in one swift motion, avoiding costly detailed customization.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 5, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Mindbreeze InSite Wins KMWorld Trendsetting Product Award
September 4, 2012
KMWorld has just announced the 2012 winners of their highly coveted Trendsetting Product Award and Mindbreeze yet again makes the prestigious list. The September 3rd press release begins:
Mindbreeze receives the prestigious KMWorld Award for Mindbreeze InSite. The ‘Trend-Setting Products 2012’ were selected from more than 700 entries. KMWorld is the leading magazine for Knowledge Management Systems and Content and Document Management in the US. Mindbreeze scored highly yet again with the KMWorld jury, receiving the prestigious KMWorld Award for Mindbreeze InSite. The “Trend-Setting Products 2012” were selected from more than 700 entries. KMWorld is the leading magazine for Knowledge Management Systems and Content and Document Management in the US. It is the fifth time in succession that Mindbreeze has won this award.
Mindbreeze has been awarded a KMWorld Trendsetting Product Award five years in a row. While Mindbreeze is grounded on the strength of its enterprise search offering, Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise, InSite meets a new niche as organizations realize the importance of their public facing Web sites. Bring the same intuitive search to your public facing Web presence that organizations have used for years to control their internal enterprise search. In doing so your organization will join the ranks of other InSite users who can measure how often content is searched for, therefore maximizing content to increase sales and customer satisfaction.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 4, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
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