Looking Beyond SharePoint
January 22, 2015
SharePoint owns a lion’s share of the enterprise market. While it is largely undisputed, there are products out there that seek to make a name within the marketplace. M-Files is an option that has made a few headlines. Read more about the product from one proponent in the ZDNet article, “M-Files: A better SharePoint than SharePoint.”
The article begins:
“Although Microsoft’s SharePoint has been around for 14 years, it isn’t the best CMS product on the market. As a SharePoint Administrator myself, I can tell you firsthand that there has to be something better. My interview with M-Files convinced me that there indeed is something better. While this post isn’t a review, I do want to point out M-Files’ compelling features to you as I saw them during the presentation. Often we use products because they are the ‘accepted standards’ and we explore no further.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in enterprise and often covers SharePoint on his Web service, ArnoldIT.com. He even has a dedicated SharePoint feed to cover the ups and downs of the service. And while SharePoint does have many strong points and is the largest contender in the market, many of its idiosyncrasies are the reason why some customers are looking elsewhere.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 22, 2015
IT Concerns in 2015: Digital Transformation Leads the List
January 22, 2015
The article titled Boardroom Priorities in 2015: Can IT Deliver on ZDNet discusses a recent survey of 200 CXOs on boardroom concerns for 2015 from Constellation Research. Digital transformation was at the top of many lists, and the article posits that there is a fear among many companies that a “Digital Darwinism” will take down corporations that have not invested in digital strategies. The article states,
“Constellation notes that digital personas represent the brand, but also expand on the brick and mortar experience…[it] spans the entire customer experience…The companies that have invested early in their digital presence have a lead, but it’s unclear what happens to everyone else. Not all of these investments will work and execution is likely to get spotty. Tech vendors are promising magic bullets, but if every company is on the same bandwagon it’s going to be tough for anyone to pull away.”
The article suggests weariness in all areas of investment is wise, especially big data. Other priorities the survey listed include consistent customer experience, preparedness for inorganic growth, mass automation and the reduction of costs for regulatory and security compliance. There is a missing point in this article, which is money. Companies still have to deliver sustainable revenue and continue making new sales.
Chelsea Kerwin, January 22, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Microsoft, Text Analytics, and Writing
January 21, 2015
I read the marvelously named “Microsoft Acquires Text Analysis Startup Equivio, Plans to Integrate Machine Learning Tech into Office 365: Equivio Zoom In. Find Out.”
Taking a deep breath I read the article. Here’s what I deduced: Word and presumably PowerPoint will get some new features:
While Office 365 offers e-discovery and information governance capabilities, Equivio develops machine learning technologies for both, meaning an integration is expected to make them “even more intelligent and easy to use.” Microsoft says the move is in line with helping its customers tackle “the legal and compliance challenges inherent in managing large quantities of email and documents.”
The Fast Search & Transfer technology is not working out? The dozens of SharePoint content enhancers are not doing their job? The grammar checker is not doing its job?
What is different is that Word is getting more machine learning:
Equivio uses machine learning to let users explore large, unstructured sets of data. The startup’s technology leverages advanced text analytics to perform multi-dimensional analyses of data collections, intelligently sort documents into themes, group near-duplicates, and isolate unique data.
Like Microsoft’s exciting adaptive menus, the new system will learn what the user wants.
Is this a next generation information access system? Is Microsoft nosing into Recorded Future territory?
Nope, but the desire to covert what the user does into metadata seems to percolate in the Microsoft innovation coffee pot.
If Microsoft pulls off this shotgun marriage, I think more pressure will be put on outfits like Content Analyst and Smartlogic.
Stephen E Arnold, January 21, 2015
Google Steers SEO Pros Toward User Experience
January 21, 2015
Curious to learn where Google is driving the search-engine optimization field these days? Search Engine Watch tells us, “6 Major Changes Reveal the Future of SEO.” Writer Eric Enge declares, “Google is doing a brilliant job of pushing people away from tactical SEO behavior and toward a more strategic approach.” Um, okay. As long as that means more relevant information for users.
The article lists Eng’s six observations and what each means for SEO approaches. For example, Google has stopped handing users’ keyword data to websites, requiring them to use other methods to monitor keyword performance. Then there’s the Hummingbird algorithm, which Enge says is really a major platform change. The write-up also considers the current influence of Google+ and Google’s Authorship program. Finally, Enge cites the In-Depth Article feature Google introduced last August, which points users to more comprehensive sources of information. See the article for more on each of these points. Enge concludes:
“All of these new pieces play a role in getting people to focus on their authority, semantic relevance, and the user experience. Again, this is what Google wants.
“For clarity, I’m not saying that Google designed these initiatives specifically to stop people from being tactical and make them strategic. I don’t really know that. It may simply be the case that Google operates from a frame of reference that they want to find and reward outstanding sites, pages, and authors that offer outstanding answers to user’s search queries. But the practical impact is the same.
“The focus now is on understanding your target users, producing great content, establishing your authority and visibility, and providing a great experience for the users of your site.”
Well, this does sound like a good shift for users. Will SEO workers used to focusing on PageRank data and keywords learn to adapt?
Cynthia Murrell, January 21, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Books about Math
January 21, 2015
We’ve run across a list of books that should interest to anyone who would like to understand more about mathematics. These are not textbooks with which to expand our math skills, but rather volumes that take a look at the mathematics field itself. Blogger Kelly J. Rose shares “5 Insanely Great Books About Mathematics You Should Read.” Rose writes:
“I’ve been asked over and over for good books about mathematics for a layperson, someone who hasn’t taken advanced courses in university and is more simply interested in learning about what math is, and some of the more interesting historical figures and results from mathematics. Ironically, when you are a mathematics major at Waterloo, you get the opportunity in 4th year to take a course on the history of mathematics and you get introduced to a few really good books that start to explain the mindset and philosophy behind mathematics and not simply just the theorems and proofs. Here are the 5 books about I most recommend to those who want to understand the mathematical mind and philosophy.”
A few highlights: for a comprehensive history of the field, there’s A History of Mathematics by Carl B. Boyer. For an understanding of what it is like to live the life of a mathematician, it seems Rose cannot recommend The Mathematical Experience by Philip J. David and Reuben Hersh highly enough. Then there’s Proofs and Refutations by Imre Lakatos; Rose says this is likely the most advanced book on his list, yet calls it a quick read. He prescribes it to anyone considering a career in mathematics. Check out the post for more recommendations.
Cynthia Murrell, January 21, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
SharePoint Hopes It Becomes Irresistible
January 20, 2015
SharePoint is hoping to make itself irresistible and irreplaceable with its latest announcement of providing a digital window to make the platform feel more personal. Get all the details in the CMS Wire article, “Office 365 & Sharepoint Online Just Became Irresistible.”
The article begins by explaining the strategy:
“Forget Google Docs, Box and any productivity tool that anyone else has to offer. Microsoft is committing its brains and its brawn to one thing —being your ‘go to’ for your digital life, at work and at home. It plans to do this by providing a window to the digital world that feels ‘more personal and natural,’ to use CEO Satya Nadella’s words, via innovations in touch, speech, vision, inking and much more. They will all come together with intelligent agent (can you say machine learning, analytics, PowerBI, Office Graph) and shell technologies.”
As part of the new strategy, Delve incorporates a new feature called Boards, helping to organize content and keep it on the surface. Other more tangible features are likely to be rolled out in coming weeks. To stay on top of them stay tuned to ArnoldIT.com, particularly the SharePoint feed. Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and keeps his eyes peeled for the most important tips, news, and tricks for users and managers alike.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 20, 2015
It May Be Too Soon to Dismiss Tape Storage
January 20, 2015
Is the cloud giving new life to tape? The Register reports on “The Year When Google Made TAPE Cool Again….” With both Google and Amazon archiving data onto tape, the old medium suddenly seems relevant again. Our question—does today’s tape guarantee 100% restores? We want to see test results. One cannot find information that is no longer there, after all.
The article hastens to point out that the tape-manufacturing sector is not out of the irrelevance woods yet. Reporter Chris Mellor writes about industry attempts to survive:
“Overall the tape backup market is still in decline, with active vendors pursuing defensive strategies. Struggling tape system vendors Overland Storage and Tandberg Data, both pushing forwards in disk-based product sales, are merging in an attempt to gain critical and stable business mass for profitable revenues.
“Quantum still has a large tape business and is managing its decline and hoping a profitable business will eventually emerge. SpectraLogic has emerged as an archive tape champion and one of the tape technology area’s leaders, certainly the most visionary with the Black Pearl technology.
“Oracle launched its higher-capacity T10000D format and IBM is pushing tape drive and media capacity forwards, heading past a 100TB capacity tape.”
The write-up concludes with ambivalence about the future of tape. Mellor does not see the medium disappearing any time soon, but is less confident about its long-term relevance. After all, who knows what storage-medium breakthrough is around the corner?
Cynthia Murrell, January 20, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
The Smartest AI? Microsoft Cortana
January 20, 2015
You may want to read “The Smartest AI in the Universe Is More Human Than You Think.” You will learn that Microsoft developed this remarkable “more human” technology.
Here’s a passage I highlighted in pale blue:
“Cortana very literally thinks like a person, but she does it at a tremendously faster speed,” said Frank O’Connor, Franchise Development Director at 343 Industries. “Her morality, her sense of humor and emotions are human. They’re real, and they’re ostensibly organic.”
What’s 343 Industries? It is an American video game developer located not too far from Redmond, home of Microsoft.
I don’t play games. I have a Microsoft Phone. I find the voice search sort of useless. Sorry, Microsoft.
Cortana may be smart. She is not in my universe and when she intrudes, I navigate away from her as quickly as I can.
Stephen E Arnold, January 20, 2015
Is Enterprise Search Exempt from Intellectual Dishonesty?
January 20, 2015
I read “Techmeme’s Gabe Rivera on Tech Media: A Lot of Intellectual Dishonesty.” I figured out that “intellectual dishonesty” covers a large swath of baloney information. I have been involved in “technology” since I was hired by Halliburton Nuclear in 1972. In that period, I have watched engineers try to explain to non-engineers the objective functions of processes, algorithms, systems, and methods. I learned quickly that those who were not informed had a tough time figuring out what the engineers were saying or “meant.” Thus, the task became recasting details into something easily understood. Yep, nothing like simplified nuclear fission. It’s just like boiling water over a campfire. There you go. Nuclear energy made simple.
This article is a brief interview with a Silicon Valley luminary. The point seems to be that today much of the information about technology is off the mark. Well, let me make this simple: Almost useless. Today, thanks to innovation and re-imagineering, anyone able to click a mouse button can assert, “I am a technologist.” Many mouse clickers add a corollary: “I can learn anything.” No doubt failed middle school teachers, unemployed webmasters, and knowledge management experts have confidence in their abilities. Gold stars in middle school affirm one’s excellence, right?
In this interview, there were two observations that I related to my field of interest: Information Access.
I noted this comment about technology information:
Another problem: lying by omission, hyperbole and other forms of intellectual dishonesty are creeping into more tech reporting.
Ah, lying, hyperbole, and “other forms of intellectual dishonesty.” Good stuff.
I found this remark on point as well:
Most of the people who can offer key insights for understanding the industry are not incentivized to write, so a lot of crucial knowledge just never appears online. It’s just passed along to certain privileged people in the know.
I think this means that those with high value information may not produce listicles every few days. Too bad.
So what about enterprise search? Some thoughts:
- Consultants and experts who write what the prospects or the clients want to get money, consideration, or self aggrandizement. Dave Schubmehl, are you done recycling my research without permission?
- Vendors who say almost anything to close a deal. That’s why enterprise search vendors hop from SharePoint utility to customer support to business intelligence to analytics. The idea is that once the money is in hand, the vendor can code up a good enough solution
- Cheerleaders for failed concepts promise “value” or performance. The idea that knowledge management or innovation will be a direct consequence of finding information is only a partial truth.
- Open source cheerleaders. Open source is one source of information access technology. Open source requires glue code and scripting and often costs as much as a proprietary solution when direct and indirect expenses are tallied and summed. But free is “good”, right?
- Bloggers, experts, newly minted consultants, and unemployed English majors conclude that they are expert searchers and can learn anything.
- Job seekers. I find some of the information available on LinkedIn and Slideshare quite amazing, fascinating, and unfortunately disheartening.
- Unemployed search administrators. These folks want to use failure as a ladder to climb higher in their next job.
Net net: In enterprise search, the problems are significant because of the nature of human utterance. Those who are uninformed cater to the customers who may be uninformed. The result is the all-too-predictable rise and fall of companies like Delphes, Convera, Entopia, or Fast Search & Transfer, among many others. For example, Google tried to “fix” enterprise search with a locked down appliance. How is that working out?
The volume of misinformation, disinformation, and reformation makes accurate, objective analysis of search an almost impossible job. When everyone is an expert in search and content processing, most information about information access has almost zero knowledge value.
Stephen E Arnold, January 20, 2015
Content Management Should Consider Its Users
January 20, 2015
Is it time to change our approach to content management? Big Men On Content discusses “Rebooting Enterprise Content Management.” Writer Marko Sillanpää ponders the state of the ECM field:
“Is the ECM problem … changing? That last word was hard to write, as there as many options with much stronger word option. But ECM is changing. It’s not evolving. It’s not becoming ‘Records Management’ or ‘Information Management’ or yet another iteration of ‘Knowledge Management’. It’s not dying. This vendor or that vendor is not on their last legs. It’s definitely not expanding. There are no new content types being managed. But ECM is changing. And if you look in the right places it’s growing. Customers are taking on the ECM challenge on their own. But how have we missed this change? I think we’ve been too focused.”
Sillanpää takes us back to 1998, when crucial decisions about content management were being made. He feels vendors at the time, distracted by the process of defining the shiny new field, failed to listen to their customers. He maintains that vendors are again failing to pay attention to users’ voices, this time because they are too busy watching each other.
Meanwhile, issues that vendors seems to find boring but that customers actually care about go unaddressed. As an example, the write-up cites the continued reliance on paper files at many organizations. It is an issue that truly vexes many users, yet it remains unsolved. Sillanpää may have a point; when was the phrase “paperless office” coined? And when did we give up on getting there?
Cynthia Murrell, January 21, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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