Salesforce Incorporates Coveo Enterprise Search
September 22, 2012
ITWorldCanada announces, “Coveo Brings Enterprise Search to Salesforce.com.” The Canadian company will contribute its indexing engine and business intelligence tools to the Salesforce.com cloud. Coveo for Salesforce, which can pull together, index, and analyze unstructured data from multiple sources, will be fully integrated into the popular online customer relationship management (CRM) platform.
The write up tells us:
“Louis Tetu, CEO of Coveo, said the product is the first tool of its kind that is integrated directly into Salesforce. ‘We are enabling an entirely new paradigm to federate information on demand,’ he said. ‘And that paradigm means that we don’t have to move data, we’re just pointing…secure indexes to that information.’
“Users of the technology that need information delivered in real-time, such as customer-facing companies, will be able to get it rapidly — within 100 milliseconds — he added. This will help solve the common problem of consumers dealing with contact centres that cannot pull up their information in a reasonable period of time.”
Yes, that is a real plus. Tetu went on to emphasize that this is no small development– his company has conquered the considerable challenges of operating securely in the cloud. He mentions they also make a special effort to ensure new users can dive in as easily as possible.
Coveo was founded in 2005 by some members of the team which developed Copernic Desktop Search. Coveo takes pride in solutions that are agile and easy to use yet scalable, fast, and efficient.
Cynthia Murrell, September 22, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Elevating SharePoint through Third Party Additions
September 21, 2012
Relate Technologies is a Microsoft systems integrator, with a stake in third-party application implementation. While some mistakenly view SharePoint as an out-of-the-box answer to all of their organization’s information needs, Relate Technologies builds a strong case for the addition of add-ons for increased customization and functionality. Read more in, “Taking SharePoint to the Next Level.”
The article begins:
‘SharePoint is perceived by companies as a product primarily used for intranets and document management,’ says Geoff Lander, Managing Director of Relate Technologies. ‘As ideal as it may be for these applications, the real tangible monetary return on investment is derived when you start using SharePoint as a development platform to build enterprise applications.’ Companies such as Sanlam Structured Solutions, Coronation Fund Managers, Vodafone and JO Hambro Capital Management are using applications developed in SharePoint to increase the efficiency of a range of business processes.
Apparently SharePoint is also realizing the value of such applications as they recently formed a Marketplace to make integration more accessible:
To encourage the development of such third-party applications or add-ons for SharePoint by the ISV communities, Microsoft launched the Microsoft Office 365 Marketplace in April 2011. The Marketplace incorporates a SharePoint Marketplace that already lists almost 500 SharePoint applications that can be used to extend or enhance SharePoint functionality.
The future of SharePoint definitely appears to be in third-party additions, increasing functionality and accessibility, particularly for smaller organizations that cannot afford a fleet of in-house developers. When reviewing third-party applications that might meet your organization’s needs, take a look at Fabasoft Mindbreeze and their suite of intuitive solutions.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 21, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Text Mining Makes Sense of Social Media
September 21, 2012
Text mining is taking a curious turn toward social media, according to “Mining the Blogosphere: Researchers Develop Tools That Make Sense of Social Media” on Science Daily. We learn in the article that several Concordia computer scientists are helping computers get closer to “reading” an online blog and understanding it. The system they created, called BlogSum, allows organizations to pose questions and then find out how a large number of people online would respond by examining real-life self-expression.
Leila Kosseim, associate professor in Concordia’s Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and one of the lead researchers on the project, explains:
“Huge quantities of electronic texts have become easily available on the Internet, but people can be overwhelmed, and they need help to find the real content hiding in the mass of information.”
Kosseim also comments:
“The field of natural language processing is starting to become fundamental to computer science, with many everyday applications — making search engines find more relevant documents or making smart phones even smarter.”
When tested against similar technology or even human subjects, BlogSum was ranked superior. The vast number of possibilities available with this technology are overwhelming, from marketing research on consumer preferences to voter intentions in upcoming elections. We look forward to seeing it advance the world of search.
Andrea Hayden, September 21, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Yandex Offers Cloud Storage Service to Compete with GDrive
September 21, 2012
Looks like Yandex is jumping on the latest search vendor bandwagon and offering cloud storage service, joining the likes of Dropbox and Google Drive. The “Google of Russia” has unveiled Yandex Disk which is currently in its beta version and can synchronize files across multiple devices. Wired.com’s article, “Yandex, the ‘Google of Russia,’ Erects Own GDrive,” shares with us about Yandex’s hopes to continue to hold off the Google monopoly.
The article tells us more about the competition between search leaders:
“[…]the giants of the web are building their own services. Apple introduced iCloudlast October, Microsoft re-launched SkyDrive in April, and Google launched GDrive the next day. But much like its U.S. counterparts, Yandex has been expanding beyond search into other areas, such as digital music sales, e-commerce, and much more. The company has also been inching into international markets with English- and Turkish-language products and services.”
Besides Yandex’s powerful role in Russia and Baidu’s presence in China, Google easily is the strongest and most visible search vendor worldwide. However, with all of these changes in services by other leaders in the market, Google will need to stay on its game to ward off the competition, because it is fierce.
Andrea Hayden, September 21, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Cars dot com Announces Move to Integrate Autonomy
September 21, 2012
HP’s Autonomy is making another move toward continued expansion as it announced recently that it will be working with Cars.com on a new project for the online car shopping site. In a press release from Autonomy, “Cars.com Drives Online Conversions with Autonomy, an HP Company,” we learn Cars.com will be implementing Autonomy’s Multivariate Testing solution to increase sales leads and online conversions. The leading online car shopping destination will be using Autonomy Optimost to test combinations of content, design, pricing, and offers with customers.
The article shares more about the venture:
“‘We are focused on offering credible and easy-to-understand information from consumers and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where to buy, and how much to pay for a car,’ said Vince King, director, Consumer Publishing, Cars.com. ‘Autonomy plays an important role in this mission, as their technology enables our marketers to deliver a relevant, engaging, and useful online experience.’”
We think this could be a successful marketing optimization venture for Cars.com, but hope this integration will be more favorable for HP than the company’s acquisition of Autonomy which has been marginally anticlimactic.
Andrea Hayden, September 21, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Social Media Adoption Facts for 2012
September 20, 2012
I read “Enterprise Social Media Adoption in 2012.” The information is presented in “infographic” form, and there were two interesting items which caught my attention. The first is the level of understanding of social media. What’s striking is that the “knowledge” seems to be low except among Gen X/Y employees and senior management. I understand the the Gen X/Y understanding at 28 percent of the sample. But the 27 percent understanding among senior management strikes me as high. The question I had, “How was the sample developed?” The second surprise was that fear of negative impacts and a lack of understanding of the benefits of social media were more important than other factors such as cost. In my experience, cost is one of the major concerns. It takes humans to “do” social media. Humans are expensive. You will want to check out the full infographic to ferret out nuggets of interest to you. I did not find any reference to searching for social media content. Despite the talk, finding specific items from social media content streams remains a difficult task.
Stephen E Arnold, September 20, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
Munich International Trade Fairs Depends on Mindbreeze InSite
September 20, 2012
In the online environment, customer service obviously means something different than simply having pleasant face-to-face interactions. Online businesses have to go the extra mile to meet their customers’ needs, but have to assess these needs without the benefit of personal interactions. One key factor in online customer service is an intuitive Web interface and an effective Web site search mechanism.
If customers cannot find what they need, the odds that they will move on to another vendor or site is quite high. Munich International Trade Fairs, which organizes trade fairs around Europe, learned the value of intuitive Web site search through Mindbreeze InSite. Read more in, “Munich International Trade Fairs counts on Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite.”
The article begins:
Munich International Trade Fairs offers a special service to online visitors of the Communication World 2011: easy, secure, and intelligent search through Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite. ‘We are pleased to be the first trade organizer in Germany to offer this service on our websites. With a structured overview, the visitor can get to the information he needs faster. I was particularly impressed by the swift implementation. The product was ready for use in less than 10 minutes,’ says Prof. Dr. Manfred Mayer of Munich International Trade Fairs.
So if you are looking for a way to improve your overall customer satisfaction, the painless and hassle-free addition of Mindbreeze InSite will pay dividends in happy customers.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Analyzing Big Data in DNA to Find Diseases
September 20, 2012
Mass amounts of raw data cause problems for more fields than just computer science. Life scientists struggle to wade through the amounts of data surrounding sequencing human genes and genetic characteristics. However, according to “Computational Method for Pinpointing Genetic Factors That Cause Disease” on Science Daily, Researchers are Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Center for Human Genome Variation at Duke University Medical Center have developed an approach for analyzing this data to quickly cull out relevant genetic patterns and find variants that lead to particular disorders.
The study is outlined in the September issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics. We learn:
“[Zhu, the paper’s first author, notes,] ‘We’re confident that our method can be applied to genome-wide association studies related to diseases for which there are no known causal variants, and by extension may advance the development of targeted approaches to treating those diseases.’
‘This approach helps to intergrade the large body of data available in GWASs with the rapidly accumulating sequence data,’ adds David B. Goldstein, […]Director of the Center for Human Genome Variation at DUMC and senior author of the paper.’”
The technological advancement allowing scientists to pinpoint such causal variants is fascinating. However, as this technology advances, we are left to wonder how insurers will begin to use these predictive methods. Could faulty genes be analyzed in the future to justify declining policies?
Andrea Hayden, September 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
LinkedIn Introduces Notifications a la Facebook
September 20, 2012
Is LinkedIn poised to push Facebook aside? Not exactly, but Wired declares that “Facebook Won’t Like this LinkedIn News.” Journalist Ryan Tate explains that LinkedIn has recently begun adding notifications—the site will soon let users know if someone has viewed their profile or “liked” something they’ve shared. The feature looks remarkably similar to such functionality on Facebook, he says.
Tate wondered why the jobs-focused site would deliberately add in anything distracting. Then he ponders the forces behind such developments asMicrosoft‘s acquisition of Yammer and Salesforce.com‘s purchase of Rypple, both of which can provide a wealth of distraction to workers. Also, he observes that corporations have embraced social media in all its glory as a way to grow their businesses and share information. He writes:
“Linkedin is trying to graduate from a simple resumé-and-headhunting site into something big — Facebook big — in a sector where increased communication pays real dividends, and not just for advertisers. LinkedIn’s ambitions are no doubt stoked by enthusiasm from Wall Street, which has bid up LinkedIn stock 36 percent since the company’s May 2011 IPO. Since Facebook went public in mid May, LinkedIn stock has climbed 14 percent, compared to a decline of 51 percent for Facebook shares. LinkedIn is now worth nearly one-third as much as Facebook in the eyes of the stock market.”
The article does note that LinkedIn is not (so far) competing directly with Facebook, which has yet to specifically target office relationships. However, if they ever decide to pursue that market, Facebook may find that LinkedIn has it all locked up.
Cynthia Murrell, September 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Bing vs Google Taste Test
September 20, 2012
Like a Coke versus Pepsi taste test in a 1980s mall, Microsoft has set up Bing It On, a Bing versus Google blind comparison Web site. The first time through, I chose Bing’s results over Google’s twice out of five times, and rated the engines as tied the other three. I experienced no Googley advantages at all. But then, I tried it a second time. Google three, Bing one, a draw once. I guess it depends on what you’re searching for.
In its blog post, “People Chose Bing Web Search Results Over Google Nearly 2:1 in Blind Comparison Tests—Really?” Bing explains that they launched the comparison site in response to its own surprisingly favorable test results. They also say that, in a blind test performed by independent research company Answers Research, which used a representative online sample of almost 1,000 people 18 and up from across the US, Bing outperformed Google two to one. (Survey takers were not told Microsoft was involved in the study.) The write up’s description of that test is very close to what you’ll see at Bing It On:
“In the test, participants were shown the main web search results pane of both Bing and Google for 10 search queries of their choice. Bing and Google search results were shown side-by-side on one page for easy comparison – with all branding removed from both search engines. The test did not include ads or content in other parts of the page such as Bing’s Snapshot and Social Search panes and Google’s Knowledge Graph. For each search, the participant was asked which search engine provided the best results – ‘Left side search engine’, ‘Right side search engine’, or ‘Draw.’ After each participant performed 10 searches, their votes were totaled to determine the winner (Bing, Google or Draw, in the case of a tie).”
The overall sampling error rate was plus or minus 3 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. They say their results were a clear win for Bing, which garnered 57.4 percent of the vote, compared to 30.2 percent for Google and 12.4 percent resulting in a tie. That’s not exactly what I experienced, but perhaps you should try the test for yourself; you might be surprised.
Cynthia Murrell, September 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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