Search for Shopping: Still Room for Improvement
July 7, 2020
Targeted advertising is not the only way retailers can leverage all that personal data users have been forking over. Retail Times reports, “Findlogic Announces the Launch of AI-Powered Virtual Shopping Assistant, Lisa.” Lisa, huh? I guess Findlogic pays no heed to concerns around “female” virtual assistants. That tangent aside, the AI-powered tool is meant to reduce frustration for online shoppers and, in turn, facilitate to more completed sales. Writer Fiona Briggs tells us:
“Lisa returns on-site search based on an individual shopper’s buying intent signals in the context of a broad set of learnt user behaviors. This allows the solution to personalize results for each shopper, delivering more accurate search returns that connect customers to a desired product faster, moving them along the sales funnel and increasing conversion rates. By intelligently applying understanding to on-site search, Lisa helps shoppers better navigate product category or brand searches, which means that, rather than returning hundreds of options, the solution uses skills to refine results to bring shoppers to the exact product they are looking for quicker. Lisa also incorporates machine learning capabilities which allow it to learn and understand a shopper’s preferences and apply them to search, offering up personalized recommendations, which ranks the products the shopper is most likely to choose at the top of the list of results. Lisa also offers up intelligent ways to refine searches for generic keywords, using the application of a skill that then asks the user a set of questions to progress their search based on their individual requirements.”
Findlogic’s UK director emphasizes companies that put effort into getting shoppers to their websites in the first place are let down by traditional, keyword-based search systems that frustrate some 41% of potential customers. The company is betting this AI that can understand “intent” will change that. Based in Salzburg, Austria, Findlogic was founded in 2008.
Cynthia Murrell, July 7, 2020
Stupid Enterprise Search Promotions
July 6, 2020
Check out these incredibly silly pitches for the same market study about enterprise search:
This is an example of search engine optimization gaming the Google Alert system. Ridiculous SEO play and a ridiculous report.
The offending company appears to be:
Shameful.
Stephen E Arnold, July 6, 2020
Algolia Pricing
July 3, 2020
Years ago I listened to a wizard from Verity explain that a query should cost the user per cell. Now that struck me as a really stupid idea. Data sets were getting larger. The larger the data set, even extremely well crafted narrow queries would “touch” more cells. In a world of real time queries and stream processing, the result of the per cell model would be more than just interesting, it would be a deal breaker.
Pricing digital anything has been difficult. In the good old days of the late 1970s and early 1980s, one paid in many different ways — within the same system. The best example of this was the AT&T/British Telecom approach to online data.
Here’s what was involved. I am 77 and working from memory:
- Installation, set up, or preparation fee. This was dependent of factors such as location, distance from a node, etc.
- Base rate; that is, what one paid simply to be connected. This could be an upfront fee or calculated on some measurement which was intentionally almost impossible to audit or verify.
- Service required. Today this would be called bandwidth or connect time. The definition was slippery, but it was a way for the telcos of that era to add a fee.
If a connection went to a data center housing data, then other fees would kick in; for example:
- Hourly fee billed fractionally for the connect time to the database
- Per item fee when extracting data from the database
- A “print” or “type” fee which applied to the format of the data extracted
- A “report” fee because reports required cost recovery for the pre-coded template, query time, formatting, and outputting.
There were other fees, but the most fascinating one was the “threshold fee.” The idea is that paid for 60 minutes of connect time. When the 61st minute was required, the threshold was crossed, and the billing could go up, often by factors of 2X or more. No warning, of course. And the mechanism for calculating threshold fees were not disclosed to the normal customer. (After I became a contractor to Bell Communications Research, I learned that the threshold fees were determined based on “outside” or exogenous factors. In Bell Head speak this seemed to mean, “This is where we make even more money.”
To sum up, online pricing was a remarkable swamp. Little wonder that outsiders would be baffled at the online invoices generated by the online providers. Exciting, yes. Happy customers, nah. No one at the AT&T/British Telecom type outfits cared about non Bell Heads. No Young Pioneer T shirt? Ho, ho, ho. Pay your bill or we kill your account. Ho ho ho.
Algolia announced a new pricing plan. You can read about it here. The idea is to reduce confusion and be more “customer friendly.” What’s interesting to me is the string of comments on the Hacker News site. You can read these comments at this link.
There’s some back and forth with Algolia participating.
Some of the comments underscore the type of “surprise” that certain types of pricing models spark; for example, from alooPotato:
We (Streak) are in the same boat. Looks like we’d be paying approx half a million dollars a month on their new pricing which would be ~100x more than we are paying now. Haven’t heard from our enterprise rep but starting to get nervous… Sounds like the new pricing is for their ecommerce customers given how much value they provide them, doesn’t seem to make sense anymore for SaaS use cases.
ysavir takes a balanced view; that is, some good, some bad:
Not the GP, but I figure their point is as follows: If I’m running an e-commerce website, I don’t mind pay-per-search since those searches may turn into sales, so the cost is justified. My income scales with search count, and the Algolia price is part of user acquisition costs. If I’m running a SaaS business, the search is a feature for customers who have already paid, so I don’t see any further returns from the search being used. The more a client uses search, the less I’m profiting from having them as a client. They could potentially even cost me money to service them!
The point is that any pricing model — whether the AT&T/British Telecom type pricing “simplification” or a made-up, wacko approach like the IBM J1, J2, J3, etc. approach — is not going to meet the requirements of every customer.
The modern approach to pricing is to obfuscate and generate opaque variable prices. You can see this model in action by navigating to Amazon and running a query for “mens golf shirt and then zipping over to AWS and check out the prices for Sagemaker models to drive Athena. Got the difference, gentle reader?
The nifty world of enterprise search has been a wonderland of pricing methods. I flipped through the pricing data files for the three editions of the Enterprise Search Report which I began writing in 2002. Here are some highlights:
- Base fee plus engineering services. Upgrades priced individually.
- Base fee plus fixed price over a period of time.
- Variable elements like the crazy “per cell” idea from the guy who is now the head of Google Search (Oh, yeah!)
- Free if the customer (the US government) licensed other software
- One time charge. Upgrades are easy. Buy another license.
- Free. The vendor is in the business of selling engineering support, training, and custom widgets to make the search system sort of work.
- Whatever can be billed. This is extremely popular because the negotiation process reveals the allocated funds and the search system vendor angles to get as much of the allocated cash as humanly possible.
- Free for the first budget cycle. Then when funds become available, prices are negotiated.
- Custom quote only. NDA required.
Today, life is easier. One can download a free and open source search system, hit the local university for some “interns”, and let ‘er rip. Another alternative is to look for a hosted search service. Blossom.com maybe?
Net net: Pricing has one goal: Generate revenue and lock in for the vendor. That’s one reason why vendors of what I can search centric services are so darned lovable.
Stephen E Arnold, July 3, 2020
Neeva: To the Rescue?
July 2, 2020
After the 2017 scandal involving YouTube ads, Google’s head of advertising left the company. However, Sridhar Ramaswamy was not finished with search; he promised then to find another way that did not depend on ads. Now we learn subscription service Neeva is that promised approach from Ars Technica’s article, “Search Engine Startup Asks Users to Be the Customer, not the Product.” Not only does paying to search through Neeva allow one to avoid ads, the platform vows to respect user privacy, as well.
There are just a couple, fundamental problems. First, will enough users actually pay to search when they are used to Googling for free? Critics suspect most users will opt to accept ads over paying a fee. As for the privacy promise, we already have (ad-supported) privacy-centric search platforms DuckDuckGo and Startpage. Besides, though Neeva’s “Digital Bill of Rights” that dominates the company’s About page sounds nice, the official Privacy Policy linked in the site’s footers prompts doubt. Reporter Jim Salter writes:
“Neeva opens that section by saying it does not share, disclose, or sell your personal information with third parties ‘outside of the necessary cases below’—but those necessary cases include ‘Affiliates,’ with the very brusque statement that Neeva ‘may share personal information with our affiliated companies.’ Although the subsections on both Service Providers and Advertising Partners are hedged with usage limitations, there are no such limits given for data shared with ‘Affiliates.’ The document also provides no concrete definition of who the term ‘Affiliates’ might refer to, or in what context.
We noted:
“More security-conscious users should also be aware of Neeva’s Data Retention policy, which simply states ‘we store the personal information we receive as described in this Privacy Policy for as long as you use our Services or as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected… [including pursuit of] legitimate business purposes.’ Given that the data collection may include direct connection to a user’s primary Google or Microsoft email account, this might amount to a truly unsettling volume of personal data—data that is now vulnerable to compromise of Neeva’s services, as well as use or sale (particularly in the case of acquisition or merger) by Neeva itself.”
Neeva is currently in beta testing, but anyone still interested can sign up to be an early tester on waitlist at the bottom of this blog post. Though Neeva has yet to set a price for its subscription, we’re told it should be under $10 per month.
Cynthia Murrell, July 2, 2020
Google and Winston: Confusing Relationship for Sure
July 2, 2020
Computer glitches happen, even at large companies like Google. The timing of this one, though, looks a little suspicious. The Belfast Telegraph reports, “Google Says Churchill Image Missing Because of Bug in System.” The problem occurred just as the former prime minister’s statue was being walled away to protect it from protesters. Writer Martyn Landi explains:
“Winston Churchill’s image briefly disappeared from Google search results because it was being updated to be more representative of the former prime minister, the tech giant has said. However, that update had been delayed by a bug in Google’s system, the firm said in a statement. It comes after some users complained that Churchill’s image was not appearing in search results for UK prime ministers, although his name was still listed. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden was among those to express ‘concern’ and said he had spoken to the tech giant over the incident, which occurred during the ongoing debate about Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square, which was boarded up last week.”
Despite the timing, Google insists the snafu had nothing to do with the statue, protestors, or the former prime minister’s alleged racism. The search platform’s Knowledge Graph had been pulling a picture of Churchill from his younger days, which is not the iconic image most of us are familiar with. Googley humans blocked that image from the algorithm, forcing it to choose another one. Between those steps, however, the mysterious “bug” halted the update. Users searching for Churchill received only portrait-free text descriptions. The company stated:
“As a result, Churchill’s entry lacked an image from late April until this weekend, when the issue was brought to our attention and resolved soon after. We apologize again for concerns caused by this issue with Sir Winston Churchill’s Knowledge Graph image. We will be working to address the underlying cause to avoid this type of issue in the future.”
Just what this bug entailed is not revealed. Sounds like a “dog ate my homework” response to us.
Cynthia Murrell, July 2, 2020
Search for the Young in Heart and Mind
June 25, 2020
An expert in search at an outfit called Blue Fountain Media understands search and retrieval. The insights about matching a user query with relevant content almost caused me to weep. See and experience the impact of high quality information yourself by navigating to “Using AI-Powered Visual Search to Enhance CX.” Note: I had to click past warnings about possible malware, complete two captchas about vehicles, and put up with a weird mobile oriented output in order to access this magnificent research paper.
Was the effort worth the intellectual reward? Sure, like a Twinkie for a starving college student addled by a long weekend of social distancing in Florida.
The main point of the write up is:
The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” takes on all new relevance when we consider the next big feature coming over the ecommerce horizon: AI-powered visual search.
That’s insightful. Like TV, right?
The write up states that AI has some other benefits:
- The missing agent has been artificial intelligence which has become increasingly more adept at image recognition.
- Beyond image recognition, AI makes it possible to learn a person’s taste and style preferences.
And there’s a stunning revelation about “most shoppers”. Sure, this is a generalization, but what search expert wants to deal with verifiable data:
Let’s face it, most shoppers know what they want – when they see it – but find themselves completely dumbfounded when it comes to describing what they’re after using the traditional text-driven search engine.
What about a student wanting a copy of Jacques Ellul’s Technological Bluff. Would a visual search be feasible on a mobile device while social distancing on a Zoom video call?
Of course, of course.
Plus, the search expert reveals some next steps. How does this match up with the wonks trying to improve the precision and recall for stress analysis engineers dealing with the failure of an emergency core cooling system valve?
The key, of course, is to mark up these images appropriately. Ironically, yes, this will still include keywords. But if you follow Googles [sic] best practices for images, you’ll find values such as placement and metadata are increasingly more important than simple text descriptors.
A diagram is okay, but the issue is calculating engineering stresses with a dash of math amongst the photos.
Amazing what one learns about search and retrieval when one consults true experts. And those engineers struggling with the analytic job. Check out Google images. It’s a best practice, particularly when the valve is part of the reactor on a nuclear submarine. There’s nothing quite like Google metadata. Are search engine optimization professionals who are also search experts up to task. Sure.
Stephen E Arnold, June 25, 2020
Crazy Enterprise Search Report: Content Marketing Spam Gets Religious
June 23, 2020
DarkCyber noted this content marketing spam dutifully recycled by Jewish Market Reports:
And the author. Maybe a nice Jewish fellow named Sameer Joshi or maybe just a pseudonym?
The story recycles a bit of fluff from the Goodwill of off base data. Goodwill accepts almost any product; the data off shoot is okay with crazed generalizations of mostly off base numbers. That Excel projection function is a darned useful thing too.
The write up covers the 360 view of the market. What’s interesting about these recycled and spam centric reports is not their cost. Think thousands. The fascinating bit is the list of companies fueling the rocket ship of enterprise search in the Rona Era; specifically:
- Algolia
- com, Inc. [sic]
- Coveo Solutions Inc.
- Elasticsearch B.V.
- IBM Corporation
- iManage LLC
- Lucidworks, Inc.
- Microsoft Corporation
- SearchUnify (Grazitti Interactive Inc.)
- Swiftype, Inc.
A couple of observations. The list is alphabetized, a useful operation. But the nifty part are com, Inc. [sic] and Grazitti. To be blunt, neither outfit is in the DarkCyber/Beyond Search files.
For a nice Jewish boy or maybe not, the list of leaders makes sense. Where was his grandmother when the author demonstrated an inability to determine what was wheat and what was chaff?
Definitely not paying attention because she was working on an earlier version of the document offered by her company, The Insight Partners. More time with Sameer Joshi, her grandson, would have been well spent I surmise. But the publication? Hmmm.
Stephen E Arnold, June 23, 2020
Microsoft Search 365: Just Wonderful Wonderful
June 22, 2020
Analyses of Microsoft’s long romance with enterprise search forget some bad dates. There was the era of dozens of search systems; each unit at Softie HQ knew how to make information findable. Remember Outlook Express? Then there were acquisitions. What about that search system in NCompass? How about that earth shaker Powerset? Yeah, I thought you would remember the spilled chocolate shakes, the slapped hands, and the angry parents.
What about Fast Search & Transfer? Quite a buy in 2008! So what if the Fast senior management had to dodge legal eagles for a few years? Does anyone recall the refusal of some customers of the Fast ESP refusing to pay their bills? The financial fancy dancing. No, why bother.
I could go on, but I won’t. The write up “Microsoft Search in Microsoft 365: A Valuable Enterprise Search Engine” does not bring up the past. Nobody cares. Enterprise search is a joke. No one in his or her right mind wants a company search engine to wander hither and yon to find semi relevant information. Those using enterprise search — remember, it’s a myth, gentle reader — want to locate the PowerPoint the crazy sales manager changed for yesterday’s presentation in Reno. Where is it? Well, it sure isn’t in an enterprise search system. What’s in the enterprise search system is the angry email from the customer in the presentation audience who heard the sales wizard reveal the actual pricing of the deal. That customer wants the sales manager’s head, not a list of search results. And you, gentle reader, are trying to find the presentation in the Enterprise 365 whatever. Well, good luck with that.
The write up asserts:
Before a user can use Microsoft Search, they must be logged into Microsoft 365. Once logged in, the user needs only to open their browser, go to Bing.com, and enter the search query. Upon doing so, Bing will return both public and private search results.
There you go, JEDI fans. There’s nothing like snagging a laptop and having access to a search system that displays the user’s view of an organization’s data. That access control works like a champ just like Microsoft’s Windows 10 updates.
Plus you get links to lots of stuff. Particularly useful is “All” which presents any oddball hit that the system knows is that PowerPoint which has not been indexed and is therefore unfindable unless you meet the sales wizard at the airport.
Are there flaws in the 365 search? Sure there are. The author identifies one the size of a pre extinction brontosaurus:
In my opinion, the most significant limitation associated with using Microsoft Search is that the search engine does not index your file servers. It assumes that most of your file data reside in SharePoint Online. The only way that Microsoft Search can index files stored on-premises is if you have a hybrid SharePoint deployment and the files that you want to index are stored within SharePoint.
Yeah, but what about that “all”? Seems like a logical fallacy, doesn’t it. All with notable omissions. Oh, well, home economics courses don’t spend much time of stuff like logic. Chopped onions, yes? Logical Grand Canyons? Nah.
Net net: Microsoft has been lost in search space for decades. Will the company deliver a system that mostly works? Hey, the purpose of enterprise search at Microsoft is the generation of work for Microsoft Certified Professionals. Those experts don’t need something to work to subscribe to a Porsche. That means Microsoft’s enterprise search mirrors the enterprise search industry quite well, thank you.
Stephen E Arnold, June 22, 2020
Mindbreeze: Big News from Austria
June 19, 2020
Moving enterprise search and data analysis to the cloud means security becomes an even greater concern, and one provider recently had an audit performed on its platform. Olean Times Herald reports, “Mindbreeze InSpire SaaS Receives SOC2 Type 1 Attestation.” A System and Organization Controls 2 audit assesses how well a system complies with certain standards on the handling of data. “Type 1” means the assessment reports on a snapshot of time, no longer than six months. Consulting company KPMG completed the audit report. The write-up tells us:
“In the context of the auditing process, KPMG examined whether the Trust Services Criteria (TSC) for security – issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) – are observed. This involved inspecting and documenting the existing internal control mechanisms for the services offered, such as those relating to risk minimization, access controls, monitoring measures, and communication. The audit took the form of an ISAE 3000 Type 1 audit (testing the design and the implementation for a specific deadline) and was conducted over a period of roughly four weeks. Mindbreeze received the final test results as an ISAE 3000 SOC2 Type 1 Report.”
The report will provide information to Mindbreeze’s clients and auditors. Founder and CEO Daniel Fallmann emphasizes that tight security and adherence to operating standards are priorities for his firm. The company’s platforms rely on AI tech to produce business insights to its clients. Based in Chicago, Mindbreeze was founded in 2015.
Cynthia Murrell, June 19, 2020
Hulbee Is In the Enterprise Search Derby
June 18, 2020
Enterprise search should be an easy out-of-the-box, deployable solution, but more often it is a confusing mess. Companies like Hulbee Enterprise Search develop search programs that delete the guesswork and immediately function:
“Hulbee Enterprise Search not only provides a simple search software, but also consolidates our experience and knowledge, which has been accumulated for over 17 years and combines intelligent search, format diversity, different corporate infrastructures, security, etc. in areas such as document management.
Our goal is to create a timely software technology for you that meets all security requirements. We would be very pleased if you test our software. Request a Proof of Concept.
Our software complements existing software products from other manufacturers such as SharePoint, Exchange, DMS etc. through the innovation of the search. It is thus not a competition, but an addition to and completion of the optimal search in the company.”
The purpose of enterprise search is to quickly locate information, so it can be employed by a business. Information includes structured and unstructured data, so enterprise search needs to be robust and smart enough to filter relevant results. Search must also be compliant with security measures, especially as more businesses host their data on clouds.
Enterprise search solutions like Hulbee must be flexible enough to adjust to changing security measures, but also continue to offer the same and better features for search.
Customization is key to being a contender in the marker for enterprise search.
Whitney Grace, June 18, 2020
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