Products and Processes Drive Data so Accessible Data can Drive Success
December 17, 2012
Companies are not receiving accolades for the amount of data they have. When the phrase big data gets thrown around loosely, it can be confusing for people new to the concept as to what value lies in big data. A recent TechCrunch article, “So What If You Have Big Data? Without Processes and Products It’s Useless” drives an important point home related to this misconception. No one is counting terabytes simply for the sake of piling up the most data.
The real value for big data lies in the way it is utilized and the opportunities and insights that can be created from it. The article discusses the two major ways that companies can turn big data into cold hard cash by creating competitive advantages: data-driven processes and data-driven products.
In addition to learning about processes, we also found out more about the landscape of data-driven products:
Twitter, while not a data product itself, licenses its data to providers like DataSift, who then go on to create a data product that companies gobble up for the insight it provides them. Some media companies package up their audience viewership data into products they turn around and sell to channel programmers and content creators.
Whether companies are dealing in data-driven products or data-driven processes, one thing is for sure. An infrastructure component, such as the solution from PolySpot, is integral to connecting every enterprise employee to the information they need to make vital decisions.
Megan Feil, December 17, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Webinar Discusses Open Source Foundation for Enterprise Business
December 17, 2012
WSO2 recently hosted a webinar focusing on using an open source technological foundation as the basis for enterprise business solutions. The San Francisco Chronicle relays the press release in their article, “WSO2 and Wipro Present Technical Webinar on Enterprise Open Source Adoption.”
“Organizations adopting open source solutions often have questions about licensing, performance, product features, and support. To help IT professionals address these issues, WSO2 and Wipro Technologies will jointly present a webinar on how to build on a solid open source foundation and enterprise implementations . . . The one-hour technical session, ‘WSO2 and Wipro Joint Webinar – Growing Adoption of Open Source in the Enterprise,’ will be held on Wednesday, December 12, from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. PST.”
For more details about the webinar and to view the archive, visit the official WSO2 webinar site.
WSO2 is an enterprise middleman, or middleware company. While WSO2’s advice is no doubt valuable, and their services customizable, it could be costly and expensive to have a custom platform built. A simpler, more economical solution might be something like LucidWorks, whose out-of-the-box solutions are customizable and effective without high-level developer knowledge.
Emily Rae Aldridge, December 17, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Small Business Gets Business Intelligence Too
December 17, 2012
Many enterprise information management vendors target larger enterprise organizations that can stomach paying big bucks to manage information. There are more and more small businesses with savvy ownership looking to extract value from big data, however. Several very affordable options are outlined in the Terra article, “Data Crunch: 5 Analysis Tools for Small Businesses.”
Tech giant Google obviously has a solution in this arena, like they do in every other arena. The Application Gallery is an app market connecting third-party developers to Google Analytics to essentially expand its features.
We learned:
“Google Apps Application Gallery can be a place to start for owners looking to upgrade their data analysis IQ quickly and easily. Price: You can browse the Application Gallery for free. You can purchase apps for varying fees. Hub’scan runs $750 for 250,000 analyzed pages, LogMycalls is free to start, with paid services running $29 per month.”
Additionally, the other four solutions are: WolframAlpha’s Facebook Reports, Quantum Leap Buzz, JackBe Presto, and Recorded Future. Business intelligence for small business has definitely arrived. The only question remaining is whether or not these tiny companies have the resources to use it.
Megan Feil, December 17, 2012
Sponsored by Arnold IT.com, developer of Augmentext
Big Data plus European Football Equals Beautiful
December 17, 2012
Of course there is a reason for real-time UK football analysis companies to exist. With the amount of money fueled into this industry and the huge amount of buzz games and predictions draw, it would be silly for a company like Squawka not to be here. The Guardian delves into how this company works in the article, “How Does Big Data Add to the Experience of Watching Football?”
Social analytics expert, DataSift is also on board. On October 28, they tracked over 380,000 Tweets and gained insight on sentiment during the game where Chelsea lost to Manchester United.
The article quotes Squawka’s co-founder and CEO:
“There are so many ways we can use this sort of data, and we’re certainly planning to do more in this area. For example, does a bit of ultimately unnecessary skill boost online reaction more than a simple yet effective pass? Do foreign players get more abuse for diving than their English counterparts? It’s all in the data.”
Squawka will be adding services for cricket and formula one racing due to their success with European football. We find this usage of big data absolutely fascinating and completely beautiful. It is a creative way of adding even more to already amazing games.
Megan Feil, December 17, 2012
Sponsored by Arnold IT.com, developer of Augmentext
Search Framed as Iterative Discovery
December 17, 2012
Finally, we come across an article that puts search at the forefront of big data. The post “Big Data or Big Noise?” from Chilliad discusses a “new” approach to the process of search.
Relevancy has always been an issue in search and this article is nothing short of correct to point that out. This post also points to the idea that irrelevant results can become big noise and it would be a waste of time for users to read that noise.
Chilliad humbly suggests that users do not need to know what we are looking for, where to find it, or how to figure that out:
“In fact, reading is not the next thing I want to do, reading is the last thing I want to do. That is why we approach Big Data as an exploration and provide software that supports an approach we call Iterative Discovery. Iterative Discovery is exactly what it sounds like — I start with a hunch or hypothesis that I wish to validate and that requires exploration and iteration through massive amounts of data.”
The problem we have with this concept is that it does not need as much of an explanation as Chilliad gives it. Iterative discovery is a way of framing search, but it is nothing innovative or out of the box.
Megan Feil, December 17, 2012
Sponsored by Arnold IT.com, developer of Augmentext
Kroll Takes on Search and Restoration Software
December 16, 2012
With a current arsenal of ediscovery and data recovery options, Kroll Ontrack is now offering a new search and restoration tool, Ontrack PowerControls through a partnership with Info X. The press release was found on Business Wire “Kroll Ontrack Partners with Global Distributor Info X to Address Demand for Granular Search and Restoration Software.”
Info X provides storage solutions to clients worldwide. Their partnership with Kroll Ontrack ensures that resellers will have access and technical support for the software solution. This is to replace a full-site restore or backup.
Exchange and SharePoint are the culprits of annual data loss according to a recent Kroll Ontrack survey of 326 individuals in IT, engineering and sales. Nearly half of organizations have this problem.
Sr. Manager of Enterprise Software Dan Leary, Kroll Ontrack was quoted in the article:
“This partnership with Info X enables more resellers to offer a powerful tool that addresses a common, but time-consuming problem. Ontrack PowerControls works directly with your backups and allows you to extract and restore only the items that you need, saving IT administrators 50 percent of restoration time when compared to using traditional methods.”
Altergrity Kroll expands into search and restoration software. Is this a sign there is room in the market or just a company putting feelers out in every possible arena? Time will tell.
Megan Feil, December 16, 2012
Sponsored by Arnold IT.com, developer of Augmentext
Former HP Boss: The Buck Stops Over There
December 15, 2012
Who knows if this assertion is accurate? I read “Former HP CEO Shifts Blame for Autonomy Deal to Chairman.” The real journalists reporting this story know a heck of a lot more than a goose floating in a pond filled with mine drainage. The main point is that HP’s once and former leader, Léo Apotheker has allegedly asserted, “I did not buy Autonomy.”
Well, who did?
According to the write up:
Apotheker says that “no single CEO is ever able to make a decision on a major acquisition in isolation, particularly at a company as large as HP — and certainly not without the full support of the chairman of the board.” He then turns his guns on Chairman Ray Lane, without mentioning him by name: “The HP board, led by its chairman, met many times to review the acquisition and unanimously supported the deal, as well as the underlying strategic objective to bolster HP’s market presence in enterprise data.”
What I find interesting is that some key players are not mentioned by Mr. Apotheker or the article. Who is not involved? Here’s my short list:
- The Fiddler on the Roof in the deal, allegedly Frank Quattrone
- Various investment bankers for HP, Autonomy, and assorted stakeholders to the deal
- The lawyers for the key players
- The accountants who worked on the deal for the key players
- One or more government officials who stumbled upon the deal or had to review the deal before it could conclude.
In my opinion, HP was a juicy, fat, and slightly distracted goose. I should know because I am a goose. There’s a picture of me on my Web site and on this blog. From experience, a distracted goose can do some fascinating things. These span a spectrum from landing in front of a hunter dressed in bright orange and wielding a sparkling shotgun on a sunny autumn morning to attacking two 80 pound, slightly dim witted boxer dogs.
How persuasive are lawyers, accountants, and matchmakers where there is a fat, plump commission in play? In my experience, these folks can be quite convincing. Like magicians, leveraging distraction can work what seem to be miracles.
In the HP situation, I have concluded that HP was listening to the ticking of its biological clock. The best looking mate in the restaurant at closing time was Autonomy. Now, about a year later, the mate has proven to be somewhat difficult to convince that the HP way is the right way.
Logical step: Show Autonomy the highway.
Mr. Apotheker is partially correct. Maybe he, as I and HP, have some goosely qualities. Maybe challenging the annoyed boxer dogs is a very good idea. For me, it is back to the pond.
Stephen E Arnold, December 15, 2012
Finding the Horror in Search
December 15, 2012
Taking the perspective of retail Web site users, SLI Systems’ blog examines “Site Search Horror Stories: Horrific Hidden Search Boxes and Menacing Merchandising.” Hyperbole? Perhaps, but then we have been fearful since we learned our beloved publisher used to investigate search vendors whose clients believed the installation did not match the statement of work. But I digress.
SLI’s Kemberly Gong aims to help online marketers by steering them clear of issues that will scare away customers. She recalls sites that make it an ordeal to find their search boxes, and even one that had no search function at all. Terrifying! (Well, frustrating anyway.)
Gong emphasizes some basic principles:
“Your search box should be a harbinger of safe, effective site search, clearly visible at the top of the page. Then give customers a prompt such as ‘What are you looking for?’ to lead them to begin shopping. When customers search for products, they are more likely to buy because they have a clear idea of what they want, and are looking for it directly. Make sure they find it. . . .
“Allowing refinements of search attributes such as brand, color, rating, size or other product specification lets customers quickly narrow down results to find their desired product. Instead of searching for ‘bolt’ and finding thousands of options, Dr. Frankenstein can narrow the selection by material, diameter, length and thread pitch to make sure it’s just the right fit for his monster.”
Yes, I think it best to avoid angering the mad scientists among us. Though these tips seem like common sense to many, there are obviously still a few sites out there that need the information. Let us hope they are not afraid to act on it.
Cynthia Murrell, December 15, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Coveo Funding Hits a Deep Drift $34 Million
December 14, 2012
I was slogging through the Swedish snow when my mobile phone beeped. I glanced at the tiny screen on my Canadian-engineered BlackBerry and saw an interesting headline: “Coveo, Canada’s Big Data Offering, Nabs $18 Million as It Edges Closer to Profitability.” The article told me:
Coveo, the Quebec-based big data analytics company, has received a massive $18 million from local growth equity firm, Tandem Expansion Fund. It is best known for its recently-launched Coveo for Salesforce product, a cloud-based application which delivers quantitative insights about customer interactions. The app works by pushing relevant real-time information to sales and marketing teams, whether its an account, a lead, or new opportunity.
Interesting positioning. I thought about Vivisimo—the company with the deduplication and on-the-fly categorization technology—transforming into a Big Data company after IBM’s PR department wordsmithed the company.
The Venture Beat story about Québec-based Coveo included another fascinating factoid, which I assume is accurate. How am I to judge coping with the brisk wind howling down the fjord? To wit:
The company will use the funding to build out its sales and marketing team, as it anticipates “hyper-growth” in 2013, according to a press release. It anticipates that it will be “operating at or close to profitability” in 2013.
I highlighted the words which stuck in my mind: hyper-growth and close to profitability. Both are good notions, particularly when there are millions of investors’ dollars waiting for the Canada goose to yield its down. (My arctic grade overcoat is stuffed with goose feathers from Canada, by the way.)
The pointy icicle which lodged in my mind was contained in this statement in the story by Christina Farr:
All major existing investors also participated in the round, including BDC Venture Capital, Propulsion Ventures SEC and Fonds de solidarité FTQ. This round of funding brings the company’s total investments to $34.7 million.
Coveo was founded in 2004, according to Wikipedia. Note that source. Assume the data are correct. Coveo has been generating revenue but has required the alleged $34 million to get near profitability. In eight years, the company has required $4 million in year plus whatever it generated from the license to its software.
The Wikipedia write up is not clued into the actual Big Data functions of Coveo. In fact, that source, which may be out of sync with reality, points out that Coveo is in this business:
CRM and Contact Centers for sales & service, WCMs for one-to-one marketing, and Enterprise Content for engineering and operations. Coveo Role-based Insight Consoles™ provide advanced navigation into consolidated, correlated information mashups, within any application, including Coveo for Salesforce.
Coveo’s own Web site is the definitive source. Here’s what the company says is its core competency at www.coveo.com:
The three main lines of business, which I may be misreading as the snow collects on the screen of my outstanding BlackBerry mobile device, are:
Sound the Alarm: Reliable Enterprise Services Are Not Free
December 14, 2012
Sound the alarms! Information Week’s article “Google Apps No Longer Free For Businesses” announced dooms day news to those looking for a free ride including perks on the Big G. After 6 years, Google is finally pushing their premium business apps by eliminating upkeep and new availability for the free version.
Google does have a heart, as they will allow existing free users to continue utilizing the bare bone services with limited customer service and no new upgrades:
“You get what you pay for because you can’t get what you didn’t pay for. That is, unless you already have it: Companies currently using the free version of Google Apps can continue to do so under the same terms. Individuals will be able to continue using Google’s Web apps, like Drive, Gmail and Docs at no cost through their Google Accounts. Businesses will be expected to pay for Google Apps for Business.”
The only surprise is that Google waited so long to push the remaining ‘free app’ businesses over to the premium side. When it comes to quality there is no such thing as free, and businesses who think they can get free, high performing enterprise solutions may be better off to invest in a tried, true and dedicated technologies. The Intrafind search technology is mature, feature rich and offers a worth return on investment – retrieving data when, where and how it is needed.
Jennifer Shockley, December 14, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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