A New Term for Search: Enterprise Mashup
May 12, 2010
I received a copy of “Mashups in the Enterprise IT Environment: The Impact of Enterprise Mashup Platforms on Application Development and Evolving IT Relationships with Business End Users”, written by BizTechReports.com. The white paper is about JackBe.com’s software platform.
Here is the company’s description of its product and services:
Enterprise Mashups solve the quintessential information sharing problem: accessing and combining data from disparate internal and external data sources and software systems for timely decision-making. JackBe delivers trusted mashup software that empowers organizations to create, customize and collaborate through enterprise mashups for faster decisions and better business results. Our innovative Enterprise Mashup platform, Presto®, provides dynamic mashups that leverage internal and external data while meeting the toughest enterprise security and governance requirements. Presto provides enterprise mashups delivered to the user in 3 clicks versus 3 months.
You can get more information from the firm’s Web site at www.jackbe.com. If you want a short cut to demonstrations of the firm’s technology, click here.
The company provides a platform and services to convert disparate data into meaningful information assets. What I find interesting is that the phrase “enterprise mashup” is used to reference a range of content processing activities, including content acquisition and processing, indexing, and information outputting. In short, “enterprise mashup” is a useful way to position functions that some vendors describe as search or findability.
The JackBe’s interface reminds me of other business intelligence data presentations.
I want to focus on the white paper because it provides important hints about the direction in which some types of content processing is moving.
First, the argument of in the white paper hinges on an assertion that there is a “hyper dynamic environment.” How does an organization deal with this environment, a different approach to information is required. What is interesting is that the JackBe audience is a blend of developers and business professionals. Some search vendors are trying to get to the senior management of a company. JackBe is interested in two audiences.
Second, the white paper explains the concept of “mashup”. The term compresses a range of information activities into one term. To implement a mashup, JackBe provide widgets to help reduce the time and hassle for building “situation specific” implementations. Some search vendors talk about customization and personalization. The JackBe approach sidesteps these fuzzy notions and focuses on the idea of a “snap in”, lightweight method.
Finally, the JackBe approach uses an interesting metaphor. The phrase I noted was the “Home Depot model of enterprise IT.” Instead of taking disparate components of a typical search engine, JackBe suggests that a licensee can select what’s needed to do a particular information job.
You will want to read the white paper and glean more detailed information. I want to focus on the differences in the JackBe approach. These include:
- Avoiding the overused and little understood terms such as search, taxonomies, business intelligence, and semantic technology. I am not sure JackBe’s approach is going to eliminate confusion, but it is clear to me that JackBe.com is trying to steer clear of the traditional jargon.
- The JackBe approach is more trendy than IBM’s explanation of OmniFind. Examples of the JackBe approach include the notion of a mashup itself and the references to the “long tail” concept are examples.
- To some enterprise procurement teams, JackBe’s approach may be perceived as quite different from the services of larger, higher profile vendors. In my view, this may be a positive step. Search vendors who follow in the footsteps of STAIRS III or Verity are not likely to have the sales success a more creative positioning permits.
To sum up, I think that companies with search and content processing technology will be working hard to distance themselves from the traditional vendors’ methods. The reason is that search as a stand alone service is increasingly perceived as an island. Organizations need systems that connect the islands of information into something larger.
Is JackBe a search and content processing vendor? Yes. Will most people recognize the company’s products and services as basic search? Not likely. Will the positioning confuse some potential licensees? Maybe.
Stephen E Arnold, May 12, 2010
Unsponsored post.
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