Recorded Future in the Spotlight: An Interview with Christopher Ahlberg
April 5, 2011
It is big news when In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the US intelligence community, funds a company. It is really big news when Google funds a company. But when both of these tech-savvy organizations fund a company, Beyond Search has to take notice.
After some floundering around, ArnoldIT was able to secure a one-on-one interview with the founder of Recorded Future. The company is one of the next-generation cloud-centric analytics firms. What sets the company apart technically is, of course, the magnetism that pulled In-Q-Tel and Google to the Boston-based firm.
Mr. Ahlberg, one of the founders of Spotfire which was acquired by the hyper-smart TIBCO organization, has turned his attention to Web content and predictions. Using sophisticated numerical recipes, Recorded Future can make observations about trends. This is not fortune telling, but mathematics talking.
In my interview with Mr. Ahlberg, he said:
We set out to organize unstructured information at very large scale by events and time. A query might return a link to a document that says something like “Hu Jintao will tomorrow land in Paris for talks with Sarkozy” or “Apple will next week hold a product launch event in San Francisco”). We wanted to take this information and make insights available through a stunning user experiences and application programming interfaces. Our idea was that an API would allow others to tap into the richness and potential of Internet content in a new way.
When I probed for an example, he told me:
What we do is to tag information very, very carefully. For example, we add metatags that make explicit when we locate an item of data. We tag when that datum was published. We tag when we analyzed that datum. We also tag when we find it, when it was published, when we analyzed it, and what actual time point (past, present, future) to which the datum refers. The time precision is quite important. Time makes it possible for end users and modelers to deal with this important attribute. At this stage in our technology’s capabilities, we’re not trying to claim that we can beat someone like Reuters or Bloomberg at delivering a piece of news the fastest. But if you’re interested in monitoring, for example, the co-incidence of an insider trade with a product recall we can probably beat most at that.
To read the full text of the interview with Mr. Ahlberg click here. The interview is part of the Search Wizards Speak collection of first person narratives about search and content processing. Available without charge on the ArnoldIT.com Web site, the more than 50 interviews comprise the largest repository of first hand explanations of “findability” available.
If you want your search or content processing company featured in this interview series, write seaky2000 at yahoo dot com.
Stephen E Arnold, April 5, 2011
Freebie
Forrester Research on Social Business Intelligence
April 3, 2011
ECRMGuide.com interviewed James Kobielus, senior analyst at Forrester Research, for their article, “Social Business Intelligence- What Is It, and Do You Need It?”
Kobielus asserts that social BI is the essential new addition to business intelligence. It taps into information available on social networks that traditional solutions can’t capture. In particular, he mentions customer comments about your company, good, bad, or non-existent. He also emphasizes increased data available for predictive modeling tools.
Is this more baloney or pure intellectual gold? Pass the sandwich loaf please. We think social BI enthusiasts may overstating their case.
When asked about the risks of implementing social BI, Kobielus replied that companies must be careful to use only the official, sanctioned versions of records in order to avoid making costly mistakes. Important caveat.
As to the trend’s projection, Kobielus summarizes:
“There’s no clean delineation where traditional BI leaves off and social BI picks up because traditional BI is a moving target. Every couple of years it adds an additional layer of functionality that used to be bells and whistles but now is inherent. I think the social interface in the next year of two will become pretty much standard everywhere.”
We’ll see.
Cynthia Murrell April 3, 2011
SAP Achieves Unity
April 2, 2011
“SAP unifies compliance and BI tools” announces Silicon.com.:
“The release, announced on Wednesday 23 March, integrates elements of its business-intelligence toolkit with the newest version of its governance, risk and compliance (GRC) tools into a single platform that can plug into other business intelligence software, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications.”
Apparently, SAP has been working toward this consolidation for three years. It standardizes the look and feel across tools, embeds reports and dashboards, and includes a risk- indicator graphic. Increased ease of use is also a goal.
Can SAP unify without increasing complexity? Jury is still out.
Cynthia Murrell, April 2, 2011
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Digital Reasoning and Cloudera: A Prescient Partnership
April 1, 2011
We learned via Marketwire that “Cloudera and Digital Reasoning Partner to Provide Complex Data Analytics for Government Intelligence and Enterprise Markets.”
Cloudera, leading distributor of open source Apache Hadoop data management solutions, and premiere data analytics provider Digital Reasoning are working together to take complex analytics to new heights. They have integrated both Hadoop (CDH3) and support for HBase into Synthesys, Digital Reasoning’s analytic software. According to the write up:
Designed as a next-generation solution for advanced analytics over both complex and structured data, Synthesys helps decision makers for large government intelligence projects and commercial enterprises make better sense of their data. Synthesys’ integration with CDH3 and HBase will provide confidence to those tasked with solving the government’s largest and most demanding data analytics challenges.
This project allows for the combination of algorithms on an unprecedented scale. The CDH3 version of Apache Hadoop is easy to install and integrate. Also,the support of HBase places Digital Reasoning at the forefront of large-scale text analytics in cloud deployments.
The joint effort may have the additional benefit of pushing U.S. government entities toward adopting Hadoop, an important step toward organizations working together.
Synthesys with Apache Hadoop CDH3 and HBase: a resource greater than the sum of its parts.
Cynthia Murrell April 1, 2011
Endeca Quantifies Results Softly
March 24, 2011
Per a recent post on RFPConnect.com of the same title, Endeca Latitude Generated a ROI of 330% over Three Years According to an Independent Study conducted by Forrester Consulting. We think of Forrester as one of those mid tier consulting firms which have discovered that a blend of marketing, charm, and customers paying for objective reports helps keep the lights on.
And those are some results Forrester’s experts have unearthed!
Gathered from four companies across four different industries, nary a hint of a frown about Endeca’s business intelligence software solution.
Here are some of the highlights:
- Improved labour productivity associated with data analysis.”
- Parts and materials purchases savings.”
- Improved labour productivity associated with data discovery.”
- Engineering change orders avoided due to non-optimal part selection.”
- Cost avoided associated with user training.”
- Cost avoided associated with data preparation and report creation.”
Okay!
Endeca’s VP of product management and marketing notes that this study has successfully defined something that is typically thought of as a “soft benefit”: decision making. We think the reason why this benefit is so often considered “soft” is because it is actually kind of immeasurable.
I am an engineer, mechanical, PE, and the rest of the drill. As an engineer, I like facts, data, and verification. Disappointed in soft analyses? Well, I would not want to engineer a solution on soft data. But that’s just my conservative, non-marketing nature.
The write up reminds me of an infomercial, the as-seen-on-TV Bender Ball and the claim that the Bender Method of Core Training helps provide a workout that is up to 408 percent more effective than the standard crunch.
Really?
Don’t get us wrong, this is an amazing revelation and the results sound great, but somewhat hard to believe given the absence of verifiable data.
Sarah Rogers, March 24, 2011
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eDiscovery Discovered
March 23, 2011
I read in my hard copy version the story “Armies of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced by Cheaper Software.” (The link may go dead as the Gray Lady tries to regain its can of Monster Energy Drink.)
After reading the story, I was not exactly sure if the information was about the cost cutting that law firms must undertake to keep their partners in BMWs and vacation homes, the software that is now making its way from the green corridors of government agencies to the walnut paneled rooms of legal eagles’ nests, or the brainchild of a PR firm.
Source: http://www.challengecamps.com/programs/session.php?view=session1&subsect=morning
Let’s tackle the legal eagle issue first.
The cost of looking at email is high. Not only is email a generally crappy type of document in its native habitat, email is a downright evil invention when one is looking for who said what to whom at a specific point in time. Clever lads and lasses can make email do magic tricks, including disappear. The legal eagles want systems that prevent messing around with email. The law school grads call this spoliation. Hey, that’s why some of the lawyers command $1,200 and hour or more. With clients getting nervous about the costs of legal services, law firms are trying to manage like real businesses, which as you know are not exactly hitting home runs in the fiscal probity game.
SharePoint for Business Intelligence?
March 15, 2011
“Revamped Business Intelligence Scenario Hub on TechNet” announces six end-to-end BI scenarios from Microsoft as part of their new content hub. For example, one is “Analyze Sales Performance by Using a Dashboard Built on SharePoint Server, SQL Server, and Office.”
Scenarios can be helpful for working out solutions, but wouldn’t it be nice if solutions were already available? SurfRay provides tools that function as business intelligence systems based on the knowledge creation and retrieval process.
For more information about how SurfRay’s business intelligence solutions leverage search, visit www.surfray.com.
Torben Ellert, March 15, 2011
SurfRay
Consultant Identifies Employment Opportunity
March 12, 2011
Read Write Web has the article, “Forrester: Business Intelligence Careers Offer Hope for IT Workers.” It reiterates what we already know: tough job market for information technology workers. Forrester, a consulting firm that often links sweeping generalizations with for-fee reports, recommends that IT specialists should focus their energies on business intelligence.
We learn from this assertion that Developers, integrations professionals, and database administrators are well prepared for BI careers. But—and it is an important caveat—the hopefuls will need to bolster their skills by actively working in business intelligence. Is this somewhat circular?
The article pointed to these consultant observations about business intelligence:
Organizations are increasing investment in this area.
- BI is not easily outsourced and requires quite a bit of face-to-face collaboration with management
- BI projects need to be iterated on a frequent and ongoing basis
- BI hiring is already up dramatically
My colleagues and I at ArnoldIT.com are not sure what business intelligence means. The more we talked about this employment assertion, we concluded that there is a Catch 22 operating: one needs to be working on an active BI project to become familiar with these technologies otherwise one cannot learn the skills. We do agree that information professionals should continue to improve analytical and technical skills.
After reading this article the only thought that came to me was, “really?” Autonomy does not use the phrase “business intelligence”. What’s that tell us? Well, $800 million in revenue suggests that the phrase is probably not necessary to enjoy financial success.
Whitney Grace, March 12, 2011
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Microsoft Business Intelligence Highlights
March 11, 2011
The push of search and content processing vendors into business intelligence continues. Not surprisingly, Microsoft is in this mini-trend as well.
The Microsoft Developer Network blog has published a “Business Intelligence Recap of 2010.” The article is a top 10 countdown of things to be thankful for. This passage caught my attention:
“One of the key highlights of SharePoint 2010, from my point of view of course, is the integration of PPS into SharePoint 2010, and the slew of new capabilities it now offers. A SharePoint service, PPS gains the scalability and reliability of SharePoint, while enabling rich new business intelligence applications and deployments.”
One can make a case that many enterprise software applications can deliver business intelligence. Is this a fair characterization of a system that shows where cost overruns occur, what supplier delivers parts that consistently meet specifications, or permit a search across email?
We have on this page a Silverlight download, a soccer player, a video, and a couple of cartoons. There are ads and headlines like “one demand sessions” and “business intelligence is here. Does this information define business intelligence? I am still confused.
The problem with business intelligence is similar to the problem with knowledge management. The terms really don’t mean anything unless the vendor makes quite specific statements about functions and features, use cases, and data management services.
My view is that as vendors, including Microsoft, struggle to find a pitch that generates leads, we will have to accept the explanation of what is essentially a content management system or a run-of-the-mill search and retrieval system as something other than what it is.
Marketing is necessary, but when any enterprise software can deliver information and data that could help a person make an informed decision, the phrase “business intelligence” is almost as meaningless as the phrase “enterprise search”.
We will have to live with words and phrases that have no specific meaning for the duration. Perhaps one reason enterprise software is dogged with a reputation for cost overruns and user dissatisfaction is that no one knows that the system is supposed to do? When installed, users realize it does not address user needs. With everyone distracted and in a hurry, defining exactly what is needed and figuring out the optimal solution is, in many cases, just not a very good use of time. Those Facebook messages and the crises that some face every hour are more important than figuring out details. Just my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, March 11, 2011
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Automated Understanding: Digital Reasoning Cracks the Information Maze
March 4, 2011
I learned from one reader that the presentation by Tim Estes, the founder of Digital Reasoning, caused some positive buzz at a recent conference on the west coast. According to my source, this was a US government sponsored event focused on where content processing was going. The surprise was that as other presenters talked about the future, a company called Digital Reasoning displayed a next generation system. Keep in mind that i2 Ltd. is a solid analyst’s tool with technology roots that stretch back 15 years. (I did some work for the founder of i2 a few years ago and have a great appreciation for the case value of the system for law enforcement.) Palantir has some useful visualization tools, but the company continues to attract attention from litigation and brushes with outfits with some interesting sales practices. Beyond Search covered this story here and here.
ArnoldIT.com sees Digital Reasoning’s Synthesys as solving difficult information puzzles quickly and efficiently because it eliminates most of the false path or trial-and-error of traditional systems. Solving the information maze of real world flows is now possible in our view.
The shift was from semi-useful predictive numerical recipes and overlays or augmented outputs to something quite new and different. The Digital Reasoning presentation focused on real data and what the company called “automated understanding.”
For a few bucks last year, one of my colleagues and I got a look at the automated understanding approach of the Synthesys 3 platform. Tim Estes explained that real data poses major challenges to systems that lack an ability to process large flows, discern nuances, and apply what Mr. Estes described as “entity oriented analytics.”
Our take at ArnoldIT.com is that Digital Reasoning moves “beyond search” in a meaningful way. The key points we recall from our briefing was the a modular approach eliminates the need for a massive infrastructure build and the analytics reflect what is happening in a real time flow of unstructured information. My personal view is that historical research is best served by key word systems. The more advanced methods deliver actionable information and better decisions by focusing on the vast amounts of “now” data. A single Twitter message can be important. A meaningful analysis of a flow of Twitter messages moves insight to the next level.
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