The Heat Now Pings From Text Radar October 12 to October 18
October 23, 2012
This week Text Radar published some informative content regarding the practical applications of big data analytic technology and content intelligence in an increasing number of industries.
One example of this can be seen in “Applying Big Data Analytics to Improve Hospital Emergency Departments.” The article discusses how applying analytics to aid financial pressure, clinical quality pressure, service and timeliness pressure, and staffing and skill deployment pressure can make workloads more bearable.
The article states:
“For example, the authors analyzed financial measures, such as total monthly charges, average payment per ED visit, and average work relative value units per ED visit. This information allowed for comparisons on the patient level so outliers could be identified and staff could be educated on better practices. The insightful article may be worth the read if you work in the health care industry.”
Another industry that can greatly benefit from big data analytics is the government sector. “Big Data Can Benefit the Federal Government According to Tech America Foundation” explains how big data analytics can help fight fraud and cut down on waste.
The article elaborates:
“New computer systems to track and identify much larger amounts of data inside a computer cloud are making Big Data analysis with accurate results possible. Along with solving fraud and waste issues, technology experts are counting on the government to embrace this new technology for improvements that target grant fund allocations and services.”
Big data is primarily discussed in developed countries like the United States and Asia, however, it can also be useful in less developed countries. “DataKind and aWhere Show How Big Data is Valuable to Developing Countries” explains how nonprofits, charities, and non-governmental organization are seeking the same benefits from big data that have been found in the private sector.
The article states:
“The article quotes Jake Porway, the head of DataKind, an organization whose goal is to use data for the common good. DataKind frequently hosts events that bring together nonprofits and data scientists working pro-bono. Porway emphasizes that it is not the events themselves that produce the most good for the organizations but that the events bring together people who make long-lasting connections. The article also mentions Dave Lundberg of aWhere, produces a location intelligence platform that integrates agricultural, environmental and public health data into local, actionable insight. For example, using satellite imagery analysis of abandoned swimming pools to draw conclusions that apply to malarial bodies of water in the third world.”
While big data technology is abundant, it is important that organizations find a solution that is the right fit. Smartlogic has provided taxonomy, content classification and search software to many kinds of organizations around the world. Its Semaphore Content Intelligence Platform is affordable and creates an enhanced information management experience.
Jasmine Ashton, October 23, 2012
IntelTrax Top Stories August 17 to August 23
August 27, 2012
This week the IntelTrax advanced intelligence blog published some innovative articles regarding the state of analytics solutions and the various industries that they are permeating.
“Analytics Providers on Roll with Online Marketing” discusses how data analytics is slowly but surely breaking into the online marketing industry through partnerships that offer customers online marketing analytics.
The article highlights a recent partnership between Emory Digital and National Analytics:
“The platform includes a daily website audit, competitive position and gap analysis, website analysis, keyword analysis, link analysis, conversion analysis, benchmark tracking and ROI tracking, and project management. The software tracks Key Performance Indicators that go far beyond search engine rankings. It measures brand engagement, pages bringing traffic, page view per visit, new visits, time on site, bounce rate, goal conversions, ecommerce transactions and revenue and lead generation.”
Another industry that is starting to rely as heavily on data mining as rock mining is the field of geology. “Big Data Teams with Geologists to Mine the Earth” discusses how there is a new tool that speeds up the process of data mining and exploration for geologists.
The article details:
“GDD’s Field Data Integrator combines best-of-breed technologies for collecting, managing and analyzing data more rapidly. The end-to-end solution enables geologists to collect samples in shorter time frames, and then quickly analyze large volumes sample data for complex scenarios such as such as project timings, cash flows and profitability with greater sensitivity levels….GDD’s Field Data Integrator automatically synchronizes sample data from various field instruments, GPS, and cameras onto a ‘tough’ tablet using Bluetooth. Geologists enter notes directly onto the tablet using on-screen or wireless keyboards, enabling all data on samples to be collected automatically into a single source. The tablet then automatically synchronizes with a master database running Vectorwise whenever in mobile range, saving geologists time in manual data entry.”
The Financial industry is also being highly impacted by data analytics, according to “Cloud Makes Financial Analysis Easier.” The post discusses a new cloud based data visualization system called Adaptive Discovery. Adaptive Planning, the creator of the new product, claims that it has an intuitive visual interface that will appeal to business managers, allowing them to more easily access, analyze, and explore key financial and operational data.
The article states:
“Adaptive Discovery, the visual discovery application within the Adaptive Planning suite of performance management solutions, allows companies of all sizes to quickly and easily understand and take action upon their companywide data. Business users can easily compile, display and explore data from multiple systems and lines of business with highly visual, interactive dashboards and scorecards. The application presents data in ways that managers can easily grasp, so they are able to make better day-to-day decisions. Adaptive Discovery delivers an exciting new level of capability and interactivity that is far superior to both static data in spreadsheets and the limited reporting options available in existing enterprise applications.”
While Adaptive Discovery is one solution that improves data mining, there are also other affordable data analytics solutions on the market. Digital Reasoning has a long standing reputation of bringing data analytics to a variety of industries, including the financial world.
Jasmine Ashton, August 27, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
The Heat in SharePoint Semantics: July 27 to August 2
August 7, 2012
In the field of content management it can be difficult to find helpful information that explains the quirks of Microsoft SharePoint in an easy to digest way. This week SharePoint Semantics delivered several informative posts that achieve this feat.
“KM World Asks How to Define Microsoft SharePoint 2013” addresses the question is SharePoint 2013 a product or a platform? While the initial answer to the question is that SharePoint is an out of the box solution that needs no additional modification, the reality of the situation is not quite so cut and dry:
“Microsoft has aggressively promoted SharePoint’s customizability to its unusually loyal channel of consulting and integration partners. Redmond even crowed to this captive audience about how every dollar spent on SharePoint licensing generated six-to-nine dollars spent on outside services. Among the broader SharePoint ecosystem it became a matter of canon that with enough time and money they could get SharePoint to accomplish practically anything.”
Another post that continues in this vein is: “Take Further Advantage of the Capabilities of Microsoft SharePoint.” According to the article, SharePoint needs quite a bit of time devoted to help it reach its full potential from its original out-of-the-box state.
The article informs:
“Many companies that rely on Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook also use SharePoint for things like data warehousing, workflow reporting and social networking. However, not every company integrates these products in a way that takes full advantage of SharePoint’s capabilities. We recently spoke with Errin O’Connor, founder and CEO of the EPC Group, a SharePoint consulting firm based in Houston, about some little-known ways to take advantage of Exchange, Outlook and SharePoint. We also discussed some common issues, some of the least efficient ways to use these tools and when to consider a move to the hosted version of these offerings as part of the Office 365 suite.”
For those who are excited about jumping into SharePoint 2013, it is important to remember “Do Not Forget Your Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Prerequisites.”
The article warns:
“Since it’s beta software, there are some rough edges. One of them involves the Prerequisite installer. The Prereq installer hasn’t changed much since SharePoint 2010. You still need to run it before you can install SharePoint 2013. It still grabs the newest, bestest versions of the files SharePoint 2013 needs. You can still run it on a machine without Internet access by passing the local location of the files. It also misses a patch or two.”
Regardless of whether you are using the old SharePoint or preparing to utilize SharePoint 2013, it is always good to employ a third party solution. Smartlogic’s Semaphore Content Intelligence Platform not only helps end users make the most of SharePoint, but it also offers content classification and text mining services.
Jasmine Ashton, August 7, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
The Heat in SharePoint Semantics May 25 to May 31
June 5, 2012
This week SharePoint Semantics delivered some excellent posts and SharePoint success stories that will make search enthusiasts jump for joy.
“A SharePoint Success Story: Mission Accomplished in Only 24 Minutes” reminds us that SharePoint is widely used around the world and can be easy and useful. The author of the article, who was not part of the IT department, was able to easily solve a coworkers problem by using SharePoint:
“I created a custom workflow in SharePoint Designer that emailed her an easy-to read message with a clear and concise subject line, a brief message stating a new item had been created, a link to the item, and a link to the default list view, all formatted nicely using a branded HTML email template that I have on hand for such occasions. That took 11 minutes.”
This little trick helped one woman find a perfect solution to her data management problems.
“Tips for Enhancing Team Sites in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 From Michael Pisarek” explains one person’s perspective on the staple collaboration feature in SharePoint.
Writer, Ken Toth advises:
“Adding some clear guidelines, headings, and instruction for using the elements of a Team Site can help users avoid a “Stuff” document dump and streamline work processes. And in a large SharePoint implementation, an efficient Team Site can really help users navigate and share information. Plaarek’s comments and screenshots of his example may be worth checking out if your Team Sites are lackluster.”
Another relevant and interesting piece is “Overcoming Common Challenges With Microsoft SharePoint Projects.” It references an article that discusses five reasons why SharePoint projects tend to fail, one reason being that companies do not appoint content managers.
Toth states:
“To boost the end user experience, look to a rich search solution. The experts at Smartlogic have developed a tightly integrated solution, “SharePoint has the capability to develop workflows and search content, but relies on users to add the metadata. “
The Semaphore Semantic Platform from Smartlogic is a solution that addresses the challenges that can come up with SharePoint and managing the gaps that can come with data management.
Jasmine Ashton, June 5, 2012
The Heat in SharePoint Semantics May 11 to May 17
May 22, 2012
As always SharePoint Semantics points readers, search enthusiasts, and SharePoint end users to create a strategy to deploy SharePoint in a way that benefits everyone in your workplace.
In the post, “Prepare a Robust Adoption Strategy for Your SharePoint Deployment with 7 Tips,” writer Ken Toth stresses that people should be the primary focus of your SharePoint adoption strategy because no matter how great your technology it is the people that make your company succeed.
When describing the list of tips, Toth states:
“Executives need to be visible in their use of SharePoint. Next is getting buy-in from business users because they will drive your business requirements and you need to make sure the end results will meet their needs. Third, influence the organization by forming a core community of successful thought leaders and subject matter experts. Fourth, engage your users by selling the concept and establishing a meaningful connection to its value and benefits. Fifth, offer instructor-based and e-learning training. Sixth, market your SharePoint launch like you would a new product. Finally, promote participation by giving rewards and recognition.”
Looking towards the future, App development is a becoming a very integral part of ensuring a company’s ability to prosper in the 21st century. In order to stay current, SharePoint created the planned SharePoint App Marketplace. The post, “Furuknap Shares Insight on the Expected App Marketplace for SharePoint 2013”
In the referenced article, Furuknap explains:
“In short, the job ad is for a software developer who can help the Visual Studio team build the next generation of tools for SharePoint. The ad, however, reveals more information than I suspect Microsoft intended, and confirms the existence of the new App model, the App Marketplace, simplified HTML and JavaScript, and leveraging Windows Azure and SQL Azure for data, logic, and workflows.”
In the realm of SharePoint troubleshooting, the post “Understand the Difference Between SharePoint Publishing and Collaboration” does an excellent job of fleshing out the details of publishing and collaboration in a way that is easy to digest.
Toth concludes:
“One simple way to get encourage collaboration is by integrating a powerful search feature into your SharePoint system so users can efficiently find and reuse information. The experts at Smartlogic really understand the benefits of metadata. Here you can read about the comprehensive solution, “Tagging information with metadata significantly enhances its findability. Metadata also improves the consistency and quality of the output so content can be repurposed and reused slashing time it takes to create new content.”
Toth is absolutely right. Without third party solutions like Smartlogic, it would be much more difficult to really understand all of the intricacies that come with using SharePoint.
Jasmine Ashton, May 22, 2012
Protected: Grasp Your SharePoint Workflows and Evaluate Productivity
December 14, 2011
Exclusive Interview: Gilles Andre, PolySpot
December 13, 2011
Last week I was able to interview Gilles Andre, the chief executive officer, of PolySpot late in November and then last week. Mr. Andre joined PolySpot in June 2010. Prior to this, Gilles was co-founder and CEO of Augure, a company engaged in e-reputation management and services. Mr. Andre was also the founder of Leonard’s Logic suite in 1997 (software editor of Genio ETL). Acquired by Hummingbird in 1999. Mr. Andre is board member at Talend, recognized market leader in open source middleware solutions.
PolySpot is a provider of open search solutions. The company offers a robust and innovative architecture which supports search-centric applications accessible from any device connected to a client’s network.
I was interested in Mr. Andre’s view of PolySpot. The search and content processing sector is in transition, and the role of open source solutions continues to gain traction. He told me:
PolySpot’s agile framework, its use of open source technology like Lucene, and a focus on putting information in the business work flow. Olivier Lefassy, David Fischer – our CTO – and I had designed some interesting ideas, and I was eager to fine tune these elements into a business model that would propel PolySpot over the hurdles which cause many enterprise information solutions to fail.
With open source making in roads at IBM and other major technology providers, I asked about Mr. Andre’s involvement in the “communities” which play an important role in the sector. He told me:
When I was board member at Talend, a very successful French initiative in the ETL [extract, transform, load] segment from inception in 2006 to December 2010, I came to understand the potential of open source software. PolySpot gives me a chance to leverage my knowledge about fast growth, high potential companies, open source software, and the “big data” opportunity around us. I think you can say that data management and information are woven throughout my business fabric.
The PolySpot approach boasts a robust framework. I asked what PolySpot has constructed around Lucene, the open source search system:
We build the connectors I mentioned before and a connector software development kit. We engineered out proprietary transformation and enrichment platform (that’s the Sense Builder components) which adds intelligence to raw information. We also developed a very innovative end to end administration console enabling to design and maintain search applications with no particular technical skill, this eases Lucene and Solr configuration but also amplifies the search functionalities provided by Solr. Last, we have added display modules, information views, and graphical user interfaces. These can easily be customized. To make it brief, PolySpot delivers the first end-to-end packaged search infrastructure over Lucene and SOLR core technologies.
After seeing several demonstrations of client deployments, I was impressed with the PolySpot technology. To learn more about PolySpot’s solutions and technical approach, navigate to www.polyspot.com. The full text of the interview with Mr. Andre is located in the ArnoldIT’s series Search Wizards Speak at this link.
Stephen E Arnold, December 13, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
What Is Hot: SharePoint Semantics Nov 18 – Nov 25
November 29, 2011
“An easy-to-use interface is a must if you’re going to expose employees to relevant business intelligence. SharePoint and SQL make this possible by employing a familiar interface that easily exposes the information to your employees, including the often majority that are not trained in the backend systems.”
“The shortcomings of SharePoint’s taxonomy include: a very small set of allowed taxonomy attributes, nearly non-existent tracking of term changes, no synonyms, and a maximum of ten lines of display. Due to all these limitations, many experts are recommending using a third party solution.”
These predictions are: Microsoft will break their neck NOT to release SharePoint vNext in 2013, Steve Ballmer will announce the release of SharePoint vNext at the Las Vegas conference, and SharePoint vNext will be metro style.
How to Personalize Your SharePoint Lists
November 18, 2011
Lately, we’ve been bringing SharePoint articles that focus on a list of some sort. Now we bring you an article that is centered on “Setting Query String Values on SharePoint Forms Using XSLT and Javascript” from the Sieena blog. In layman’s terms, it gives tips on working with list within SharePoint. How great is that?!
“In some cases, you may want to show your SharePoint list forms (new, edit, display, etc) in a specific layout or showing/hiding values to your will, this is something you cannot do using out of the box SharePoint list forms. But there’s a way to do this, and even take query string values as parameters: using javascript and XSLT data views on your forms.”
It gets even better! The process to personalize your SharePoint is outlined in a list. So it’s a useful article about manipulating javascript and XLST data on lists with a list of steps. In the manner of lists, it’s pretty straight-forward with small steps you need to follow with the new code at the end. If you want to personalize your SharePoint Search as well, Search Technologies‘ engineers can tailor almost any aspect of SharePoint and tune SharePoint search so it delivers a solid return on investment.
Iain Fletcher, November 18, 2011
Mindbreeze Offers Standalone Enterprise Solution
November 14, 2011
CMS Wire follows the latest trends in enterprise CMS in “Forrester Wave Q4 2011: Bye-Bye Enterprise CMS Suites, Content-Centric Apps Are King.” Content needs are becoming more complex and organizations are turning to multiple solutions and away from a single CMS suite.
“The first dynamic that the Forrester report identifies shows that companies are no longer looking to a single enterprise CMS suite to solve all their content needs. There are a number of reasons for this, but looming over them all is the fact that changing content-types and greater use of, and need to manage, unstructured content is pushing many companies to use whatever application suits, from whatever vendors are providing those applications, to solve specific business problems. And then, of course, information workers have to be able to use all these applications.”
Relying on the variety of vendors might not be the solution to the changing enterprise landscape. Instead, choosing an agile and capable vendor like Mindbreeze seamlessly solves all of your business needs on multiple levels: mobile, web, and enterprise. When multiple vendors are utilized, information workers are forced to train on a variety of platforms and applications. Using one flexible solution like Mindbreeze saves valuable training time.
“SharePoint, and in particular the new release, Forrester argues, which provides ‘ECM for the masses’ has forced many vendors to rethink strategies and move towards more content-centric development. As a result, competing vendors have been obliged to move toward specific content sets to differentiate themselves from it. Consequently, the market is now divided into a number of different types of players.”
Instead of being forced into this trend, and choosing different vendors for different content, choose one reliable vendor like Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Applications are still content-centric, but in a smart and streamlined way, all underneath the banner of one dependable name.
*Disclaimer – Mindbreeze is currently upgrading their website. Links will be checked and if problems arise they will be updated. Thanks for your patience.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 14, 2011
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