Perspective Search Now Part of Jive Platform
November 6, 2013
Perceptive Software is working with social collaboration firm Jive, we learn from “Perceptive Software Brings Enterprise Search App to Jive Apps Market” at PRWeb. Perceptive Search has been integrated into Jive’s platform, and is available as an app through the Jive Apps Market. The press release reports:
“The Perceptive Enterprise Search App provides companies using Jive with a powerful enterprise search tool to eliminate information silos and aggregate content across multiple repositories, including SharePoint, ECM solutions, traditional file shares, legacy Lotus Notes databases, and others. The app is fully functional right out of the box, readily indexing—and giving users access to—content across multiple repositories and scaling to accommodate spikes in volume.
“The app empowers users to explore data relationships through analytical, reporting and visualization features, giving businesses more opportunity to identify trends and drive value from their content. Such value may be realized in the form of more efficient product development, customer service, marketing and more.”
Perceptive CTO Brian Anderson notes that his company uses Jive with Perspective Search for their own employees, and reports that the app has sped up their own searches. The platform’s analysis, reporting, and visualization features remove those chores from users’ to-do lists, allowing more time to act on resulting insights, he says.
Acquired by Lexmark in 2010, Perceptive Software offers a range of process- and content-management solutions. In business since 1995, Perceptive serves clients in a wide range of industries. The company is headquartered in Shawnee, Kansas and, according to their About page, is currently hiring.
Folks at Jive Software are convinced that “social business is the future.” This is why they employ the latest technology to help clients cultivate crowdsourcing, collaboration, and customer engagement, forces they say are bound to improve the business world for both customers and workers. Founded in 2012, Jive already has five far-flung offices, including their headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
Cynthia Murrell, November 06, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Microsoft Beefs up Yammer
October 21, 2013
Microsoft bought Yammer in 2012 for $1.2 billion. The news was exciting for users who were eager for the improved social experience it would bring to SharePoint implementations. Now news is circulating that major updates are in the works. Read more in the ZDNet story, “Microsoft adds more e-mail, SharePoint integration to Yammer.”
The article begins:
“Microsoft is making good on its commitment to add more e-mail and SharePoint integration to its Yammer enterprise social-networking product. On October 15, as part of its “Working Social Tour” event in San Francisco, Microsoft execs shared more on how the Yammer roadmap is evolving.”
They go on to share that Microsoft will redesign the Yammer iPad app as well as the Windows Phone apps, improve the email user experience, and update the messaging interfaces.
Yammer takes SharePoint a little closer to relevancy when it comes to social networking capabilities. However, many users are still complaining that SharePoint does not meet expectations in its basic functions. Stephen E. Arnold, a longtime leader in the world of search and developer of ArnoldIT, is a critic of SharePoint. In a recent story, he reports that only 6% of users find their SharePoint deployments successful. It sounds like Microsoft would do well to spend less time on the bells and whistles and more time on search functionality and implementation.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 21, 2013
Microsoft Business Intelligence Added
October 14, 2013
SharePoint 2013 has arrived with a bundle of additional add-ons and trinkets, so to speak. However, some may say that these small pieces are in many ways more impressive than SharePoint itself. TechRepublic covers the story in their article, “SharePoint 2013 Adds Better In-memory Analytics.”
“In its quest to never be outdone in the features wars, Microsoft has drifted into the habit of bundling its most impressive new capabilities as peripheral trinkets. But in the case of SharePoint 2013, they’ve set a new record for understatement. Yes, SharePoint 2013 is feature-rich almost to a fault, and yes, most of the new stuff is big-banner game-changing (Social computing! SharePoint-in-the-cloud!). But some of the most powerful items are geeky little widgets that barely get a mention on TechNet, and when it comes to SharePoint 2013, the In-Memory BI Engine tops the list.”
But while the business intelligence add-on might be noteworthy, many are saying that SharePoint 2013 is not. Most organizations still have to customize their way into efficiency, using multiple add-ons to compile a complete solution. Stephen E. Arnold, of ArnoldIT, is a longtime expert in search and a longstanding critic of SharePoint. In a recent article, Arnold finds that the latest version of SharePoint is structurally sound, but relatively ineffective, particularly for its search components. Microsoft continues to innovate, yet seems to keep missing the mark with basic features.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 14, 2013
JackBe Releases Presto 3.5 BI Solution
March 4, 2013
The Best Analytics Blog presents us with quite the string of buzzwords in, “JackBe Brings Metric-Driven Real-Time Operational Intelligence to Front-Line. . . .” The press release tells us that the business intelligence outfit JackBe has released the newest version of its flagship product, Presto. This version is said to improve the accessibility of the software’s operational measures. The write-up states:
“Presto 3.5 extends its user-friendly interface to include new options to create dashboards through drag-and-drop, to add custom visualizations as easily as plugging in the view, and to customize Presto with a customer’s own logo and colors. Once created, all Presto dashboards are portable with HTML5 apps that run anywhere, including SharePoint, portals, websites, tablets and mobile phones with the same look-and-feel of the native device. Presto 3.5 has enhanced security for mobile devices and a more secure single-sign-on experience for social media sites.”
JackBe emphasizes real-time intelligence tools and easy-to-use dashboards while promising tight security features. They also offer their own add-ons for use with mobile devices, portals, and SharePoint. The company is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with offices in Mexico City and Fremont, California.
Cynthia Murrell, March 04, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
IBM Launching New Collaborative Communications Products Including Upgrade to Connections
February 26, 2013
The IBM announcement that it will be rolling out new communication products and new upgrades for its existing social networking product, Connections hasn’t really come as a big shock to many. IBM has spent time and money acquiring new technologies and working to integrate those technologies.
CIO’s “IBM To Beef Up Content Management, Analytics In Connections Enterprise Social Product,” takes consumers through some of the basic changes they can expect to see when the products are unveiled on Monday at Connect 2013.
“At a press conference after the session, Mike Rhodin, senior vice president of IBM’s Software Solutions Group, said that the impact of enterprise social technologies in collaboration and front-office business processes like HR and marketing amounts to a “generational shift” that is transforming how companies function, and will do so for the next two decades.”
We aren’t really told which acquisitions are responsible for which upgrades and integrations but if IBM’s dreams come true, the new content management function of Connections will rival that of Microsoft’s SharePoint, a big assertion for sure.
The IBM Employee Experience Suite is one of the few newly designed products that fully explains where the new upgrades came from, in this instance, the human resource management apps are courtesy of the $1.3 billion acquisition of Kenexa.
While still a little cloudy on the content, it will be interesting to keep an eye on IBM over the next year and not just at its product reveal early next week. It’s a sink or swim time in business technology with so many up and coming developers and technologies just waiting in the wings for an opportunity. We’ll see how IBM continues to stack up.
Leslie Radcliff, February 26, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
The Google Search Appliance Version 7
October 9, 2012
I learned today (October 9, 2012) that Google has upgraded the GSA to Version 7. I have not gotten my hands on a GSA. I did work through the list of enhancements. My first reaction is that Google has invested time and effort in the GSA. Some competitors will have to deal with the GSA in its present form because Google has emphasized some features which will appeal to harried information technology managers. The GSA is, according to the information available to me delivers “Google magic.” As Google’s impact across business sectors becomes more powerful, “Google magic” may be what convinces organizations to embrace an appliance which delivers “powerful simplicity.”
Among the features of Version 7 are:
- Universal search accessible from any device, including smartphones
- Entity recognition, hit clustering, and faceted search
- Ability to identify an “expert”
- More robust access controls
- Support for SharePoint
- Updated language modules and support for Google Translate
- Document previews without opening a viewer or an application like Adobe Reader
- Support for a Vivisimo-style social comment.
Google points out: “Search in the enterprise isn’t a solved problem. 60 percent of workers say it is hard to find information in their organization.” I agree.
I don’t have pricing information. There are some prices for the GB 7007 and GB 9009 available via www.gsaadvantage.gov. You will have to experiment with the search syntax. The US government prices are discounted, so the commercial lease with two or three years of support will vary.
The official Google announcement is at “Introducing the Google Search Appliance, Version 7.” Feature by feature comparisons with other enterprise search systems are tricky. Will the new version address some of the issues that licensees experienced with previous Google Search Appliances? I don’t know. I will update my analysis of the Google Search Appliance as more information becomes available.
From a competitor’s point of view, Google “magic” may be difficult to disprove.
Stephen E Arnold, October 9, 2012
Inmagic Releases Presto with Web Publishing Capabilities
August 27, 2012
A new product is available from Inmagic that will enable many advanced Web-publishing capabilities for current DB/Text users.
The product, Presto for DB/Text, was created by the company to work with its current full featured, Web-based library management system and will enable new Web-publishing abilities while still allowing textbases to continue to be created and maintained in DB/Text. According to a post on Inmagic Inc. blog titled, “Announcing ‘Presto for DB/Text’,” capabilities include the ability to easily search across all textbases at once and display results in one view as well as integration of social features. We learn:
“Presto for DB/Text has been designed for customers that require advanced web-publishing capabilities without the need for custom programming, which is often necessary when using WebPublisher PRO. Presto for DB/Text does not replace WebPublisher PRO, however — WebPublisher PRO will continue to be enhanced and supported. Presto for DB/Text just gives DB/Text customers an additional option for publishing information to the Internet or their intranet.”
Additional (albeit optional and at a cost to the customer,) features include SharePoint integration, federated search, and the ability to add and create native Presto databases/content types. We are interested to see more from the company and are excited about these available features.
Andrea Hayden, August 27, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Measuring Emotion in the Enterprise
August 24, 2012
We thought SharePoint incorporated social functions. We also thought Fast Search offered sentiment analysis via Lexalytics‘ technology. More must be needed, since CIO now declares, “Yammer Lets Organizations Measure Emotions in Enterprise Social Networks.” The write up informs us:
“Yammer is adding functionality to its cloud-based enterprise social networking (ESN) software that lets organizations gauge the types of emotions expressed in employee posts.
“The new capability will be provided via an integration with Kanjoya, whose Crane software is designed to identify and analyze ‘sentiment’ in text, Yammer said on Thursday.
“Yammer customers who sign up for this feature will have a new Crane dashboard in their Yammer admin console that will describe the prevalent mood in reactions from employees in the ESN about specific topics.”
The example given—use the software to analyze emails and other communications to determine how employees feel about a recent benefits change.Crane tracks about 80 different emotions; it allows administrators to search by keywords, narrow reactions by office or department, and create graphical representations of their workers’ feelings.
I know such a tool can be more efficient than simply asking employees for their opinions, especially in large organizations. Still, I just can’t ignore the Orwellian aftertaste left by such innovations. Maybe it’s just me.
Cynthia Murrell, August 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Increase Company Productivity with Streamlined Project Management
August 15, 2012
Tim Cermak discusses project management for the upcoming SharePoint release in his CMSWire.com post, “Project Management Today: How SharePoint 2013 Can Help.” Cermak explains some of today’s challenges with workflow:
Companies today face the challenge of determining what is happening both within their organization and externally in their marketplace. Information such as who is working on what and the progress of directives is fundamental and yet it is often elusive. The only way for companies to improve their business is to know what is happening, who is doing the work and what the outcome really is. People need to easily be able to collaborate on jobs and with colleagues, communicate with many people, and easily report the facts.
The author shares tips for all departments in an organization to work as a team to become a more successful company. To help drive your employees to increased productivity and collaboration, consider adding a comprehensive third party solution. Mindbreeze offers a lean suite of products that can add rich value to your workflow processes. Look to gain each employee two weeks per year through focused finding of data (IDC Studies) with Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise. Read more at http://www.mindbreeze.com/.
Philip West, August 15, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
New Acquisition Pressures Newsgator
August 14, 2012
A recent Microsoft move may be bad news for NewsGator, ComputerWorld reveals in “Microsoft’s Yammer Buy Raises Questions About NewsGator’s Future.” Yammer and NewsGator are competitors in the SharePoint enterprise social add-on market. Does Microsoft’s acquisition of one spell trouble for the other?
Social Sites is the name of NewsGator’s SharePoint add-on. Since it launched in 2007, it has accumulated an impressive roster of clients. If Microsoft integrates the similarly successful Yammer into SharePoint, that could change. NewsGator CEO J.B. Holston remains optimistic, though, insisting that the two products attract different types of customers. Writer Juan Carlos Perez explains:
“While Yammer is a multi-tenant, cloud-based software, Social Sites is designed for on-premise and dedicated hosted environments, offering IT more controls, [Holston] said.
“‘The fact that Microsoft now owns Yammer doesn’t change the reasons why our clients came to us originally,’ he said, adding that most NewsGator customers aren’t comfortable using this type of software in a multi-tenant cloud. ‘Our customers are hyper-focused on security, governance, scalability and privacy.'”
Not only that, but NewsGator stands out as a developer of applications for specific industries. Will these unique qualities be enough to protect the company? We won’t know for a while, Perez says, since it would take a couple of years for Microsoft to mimic Social Sites with Yammer functionality. If it even chooses to do so at all; Holston thinks Microsoft only loves Yammer for its successful “freemium” business model. Hey, he can hope.
Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado, NewsGator proclaims a passion for customer satisfaction. The company asserts that they are (so far, I’d add) the social software vendor most deeply integrated into the Microsoft stack.
Yammer launched in 2008, and seems to be very proud to be joining the Microsoft universe. They assert that, with former Facebook innovators on their team, their social products have the advantage of “Facebook DNA.” Interesting.
Cynthia Murrell, August 14, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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