Protected: Get the Metadata You Need for Office 365
March 15, 2012
Musings: If Apple Designed SharePoint
March 15, 2012
As an avid Apple user, I can appreciate the simplicity of design and ease of use that is the center of their product line. However, Apple designs products for consumers and Microsoft designs products for the corporate world, for producers. This makes Chris Poteet’s article, “What if Apple Designed SharePoint?” quite interesting, musing about the potential to combine the two perspectives.
Poteet outlines his objective:
This post contrasts the design philosophies and approaches that underpin both Apple and Microsoft. It is meant to be a conversation starter and not a way to flame either side. If it weren’t for SharePoint, I couldn’t afford all my (admittedly) over-priced Apple products. Let’s now consider the question of what SharePoint might look like if Apple designed the product.
Poteet’s article leaves the reader with the impression that SharePoint’s current focus on functionality could do with a bit of tempering toward the end of usability. But until SharePoint starts making those adjustments, the addition of a third-party solution to an existing infrastructure can improve the usability and efficiency of the SharePoint beast. Fabasoft Mindbreeze is one highly competitive solution worth a second look.
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 Studie). An invaluable competitive advantage in business as well as providing employee satisfaction.
Explore the features of Fabasoft Mindbreeze and see if it can bridge the gap between usability and functionality for your organization.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 15, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: Something Is Missing from The SharePoint Experience
March 14, 2012
Climbing the Complexities of SharePoint
March 14, 2012
Although the fine art of rock climbing is lost of me, a good analogy is a well-known educational tool for taking a complicated concept and making it more readily applicable. Jussi on SharePoint uses the technique in, “Five reasons why SharePoint is like rock climbing.”
The author lays out the analogy:
Rock climbing differs a lot from other traditional sports I did as a teenager in that you need an equal amount of physical strength, technical skills and mental capabilities. If you possess insane core strength and sky-high stamina but lack the mental abilities, it will hinder your evolution as a climber. In more than one ways rock climbing is so similar to doing SharePoint implementations that I decided to list out five of the most evident feats they share.
The author goes on to describe similarities: planning a route is essential, and just as in climbing the quality and currency of your gear is equally valuable for SharePoint installations. The author also highlights the importance of working smarter, not harder. Regarding this last point, working smarter instead of harder, a third-party solution can greatly increase the efficiency and effectiveness of an existing SharePoint installation. We like Fabasoft Mindbreeze and its enterprise offerings.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise is the leading solution for fast and comprehensive access to corporate-wide knowledge. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise searches all structured and unstructured data (e-mails, documents, contracts, contacts, notes etc.) within seconds and provides all relevant information structured, prioritized and ready for further use. Staff resources are released to concentrate on their actual task.
Check out Fabasoft Mindbreeze and its suite of smart solutions to see if your organization can begin to work smarter instead of harder.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 14, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
PR Push for Azaleos and Fast Search
March 14, 2012
My email overflowed this morning with descriptions of Azaleos, its expertise in Microsofty stuff, and Fast Search. I am on the ball with regard to Fast Search, its legal back story, and the issues associated with getting the system to deliver useful results to users on time and on budget. You will find the Azaleos blog quite interesting. I noted no recent postings about Fast Search. For some current information about the search system, you may want to check out this Beyond Search write up. I ran a query using the Azaleos search system and got three hits about Fast Search. The coverage of search suggests that Azaleos may be succumbing to a communications expert’s inputs about how to sell search services.
What was new was the statement in MSPmentor’s “Azaleos Cloud Gets Microsoft Fast Search Server 2010”. How does a Microsoft partner “get” Fast Search? I don’t know. Maybe pay a fee? Here’s the passage I noted:
…the company’s Managed Enterprise Search solution addresses a different need. It gives enterprises the ability to remotely design, configure, monitor and manage FAST Search Server 2010. According to Azaleos, the development is big news for its customers because the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 can perform searches in “an interactive and visual format,” in addition to the basic search functions that the Microsoft SharePoint Server provides. The FAST Search Server is a high-visibility solution, which brings its own set of complex issues to the table for enterprise IT departments. But Azaleos claims its Managed Enterprise Search solution eliminates the challenges associated with high visibility applications and can keep the FAST Search Server available and running at top speed.
My thoughts after reading this included:
- There is an implicit assumption that Microsoft’s cloud search will be Fast centric. My own view of this is that the assumption may be out of kilter. The reasons include performance, extensibility, and customization. Fast Search can be turned into a capable performer, but the “cloud” angle implies a certain standardization of features. So of Fast Search’s vast capabilities what will the core service do? Keywords, clustering, linguistic analysis, entity extraction, sentiment analysis, relationship mapping, etc. My point is that customers may want all of these functions and that suggests the Fast Search from Azaleos may be very different from the Fast Search marketing collateral’s assertions.
- Can Azaleos maintain an “interactive and visual format” when the content throughput increases. The challenge of keeping indexes fresh equates to resources. Resources, in my experience, cost money. The fix may be to gate how much data are processed in order to keep the fees acceptable to customers. Price spikes are not encouraging to some licensees in my experience.
- The assertion of “available and running at top speed” is an interesting one. My thought was, “Relative to what?” Are we comparing a small corpus with weekly index refreshes or are we talking about 100 million documents refreshed in near real time? I am not sure Fast in an on premises installation with original Fast engineers babysitting the hugely complex system with often unexpected dependencies can be a challenge to keep perking along at optimum performance levels.
I want to watch how this business unfolds. After all, a PR blitz which puts several stories in front of me signals some real enthusiasm on the part of the Azaleos stakeholders.
Stephen E Arnold, March 14, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: A New Face for SharePoint Online
March 13, 2012
The Risks of an E-Hoarder
March 13, 2012
Hoarding shows are popular these days, with TV giving attention to a once ignored psychological disorder, and causing the rest of us to wonder if we are hoarders of one sort or another. It turns out that hoarding may also be an IT phenomenon. Jeff Vance for NetworkWorld addresses the topic in, “Warning: You May Be an E-hoarder.”
Vance explains that cheap storage has lead to the e-hoarding phenomenon but just because the hardware is cheap does not mean the overall process of storage is also cheap:
While the cost of storing data has dropped significantly, ancillary costs haven’t, including data management costs and even costs associated with adding space in data centers and paying for escalating HVAC bills. Retrieval is another problem, since even the best search tool won’t necessarily find data buried in an arcane application. Take SharePoint, for instance. As more people within an organization collaborate through it, the number of documents within SharePoint can spiral out of control.
Gartner predicts that overall enterprise data will grow 650% in the next five years. With the majority of organizations choosing SharePoint for their enterprise needs, one can see SharePoint as both part of the problem and part of the solution. Third party solutions like Fabasoft Mindbreeze can help make enterprise search more efficient and meaningful, helping to avoid mindless e-hoarding.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise is the center of excellence for your company’s knowledge. Highly efficient enterprise search and specific connectors link together data sources in companies and organizations. They integrate the knowledge of different sections of a company into a uniform, linked whole. The award-winning high-tech product is your personal assistant. 24/7, 365 days a year. Regardless of which data you are looking for and with which system you are working with – Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise answers your questions with pinpoint accuracy.
So as the IT world continues to deal with changing standards in content management, third party solutions may help deal with the immediate issue. Explore the solutions offered by Fabasoft Mindbreeze to see if their solutions are a good fit for your organization.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 13, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: Tune in for the Exciting Adventures of SharePoint
March 12, 2012
To Cloud or Not to Cloud, That is the Question
March 12, 2012
Less than a year ago Microsoft launched Office 365, allowing Cloud access to a comprehensive set of software, including SharePoint Online. And while many businesses saw migrating Exchange email services to the Cloud as a no-brainer, the same positive perception has not be given to SharePoint Online. Chris McNulty gets into the details in, “The SharePoint Decision: Do We Choose Cloud or On-Premises?”
When examining the cold hard facts about SharePoint Cloud functionality, McNulty has the following to say:
People would be blown away by the depth of functionality Microsoft made available in the cloud. I mean it – there would be wild celebrations and stampedes in the street! But that’s not the perception of Office 365-based SharePoint. Instead, there’s a lot of needless focus on what’s left out.’ (SharePoint Online does lack a few features relative to on-premises SharePoint.)
While SharePoint Online shows a lot of promise and continued improvement, it is noted that it still lags behind the full functionality of an on-site SharePoint installation. However, some third-party solutions are available that are much more agile, and therefore already display greater Cloud functionality.
Check out Fabasoft Mindbreeze and their enterprise solution, which is fully functional as an on-site installation or on the Cloud.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise and the Cloud fit together perfectly. The Cloud makes your business mobile; Mindbreeze finds its way in the Cloud. This intelligent search is available as a Cloud service. This means that, if you so desire, Fabasoft Mindbreeze can run without any installation whatsoever – we operate the search engine for you. All the data that you manage in the Cloud is made searchable by Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
While SharePoint gets better with each new release, third-party solutions have the advantage of being more agile and being updated more frequently. See if Fabasoft Mindbreeze can replace or supplement your current enterprise infrastructure, improving its performance in the Cloud.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 12, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: SharePoint Is Adopted Worldwide
March 9, 2012
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