Connotate and Luminoso Team Up To Tackle Big Data
November 20, 2012
A big announcement was made last month in the Big Data arena about a partnership that is likely to help industries attain actionable insights such as product development and market research. According to “Connotate and Luminoso Partner to Deliver Seamless Solutions for Web-Based Market Research and Customer Sentiment Analysis” on MarketWatch, automated data collection provider Connotate and analytics provider Luminoso are joining forces to deliver new capabilities surrounding data management.
We hear from key players from both sides in the article. Connotate’s take on the partnership follows:
“‘Companies are just beginning to leverage agile text analysis applications to understand the Voice of the Customer,’ said Isai Shenker, vice president of product management for Connotate. ‘Luminoso’s selection of Connotate is an important milestone in combining the wealth of Web data with the advanced technology of customer sentiment analysis — creating solutions that are automated, scalable and rapidly deployable. The demand for this type of solution is exploding as companies seek near real-time feedback to adjust pricing and product positioning, as well as fresh insights into what people really think about their product or brand.'”
We believe this alignment could potentially be rewarding for customers as an ideal solution in changing unstructured data into real results. The two companies will be sharing real-world market research and customer sentiment analysis at an upcoming webinar. We look forward to seeing what else the partnership offers in the future.
Andrea Hayden, November 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
eDiscovery Definition Confusion is Common but Unnecessary
November 20, 2012
Confusion over eDiscovery practices is common, even when turning to those that are supposed “experts” in the field. According to the post “Many Practitioners ‘Dazed and Confused’ Over Electronic Discovery Definitions” on the Clearwell Systems eDiscovery blog, numerous and various definitions on the term “electronic discovery” exist across the industry.
The blog post takes a look at the differences and missing factors in the definitions across the board:
“First, the EDRM definition focuses (as some might expect) on the tactics and practice of eDiscovery. This is a useful starting place, but they’ve missed out on other elements, like the overall market dynamics, which are discussed (again not surprisingly) by Gartner. Gartner likewise addresses how eDiscovery is accomplished, referencing the need for software and the escalating trend of taking eDiscovery tools in house. Sedona (coming from a legal theory perspective) relies heavily on the legal definition of ‘discovery,’ properly referencing its context in the legal process […]”
If experts do not seem to agree on even a definition and key points, what else is inconsistent in the field? Costs, risks, and and uses are likely conflicting as well. We cannot help but notice a striking similarity to the confusion about business intelligence and Big Data analytics. What is not confused today?
Andrea Hayden, November 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Rich Usable Search Solutions Beat the Wisdom of the Crowd by Integrating it
November 19, 2012
The CMS Wire’s article “Should I Auto-tag or Crowdsource my Metadata?” reminds us that humanity could quite easily be replaced by machines… in a good sci-fi movie. Those that stick to a more realistic view know that though we depend on machines for assistance, humans are still on top of the food chain. However, the enterprise eats a little differently.
Cooperation between man and machine goes a long way in establishing enterprise operational efficiency but conflicts can arise when trying to find efficient software to ease the data transition:
“It does not take a genius to figure out who won based on “who” can process a text prompt faster with a high rate of accuracy, provided human engineers are close behind to tailor parameters for improved accuracy. There is no guarantee that any institutional knowledge or necessarily any subject matter expertise will “automagically” show up in your results for tags. Let us return to reality, clear out any smoke screen of unrealistic expectations and remember what is the source of these tags and what does the source know.”
The human perspective is an important part of the process; however the wisdom of the crowds is rarely an effective tool for the enterprise. A system such as Intrafind that provides tagging seamlessly into business processes makes for a richer, more usable search solution. Reliable software solutions like this will surpass the wisdom of the crowd by integrating machine processes into a human defined structure.
Jennifer Shockley, November 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
PolySpot Generates ROI from All Forms of Data
November 19, 2012
Consulting company Deloitte released a new installment of Tech Trends called “Big Data Goes To Work.” It’s perfect timing for businesses that are understanding the complexity of big data – in positive and negative ways. Senior Vice President and CIO of Land O’Lakes Barry Libenson shares his company’s experiences in reigning in big data for ROI.
Unstructured and structured traditional data both carry weight when it comes to business intelligence. One group of data without the other does not inform business as comprehensively. Land O’Lakes has come to terms that both are imperative.
We learned more about the motivation for the big data push:
Demands for better information and more insights come from the business: finance wants profitability reports; the dairy business asks for improved forecasts; the seed division needs better information for the salesforce. You get the picture. We’re even analyzing satellite imaging data about individual farms and fields, and combining it with geological data to help farmers make seed choices that can improve their yield.
Land O’ Lakes may not know when they will need satellite imaging data about specific farms, but with the right business intelligence software and analysis by data scientists that data will amount to more than could be projected. Companies should look to information delivery experts like PolySpot for the greatest ROI.
Megan Feil, November 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
KMWorld Announces Mindbreeze InSite as Trend Setting Product of 2012
November 19, 2012
KMWorld.com recently put the spotlight on Mindbreeze InSite in their September 2012, Trend-Setting Products 2012 issue. The full article, “Trend-Setting Products 2012: Mindbreeze: Mindbreeze InSite,” highlights the impressive Web site search and simple implementation benefits. The author states that traditional Web site search just doesn’t work; it is clunky and often presents thousands of unordered search results. This is said about InSite:
InSite changes this. With powerful semantic understanding and an intuitive search and navigation system, InSite allows website visitors to pinpoint their desired page in moments. Searching across your multiple websites, blogs and social media through one search box, InSite revolutionizes your user’s experience: removing hassle, encouraging interaction and delivering information.
This is also included about the simple installation:
Simply by adding the embed code to your website, InSite becomes fully functional in just a few minutes, providing an exceptionally fast return on investment.
InSite is a cloud service and is easily customizable. You can generate search tabs to customize the search experience for Web site visitors and you can create as many tabs as you would like. With intuitive search facets and semantic capabilities, the cost-effective solution seems to really be changing the Web site search game.
Philip West, November 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Open Source Is the Foundation for Cloud Computing
November 19, 2012
It is common knowledge that open source technology is the basis for many large-scale corporate projects, including Cloud computing. The UK Register printed “The Cloud Made of Penguins: Open Source Goes ‘Industrial Scale’,” an article that explains how the big names in open source are being used. OpenStack Software, a mere child of two years, specializes in storage, networking, plus many more components built on Apache platforms. It has caught the attention of many corporate giants, such as HP for its Cloud and the telecom company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation. Amazon EC2 is the favorite of Linux servers, mostly for storage. Also do not forget that it is used in infrastructure-as-a-service technology, such as Microsoft Azure.
The article predicts that since the Linux kernel and middleware are not the attention-grabber they used to be, that Cloud-computing projects on the industrial level will begin to make more headlines. Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation pointed out this new idea:
“’The difference now is they are not just obviously tinkering around with how to make a software defined network or block storage file format,’ Zemlin said. ‘These are broad-scale industrial initiatives that are financed by the largest computer companies in the world to create the comments they need to make commercial products.’”
What is surprising is that people find this trend surprising. After technology become a core part of industry, developers puzzle over how it cane be manipulated for other projects. Remember, necessity is the mother of invention and you use the tools you have to make it. Thinking back on how open source search programs were back in the day, LucidWorks saw a need for a powerful and robust, yet economically priced, search application. Using Apache Lucene, LucidWorks created LucidWorks Search and LucidWorks Big Data.
Whitney Grace, November 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Endeca Explanation
November 19, 2012
We’ve turned up a useful summary of Endeca’s Information Discovery system; the description occurs within a post about using integration platform CloverETL with the Endeca product. “Oracle Endeca Information Discovery—CloverETL” is posted at Saichand Varanasi’s OBIEE, Endeca and ODI Blog. After referring readers to his Endeca overview, the blogger dives into the Clover. He writes:
“Today we will see how to create Clover ETL graph and populating data which will be used by MDEX engine for reporting (Studio). Endeca Information discovery helps organization to answer quickly on relevant data of both structured and Un structured. It helps to search and discover and analysis. Information is loaded from multiple data source systems and stored in a faceted data model that dynamically supports changing data. Information discovery enables an iterative approach. Integration features a new ETL tool, The integrator (Clover ETL) that lets you extract source records from a variety of source types flat files to databases.”
Next, Varanasi walks us through an example project. Along the way, he also explains how Endeca Information Discovery functions. A happy side effect, if you will. See the post for details.
Founded in 1999 and based in Cambridge, MA, Endeca was acquired by Oracle just over a year ago. The company has been at the forefront of faceted search technology, particularly for large e-commerce and online library systems.
Cynthia Murrell, November 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Gleanster Report Gathers Best Practices in Agile BI
November 19, 2012
There are some new signposts along the road to getting the most return on business intelligence investments. The San Francisco Chronicle shares the post, “New Gleanster Research Reveals Best Practices in Agile Business Intelligence.” The research firm recently released a 38-page report which examines practices at 367 companies. The press release tells us:
“For major corporations, Agile BI tools can supplement their core BI initiatives, providing a friendlier front end that builds on existing investments. For smaller organizations, these tools may be the only ones they need.
“This Gleansight benchmark report examines how Top Performers are utilizing Agile BI to lower the barriers to better use of data. It looks at the technologies, organizational resources and performance metrics they have implemented and how they are achieving success in wiping away at least some of the challenges associated with effective business intelligence.”
The report is available here, but registration, and an agreement to receive marketing contact from third parties, is required. It might be worth the bother; the topics covered include the following: Reasons to Implement, Value Drivers, Challenges, Performance Metrics, Success Stories, and, last but not least, the Vendor Landscape. Vendor rankings, by the way, are based on feedback from industry practitioners, not from analysts.
Business tech information firm Gleanster keeps busy publishing white papers, case studies, and research reports from a variety of sources. They gather best practices and vendor information in order to give their clients an edge. The company is headquartered in Evanston, IL.
Cynthia Murrell, October 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
IntelTrax Summary: November 9 to November 15
November 19, 2012
This week, the IntelTrax advanced intelligence blog published some important information regarding the state of big data and its impact on some of the world’s most up and coming industries.
“The Ethics of Big Data” examines the possible ethical quandries that develop from big data analysis. However, despite the potential ethical challenges that face the industry in the end the pros, outweigh the cons.
The article states:
“Yet it cuts both ways: Consumers also can take advantage of the democratizing effects of big data. In fact, there’s an app for that: RateDriverenables users to quickly determine the appropriate rate they should expect to pay for attorney’s fees in 51 U.S. markets.
Big data holds promise to improve the legal profession and the quality of service that we deliver to clients, says Carolyn Elefant, a Washington, D.C., attorney and technology evangelist. “Significantly, big data would inject a strong dose of transparency into lawyer marketing and assist consumers in hiring lawyers. How so? Because big data can be used to show the likelihood of winning a case and the true cost.”
An article that shows the way that big data is transforming the healthcare industry is, “Big Data is the New Anti-Virus.” However, it looks at it from the angle of computer health and how to better detect viruses.
The article states:
“With Seculert Sense, customers can now upload log files using a Secure FTPS tunnel, or upstream logs through Syslog directly from a secure web gateway or web proxy devices, or log aggregation solution for real-time detection and forensics investigation. Built on Amazon Elastic MapReduce, Seculert Sense launches a “big data analysis cloud” that rapidly analyzes an organization’s vast amount of log data, going back months or even years and comparing it against the thousands of unique malware samples collected by Seculert. Over time, Seculert Sense continues to digest huge amounts of data in order to identify persistent attacks that are going undetected by next generation IPs, Anti-Bot and Secure Web Gateways.”
Big data analytics is not only taking off in America, it is becoming a world-wide phenomenon. “Asian Analytics on the Verge of a Boom” describes the potential for big data analytics success in Asia.
According to the article,
“Two different consumer analytics platforms from Singapore Management University (SMU) and StarHub respectively aim to provide insights into consumer behavior, so companies can develop and tailor initiatives that will be more relevant to and better received by customers.
Rajesh Balan, director of LiveLabs Urban Lifestyle Innovation Platform at SMU, said the platform will enable organizations to utilize real-time insights, helping their campaigns go to market and assess the outcome faster. On the consumer end, it will turn what most users perceive as intrusive spam messages on their phones into something useful.”
It does not matter what country you live in or what industry you work in. Big Data analytics technology is becoming too important to overlook. Digital Reasoning has been using automated understanding of big data for nearly a decade.
Jasmine Ashton, November 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Government Needs to Prioritize SEO
November 18, 2012
Search Engine Watch recently reported on a federal government initiative to consolidate government domains, websites, and databases in the article, “Government SEO is Broken.”
According to the article, there could be one major hinderance to this operation. The United States government is not taking SEO into account when executing this plan. Since the federal digital presence currently includes more than 1,400 domains and 11,000 websites run by 56 agencies, consolidating is certainly necessary. However, it is also important that the government consider the daunting task of employees needing to search for information in that mess.
The article states:
“Each negative or frustrating online experience contributes to the public perception that government is too large, unresponsive, and indifferent to the needs of its diverse set of stakeholders.
But what if users were able to quickly and easily connect to government directly from the search engines with a minimum of clicks? Instead of visiting a government agency home page, navigating the site, and finally finding the information they need? What if agency activities and perspectives were highly visible and above private sector sites in the search results?”
The fact that government agencies are not number one on search engines like Google and Bing is ridiculous. The federal government needs to take advantage of the preferential treatment it receives by ranking algorithms and make search a priority.
Jasmine Ashton, November 18, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com
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