A Search Solution for Truvo
May 21, 2012
Truvo, a provider of search and digital advertising solutions in Belgium and Portugal, recently announced that it will implement products created by Amdocs to support its sales, billing, and product lifecycle management (PLM) needs as it continues to ramp up its system capabilities to address the growing demand for multi-media advertising. Truvo had deployed software by Amdocs in 2011 to improve the relevancy of its search results to consumers.
In a press release entitled “European Provider Truvo Selects Amdocs to Improve Sales, Ordering and Billing for Digital Advertising Products” that recently appeared on Market Watch, Rebecca Prudhomme, the vice president of product and solutions marketing at Amdocs, comments on the need for data management solutions that enhance the productivity of clients like Truvo:
“Local search and advertising providers today require more sophisticated systems that can support complex, multi-media products, while driving operational efficiencies. The deployment of Amdocs’ products will not only allow Truvo to remain at the forefront of digital advertising innovation, but also simplify Truvo’s operational processes and reduce the associated costs.”
Inforbix, with its cloud-based, scalable, and affordable products, can also offer its clients a PLM solution that enhances their search capabilities so that they can find, reuse, and share their product data with ease.
Tonya Weikel, May 21, 2012
Brainware Distiller Lands Icelandair Group
May 21, 2012
PR Newswire recently reported on a new partnership in the news release “Icelandair Group Selects Brainware Distiller for Invoice Processing Efficiency in Shared Services.”
According to the article, after evaluating several potential solutions for accounts payable automation, Icelandair Group, Reykjavik-based enterprise including airline, freight, hotel, tour and ground services operations, found that Brainware’s intelligent data capturing software was the most capable of supporting their long term goals for process improvement.
Carl E. Mergele, Executive Vice President and General Manager at Brainware said:
“In addition to demonstrating extremely high rates of field data extraction, Distiller’s template-free approach translates to low cost of ownership, as new document formats and increased volumes can be handled effortlessly. Intelligent data capture technology builds upon the efficiency of a shared services model to enable faster, more accurate processing, as well as greater insight into the overall process, from receipt to post. Brainware is proud to serve Icelandair Group’s data capture needs.”
By partnering with Brainware, Icelandair group is bound to improve its reporting processes which will help overall day-to-day operations. Sounds like a win to me.
Jasmine Ashton, May 21, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Prepare in Advance for SharePoint 15
May 18, 2012
Much like the discussion that flowed before the release of SharePoint 2010, the same voices are now chattering about the impending release of SharePoint 15, likely launched in the first quarter of 2013. Many experts are already weighing in on how to best prepare your enterprise for the move. David Roe of CMS Wire talks with Chris McNulty of Quest Software in, “SharePoint 15: 8 Things to Help You Prepare.”
Everything, McNulty said, is about planning; you can’t just jump into SharePoint 15. But you couldn’t just jump into SharePoint 2010, or 2007 or 2003, for that matter. So just like the last time, Quest is advising companies to plan any future deployments, even if many companies appear to have had their head in the sand when that lesson was being given out the first time.
Chris McNulty goes on to suggest eight major categories of preparation: optimized environment, consolidate content, data externalization, governance plan, enterprise content management, be social, custom coding, and cloud strategy. While each of those categories comprises a good bit of advice, we think that they could extend to any number of enterprise offerings, and many organizations are looking beyond SharePoint.
Consider Fabasoft Mindbreeze. This smart third-party enterprise solution can stand alone or work alongside an existing SharePoint infrastructure. Furthermore, Fabasoft Mindbreeze offers Connectors that work to seamlessly integrate all electronic data.
As the optimum search and information access solution, Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise facilitates the comprehensive incorporation of all electronic data repositories. Data sources and storage systems are connected to Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise via Fabasoft Mindbreeze Connectors. The standard product scope includes Connectors for the most common data sources. Additional Connectors are available to purchase as required.
While many will still consider SharePoint as the flagship of the enterprise market, many organizations are eager for more agile, intuitive solutions that update more frequently than the typical three-year Microsoft cycle. These organizations would do well to consider Fabasoft Mindbreeze and their suite of solutions.
Emily Rae Aldridge, May 18, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
America’s Technology Highway
May 18, 2012
Dassault Systèmes, France’s largest software company; Parametric Technology Corp., which is based in Needham, Massachusetts; and Aras Corp., which relocated from New York to Andover, Massachusetts, are among the large number of firms creating product lifestyle management (PLM) solutions who have recently established a presence along Route 128, or the aptly named “PLM Highway,” in the technology-heavy Greater Boston area.
In an article entitled “Route 128 at Center of Manufacturing,” which was written by D. C. Denison and appeared on the Boston Globe’s website, on May 13, 2012, the significance of this corridor to the growing PLM industry is discussed:
“Today, just about every product that consumers touch—the cars they drive, the planes they fly in, the pots and pans they cook with—is likely to have been created with software developed in the area surrounding Route 128….Boston’s dominance in PLM is rooted in the state’s manufacturing history, and has been 50 years in the making. The technology grew from the invention of computer-aided design software, or CAD, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1960s.”
Inforbix, which offers cloud-based solutions data management for companies seeking to find, reuse, and share their increasingly complex product information among their often globalized operations, has a growing presence in the PLM industry and is based near its epicenter.
Tonya Weikel, May 18, 2012
IBM Big Data Initiative Coming in Focus with Cloudera, Hadoop Partnerships
May 17, 2012
Big data management and analytics is becoming a key basis of competition as organizations look to turn their complex and large data sets into business assets. In “Analyst Commentary: IBM Adds Search and Broadens Hadoop Strategy with Big Data,” Stuart Lauchlan comments on IBM’s Vivisimo acquisition. Lauchlan says that the acquisition puts to rest the ambiguity of IBM’s Hadoop partnership strategy. He also has this to add about handling big data:
By definition, one of the major problems in discovering the information “nuggets” in Big Data environments is that the volume of data is large and consequently difficult to traverse or search using traditional enterprise search and retrieval (ESR) tools that require the creation and maintenance of indexes before a query can be made. Vivisimo’s offering indexes and clusters results in real time, and its scalability enables dynamic navigation across results delivered, as well as the automation of discovery, reducing the burden/time of analysis.
Even though the actual value of the acquisition has not been declared, we do know that IBM has spent $14 billion in the last seven years on analytics-related products and companies. And while IBM has already acquired a service like Vivisimo, it seems that IBM saw value in the search software’s new capabilities, such as federated discovery and navigation. IBM is no doubt trying to take SharePoint, the major player in enterprise.
Lauchlan’s article is a comprehensive overview of the IBM strategy. It may be a worthy read to keep in the loop on enterprise search news. But while IBM seeks to develop a comprehensive search solution with big acquisitions, organizations can turn to expert third party solutions to also get the power of efficient and federated search now.
The search experts at Fabasoft Mindbreeze offer a cost-effective suite of solutions to tame big data sprawl and connect your users to the right information at the right time. And with Folio connectors, organizations can access on-premise and cloud data with one easy search. Here you can read about the enterprise search solution:
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…But an all-inclusive search is not everything. Creating relevant knowledge means processing data in a comprehensible form and utilizing relations between information objects. Data is sorted according to type and relevance. The enterprise search for professionals.
Navigate to http://www.mindbreeze.com/ to learn more.
Philip West, May 17, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
New Book Directs Enterprise Management in Product Lifecycle Implementation
May 17, 2012
In practice implementing a successful product lifecycle management (PLM) program within an enterprise is logical and easy – it just makes sense. Unfortunately executives find themselves often with an overwhelmed workforce of upper and middle level management not sure how to best use the new PLM solution. Leslie O. Magsalay, a specialist in PLM implementation has recently created a two part book series aimed at helping professionals understand how to best utilize PLM solutions as explained in the San Francisco Gate article, “The PMO Practice Executive Leslie O. Magsalay Aims to Improve Product Life Cycle Management In Her Latest Book”.
The article describes the book and its purpose as:
“The author guides executives through effective strategies used to manage the resources and products in their portfolio and the roles and responsibilities that turn organizations into idea factories. For Program Management professionals and product teams, this playbook highlights the roles, responsibilities and best practices in the product life cycle that assure successful product launch and portfolio management. The much broader audience of organizations outside of the Program Management Office will read this playbook to understand and integrate their activities in the common activities associated with product delivery.”
Magsalay’s books highlight the need for effective and prompt training of all employees within an enterprise who will be interacting with PLM software. Respected data management providers across the globe understand this need and work tirelessly with their clients to ensure that whatever training is required is accomplished from professionals – not books. Before any corporations, small or large, decides upon a PLM solution for their needs a thorough look into the ongoing customer support and training practices of the PLM provider is absolutely necessary to avoid having to rely on a book for help in a crisis.
Catherine Lamsfuss, May 17, 2012
Perspectives on SharePoint from a Pioneer
May 16, 2012
As an early adopter of SharePoint 2010, Robert Schifreen was tasked with deploying SharePoint for the University of Brighton community. At the time, very little was formally written about the product, and Microsoft itself did not know how widely adopted the product would become. Schifreen relays his personal experiences in, “SharePoint Deployment: Pitfalls of a Pioneer.” He begins with the difficult task of defining SharePoint.
To some it’s a corporate collaboration tool that does everything you need straight out of the box. To others it’s a development platform upon which, with the addition of tools such as SharePoint Designer and Visual Studio, you can build a ‘portal’ (whatever that might mean). Microsoft really needs to come up with an accurate, punchy description in order to persuade more people to give it a try.
Tasked with forming his own definition of what SharePoint is and does, Schifreen soon learned that SharePoint was not always willing to work with files and software outside of its own comfort zone.
While Microsoft likes to shout loudly about the fact that SharePoint 2010 embraces not just Windows and IE but also other browsers and other hardware, the relationship does indeed stop at a mere embrace. Some of the rich editing controls don’t like non-Microsoft browsers.
While no enterprise solution is without its quirks, we have found some to be more intuitive and agile. Consider checking out Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise. This award-winning enterprise solution is prized for its ability to play nice with a wide variety of data types.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise finds every scrap of information within a very short time, whether document, contract, note, e-mail or calendar entry, in intranet or internet, person- or text-related. The software solution finds all required information, regardless of source, for its users. Get a comprehensive overview of corporate knowledge in seconds without redundancy or loss of data.
Launching an enterprise infrastructure is not yet easy, nor may it ever be. However, finding a smart and intuitive solution can go a long way in easing the task of the enterprise developer. Check out the Fabasoft Mindbreeze suite of solutions for more information.
Emily Rae Aldridge, May 16, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Chinese Toy Manufactures Tackle Safety with Oracle Software
May 16, 2012
Many industries have turned to PLM to streamline processes, reduce redundancies and lower the cost of production but a recent Computer World article, “HK Firm Ensures Toy Safety with PLM Tool”, sheds light on an entirely different purpose for PLM within the manufacturing industry – safety. China has long been one of the leading manufacturers of children’s toys but safety concerns have caused some Chinese manufacturers to restructure their entire enterprises.
The adoption of Oracle PLM solutions has helped WahShing Toys make their toys safer. As the article explains,
“…(Takao Kubo, executive director of the R&D, engineering and QA departments at WahShing Toys) said they are aiming to shorten the time required for toy debugging and fine tuning by one month after implementing Agile. He added the company has currently completed phase two of the project, which is to manage workload and scheduling for the different engineering teams. As they enter the third phase: integrating Agile with the company’s ERP system–also supported by Oracle–Kubo expects to achieve cost-efficiency.”
Manufacturing companies have long benefited from PLM to increase production time but the implications of adding a safety component will be far reaching. In fact, as more cloud based PLM solutions are entering the business arena companies will continually find new and creative ways to make the platforms work to their advantage. PLM solutions providers are taking full advantage of advances in cloud and open source technologies to make these dreams realities for companies of all sizes.
Catherine Lamsfuss, May 16, 2012
Silobreaker Serves Swiss Soldiery
May 15, 2012
Switzerland’s Department of Defense, Civil Protection, and Sport (DDPS) will soon be relying on Solobreaker’s considerable data management chops, MarketWire announces in “Silobreaker Delivers Enterprise Software to Swiss Armed Forces.” The software underpins a turnkey open source intelligence (OSINT) solution provided by LearningWell, a Swedish integration consulting firm.
The write up quotes Kristofer Månsson, Silobreaker’s CEO:
“Situational awareness and contextual insight are essential and time-critical requirements for any corporate or governmental organization today. Yet, users are drowning in information, and cutting through the proliferation of content from both traditional and social media represents significant challenges, which cannot be met by the use of conventional search methods. We are very pleased that customers keep recognizing our products as leading edge for analytical and sense-making purposes, as well as for the efficiency of their prompt implementations.”
Yes, the “big data” phenomenon is placing big demands on organizations everywhere. Silobreaker’s Enterprise Software Suite is a robust tool for making sense of it all. It covers workflow from beginning— back end content, aggregation, indexing, classification and storage— to end— front-end search, filtering, analysis, visualization, user collaboration, report generation, and decision support. The software handles both structured and unstructured content with aplomb, and manages data from both inside and outside sources, both horizontally and vertically.
Founded in 2005, Silobreaker has headquarters in London and Stockholm. Their solutions facilitate teamwork across user groups through strong single user platforms that provide information aggregation, analytical tools, and collaboration features. Besides the aforementioned Enterprise Software Suite, the company offers Silobreaker Premium, a powerful intelligence and media monitoring SaaS tool for corporate, financial, NGO and government agency users. Silobreaker’s products help many private, corporate, academic, financial and government organizations worldwide with intelligence, media-monitoring, risk management, and early warning capabilities.
Cynthia Murrell, May 15, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Grade School Students Explore with Dassault Platform
May 15, 2012
For a long time now the engineering community has relied on CAD/CAM friendly product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions to aid in all aspects of product design and manufacturing. Now, high school students at Notre Dame Preparatory School are getting the opportunity to get a jump start over their competition by learning and mastering Dassault Systèmes’ PLM 3D platform as explained in the article, “Notre Dame Preparatory School Adopts Dassault Systèmes 3D Experience Platform”, on the Sun-Herald.
The idea behind the adoption of the generally engineer-only platform is for students to be introduced to the fun stuff of engineering hopefully eliminating negative stereotypes that might keep talented youth from pursuing careers in the field.
As the article explains of Notre Dame’s use of the software:
“Equipped with technologies implemented by today’s leading manufacturers, students are creating products — from initial design through 3D prototype — for a variety of industries, including automotive, consumer goods, energy, aerospace and defense. The 3D Experience platform and applications serve as the backbone for Notre Dame Prep’s emerging engineering curriculum, which supports the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Education Coalition initiative focused on STEM education required in order for the U.S. to remain an economic leader in the global marketplace.”
Stories like this would not have been possible even a few years ago. Thanks to advances in cloud technology PLM platforms can be utilized just about anywhere. Data management solutions providers are realizing the value in thinking outside the box and we applaud Dassault Systèmes’ collaboration with Notre Dame Prep School for encouraging youth in such a non-traditional manner.
Catherine Lamsfuss, May 14, 2012
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