Elsevier Moves More Quickly than Its Competitors
January 24, 2013
Well, quite a surprise for a giant, traditional, print-centric outfit. Elsevier may be gearing up to put a head lock on ProQuest (high dollar databases) and Ebsco (databases with stunning names). Both of these competitors, along with outfits like Ovid are trying to adapt to a world in which libraries have to decide between paying the electric bills and licensing six and seven figure online databases. Can these companies continue to grow and generate profits.
Some say, “Yes.” Others say, “Not a chance.”
I am indifferent to the plight of this market sector. Isn’t everything a modern person requires available on a free Web system? If not, do today’s researchers care? With made up results and marketing taking the place of thinking, I am okay with the Google type system. The students whom I know are even more fond of Google than I am.
However, Elsevier may be hip to the new direction in revenue direction. I read “Elsevier Acquires Knovel, Provider of Web-based Productivity Application for the Engineering Community.” Knovel had funding from what I think of as venture sherpas. The K2 task was to develop a different type of electronic information which served specific market needs and warranted real dough. Think thousands for a “content object,” not $0.50 an abstract.
Elsevier, modestly described as “a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services,” acquired Knovel. No misspelling. Just some cute word play which may be lost on some recent college graduates.
Knovel is an electronic publisher which recycles high value content and adds value. Here’s how Knovel describes its “live PDF” innovation:
Knovel is the leading online technical reference resource for 3 reasons. First, Knovel locates more potentially relevant answers in a collection. Second, Knovel is better at quickly narrowing the potential answers to those most relevant to your search. Third, Knovel has interactive tables and graphs to help engineers use and export relevant data, making Knovel so much more than just e-books. (See http://why.knovel.com/company/about-knovel.html)
The key point is number three. The PDF instance allows the reader to plug in data and get an output. Think a baby version of Mathematica for civil engineers and others of their ilk. The idea is that an engineering text can be interacted with.
Elsevier has fired blanks in the electronic publishing sector for years. I won’t wander through the history of Elsevier, but I would like to give the company a happy quack for what looks like a reasonably good move.
How will Elsevier’s competitors respond? Raising prices is one option. Talking about doing bold actions may be another. At some point, fresh thinking and reaching for new opportunities will be necessary. Otherwise, there will be one or two commercial database outfits, one or two database aggregators, and one or two sources of professional content. Once that consolidation takes place, the revenues will be under severe pressure from folks who get advertisers to foot the bill for online information.
In short, nice move Elsevier. Time for the ProQuests and the Ebsco to do something which pumps up the top line in a meaningful and returns a healthy profit to the companies’ stakeholders. Even rich people want a return.
Stephen E Arnold, January 24, 2013
Enterprise Search by White Is Vital Tool in Business Search Management
January 24, 2013
Martin White, information management consultant and Managing Director of Intranet Focus Ltd., is one of the leading experts on enterprise search and information access. White has published seven books on topics surrounding information consultancy and enterprise search applications. His most recent publication, Enterprise Search: Enhancing Business Performance, focuses on how to plan and implement a managed search environment in your corporation. The book explains how to meet both the needs of your business and your employees.
White makes a clear business case for search, emphasizing the need to evaluate current search systems and the creation of a support team. The book is well organized and easy to read, with a thorough preface giving an overview of chapters and topics as well as simplified summaries at the end of each chapter. This style makes White’s recent book a great tool for the busy professional.
Chapter 12 is a recommended starting place, listing twelve critical success factors. White states that if you don’t meet at least eight of these twelve, which include investing in a search support team, getting the best out of your current investment in search, and providing location-independent search, then you definitely need the contents of this book.
In Chapter 10, titled Managing Search, White expands on the idea of managing a search support team:
“Implementing search should never be ‘a project’. The work of ensuring that users continue to have high levels of search satisfaction will never come to a close. Each week, and perhaps even most days, there will be something that needs attention. The role of the search support team is not just to be reactive but to anticipate when changes to the search application need to be made, or to identify a training requirement that will address an issue that is just starting to show up on the search logs and user satisfaction surveys.”
Most organizations are not prepared for the rate of growth of information that they are experiencing. White does a great job dissecting the need for enterprise search and then giving you the tools to successfully manage your system, based on far more than just available technology. The section on the future of enterprise search, Chapter 11, stood out to me. White makes an excellent case for why this topic can no longer be ignored.
Additional features include a thorough glossary, lists of books and blogs on information retrieval and enterprise search, and resources for further reading. The book is available here from O’Reilly Media in eBook and print formats. Highly recommended.
Andrea Hayden, January 24, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Enterprise Organizations Still Have Petabytes Left to Crunch
January 24, 2013
Enterprise organizations are quickly losing time for which they can gain a competitive advantage by using big data solutions to churn insights out of raw and unenriched petabytes. Crowdshifter discusses the amount left unmined and available for the crunching in “Behold the Untapped Big Data Gap.”
An IDC study referenced in the article reported that 23% of data within the digital universe of 2012 could be useful for big data collection and analysis purposes if tagged. However, there is a huge gap in the amount that has been tagged versus the amount that remains without semantic enrichment. Only 3% has been tagged and only .5% has been analyzed.
The article discusses a potential reliance on good old intuition to drive decisions within our data-driven age. Christa Carone, the CMO of Xerox states:
‘I wouldn’t want to give up the data that helps us make fact-based decisions quickly. But I fear that marketers’ access to and obsession with measuring everything takes away from the business of real marketing. It’s impossible to measure ‘squishier’ meaningful intangibles, such as human emotion, personal connection and the occasional ‘ahhhh’ moment. Those things often come with a marketer’s intuition, and they deliver big-time. To me, this means trust your gut even while as you’re trying to embrace Big Data.’
Trusting intuition works after a certain point, but to reach the point to make an informed decision requires looking as a massive amount of data points in our ever-connected world. Information delivery technologies like PolySpot helps decisions makers get to that point.
Megan Feil, January 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Datastax Announces Next Enterprise Version
January 24, 2013
Datastax, a company built around the Cassandra NoSQL database, is releasing Datastax Enterprise 3.0. SysCon Media offers the full release announcement in, “DataStax Enterprise (DSE) 3.0 Offers Most Comprehensive Security Feature Set Among All NoSQL Providers; Enables Enterprises to Adopt NoSQL Databases While Safely Scaling Their Big Data Infrastructure.”
The article begins:
“DataStax, the company that powers the big data apps that transform business, today announced the early adopter program (EAP) launch of DataStax Enterprise (DSE) 3.0. The new version provides core security capabilities to the entire Cassandra community, as well as the advanced data protection that businesses expect in an enterprise-grade database. DSE 3.0 supplies the type of security framework that allows modern enterprises to confidently adopt NoSQL databases as they safely scale their big data infrastructure.”
Datastax makes a good product, but it is by no means the only option for managing Big Data in the enterprise. And as far as security is concerned, other software solutions do a good job as well. One option that combines security with Big Data usability is LucidWorks and their LucidWorks Big Data product. LucidWorks is built on Apache Lucene, so it is a completely different animal, but the reviews are good and everyone agrees it is a dependable option for getting the most out of your Big Data.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 24, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Mathematics Impact Found to be Far Reaching
January 24, 2013
Science Daily presents some good news and some bad news for the math lover in, “New Report: the Reach and Impact of Mathematical Sciences.” The article takes a glimpse at a recent report from the National Research Council, “The Mathematical Sciences in 2025.” (The project description can be found here, and the report is available for purchase here.)
According to the brief write-up, the report examined the impact of mathematics over the last 15 years. It found that math has been growing as an integral part of many disciplines, from biology and medicine to business to advanced design. At the same time, though, funding for the mathematical sciences has failed to keep pace. In fact, many more federal agencies profit from mathematical research than provide funds for it. That hardly seems fair.
The article goes on to tells us:
“The report also looks at emerging trends in the mathematical sciences, including the impact of research and training on industry, innovation and economic competitiveness, national security, and other areas, and recommends how the National Science Foundation can adjust its portfolio of activities to improve the vitality and impact of the discipline. It identifies a number of ways in which the mathematical sciences community should adapt in order to make the most of emerging opportunities and prepare for changes in academic environments.”
Let us hope that the scientific community, including the National Science Foundation, takes note of these findings. Adding to the coffers of mathematicians would benefit us all.
Cynthia Murrell, January 24, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
SAP Pulls Ahead with HANA In Memory Database
January 24, 2013
Is SAP HANA the future of databases? ReadWrite seems to think so. Their Anton Gonsalves declares, “SAP’s HANA Deployment Leapfrogs Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft.” He reports that HANA now possesses a distinct edge—it is the only in-memory database that can perform both business analysis and transactions with a single database. That is an ability that the competition cannot (yet) provide. The article goes on to tell us:
“For SAP customers, HANA-powered applications can speed up the sales process dramatically. For example, today when salespeople for a large manufacturer takes a large order from a customer, they may not be to say on the spot exactly when the order will be fulfilled. That information often comes hours later after the numbers are run separately through forecasting applications.
“With HANA running SAP’s enterprise resource planning applications – called Business Suite – salespeople will be able to take the order and get forecasting information in seconds.”
That is indeed a big advantage. SAP’s Hasso Plattner promises that the company will eventually make HANA available in all its products, both on-premise and in the cloud. Will the big names be able to catch up before SAP captures the market?
According to Gonsalves, Oracle and IBM are expected to do so in time, and Microsoft says it should have the capability by the next iteration of MS SQL. Gartner analyst Donald Feinberg expects it will take those companies between two and five years to implement such technology. That gives SAP plenty of time to run with it.
A longstanding leader in enterprise software, SAP serves over 183,000 customers. Founded 1972 by five former IBM workers, the company is headquartered in Walldorf Germany and maintains operations in over 50 countries.
Cynthia Murrell, January 24, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Google Feels the Aftershocks of Buzz
January 24, 2013
Google is, once again, facing fresh litigation over Buzz. The short-lived service, which shut down in October of 2011, is another persistent thorn in fast moving, almost regulation-free Google’s side. Online Media Daily reveals, “Google Faces New Lawsuit About Buzz.”
Networking tool Google Buzz was supposed to bring us closer to Google’s utopian vision of total connectivity, and it began its mission by tapping, unasked, into Gmail users’ contact information. Unfortunately, the move meant that personal details, like names of a user’s doctor, lawyer, coworkers, and other contacts, could suddenly become public. As it turns out, not everyone was willing to sacrifice privacy for the interconnection dream. Go figure.
Google rectified the situation almost immediately, but that has not shielded them from legal action. The article recalls:
“Google settled the FTC charges by agreeing to create a comprehensive privacy program and submit to independent privacy audits for the next 20 years. Google also promised that it will obtain people’s express consent before sharing their information more broadly than its privacy policy allowed at the time of collection.
“The company resolved the private class-action litigation, agreeing to pay $6 million to various privacy organizations and $2.5 million to attorneys who brought the case. Individual users whose privacy was breached didn’t receive anything.“The settlement agreement, approved by U.S. District Court Judge James Ware in San Jose, Calif., provided that users who didn’t agree with the resolution could opt out.”
As it turns out, three users recently objected to the settlement enough to file their own suits. In fact, a couple of them seek to represent classes of users, totaling about 20,000 users between them. This could represent a hefty outlay for Google—all because someone didn’t run what seemed like a simple idea by the legal department. I hope that is now a mandatory step inside the beleaguered company.
Cynthia Murrell, January 24, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Google: One Number to Watch
January 23, 2013
I have little to add to the coverage of Google’s stunning financial performance. The company is half to the $100 billion goal which the company says is not a goal. Go figure. Any way, you can read the good news in “Google Worries Face as Results Spark Rally.” The write up reports:
“Google’s fourth-quarter metrics helped calm the biggest Google bear case: that all-things-mobile were eroding its financial position,” Pacific Crest analyst Evan Wilson said in a note. “We continue to think mobile worry could fade and start to look like last year’s bear case.” To be sure, other concerns remain. One of them is Motorola Mobility which continues to weigh down Google’s financials. In a note, Canaccord analyst Michael Graham said the Motorola Mobility handset division “appears to be in free-fall for now, pressuring consolidated revenue estimates” even as he also said Google’s report “prompted a sigh of relief from investors nervous after a few bumpy quarters.”
I find this comment about Motorola insightful. But the number I watch is Google’s expenses. I also am interested in the speed with which these are rising or falling. See http://goo.gl/XW0Ln.
Expenses for fiscal 2011 were $26,163. Expenses for fiscal 2012 were $37,415. Hmm. These are millions, not George Washington dollars. Even in Harrod’s Creek, that is a jump which warrants an eyebrow twitch. Maybe normal budget concerns do not apply in Silicon Valley, the original Go Go Land?
Stephen E Arnold, January 23, 2013
Search Technologies Success Lies in Corporate Retreats
January 23, 2013
While many companies may see corporate retreats as an obvious place to cut spending, co-founder and chief executive of Search Technologies believes retreats are some of the most valuable investments made by the company. In the Washington Post article “Value Added: This Herndon Search Company Found its Perfect Retreat in Costa Rica,” we learn about how Kamran Khan of Search Technologies believes corporate retreats are crucial to the success of his growing business. The most recent off-site cost $100,000 in company money and took place in highly-educated and tech-savvy Costa Rica.
The article explains the importance:
“Khan, who started Search Technologies in 2005, said it’s the only time when everyone in the company — including the management team — can be in one place. Khan uses the chance to address his 100-person staff, informing them of how the company is doing and outlining the goals for the next year. ‘I prefer to get people together and . . .clarify our strategy, which is very simple: We are going to be experts in the search space.’”
Khan and his team at Search Technologies may be onto something with this plan. Launched in 2005, the company was on track for $18 million in revenue for 2012, and the company’s net profit margin is about 5 percent. The IT services and search implementation software company services the Daily Mail newspaper’s Web site portfolio in Britain and helped Amazon.com launch its new cloud search product. Apparently the secret to success lies in Khan’s philosophy of hiring “good people” and taking beach trips. We have learned that Search Technologies is hiring in anticipation of further growth during 2013.
Andrea Hayden, January 23, 2013
Faster Decisions Made Using Information Delivery from PolySpot
January 23, 2013
The amount of data a company has in its possession means nothing unless the company has the tools and team to extract information from the sheer numbers and data bits. CIO recently revealed an article called, “How To Use Big Data to Make Faster and Better Business Decisions.”
Important business related questions requiring action can be answered and assessed in days rather than months. With such potential on the table for big data, NewVantage Partners conducted a study to determine how organizations are using big data. It turns out that 85% of their respondents reported big data initiatives as currently underway.
The article states:
Respondents gave a number of reasons for their investments in Big Data, from reducing risk to creating higher-quality products and services. But two reasons were clear leaders: achieving better, fact-based decision-making and improving the customer experience. Of course, these are leading reasons for investments in traditional business intelligence (BI) analytics, too.
Emphasis rests on the amount of time it takes for companies to answer the questions they need answered. Luckily, there are technologies such as PolySpot that enable information access across the enterprise. Communication and analysis can thus take place in near real-time.
Megan Feil, January 23, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
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