Want to Be a Search Expert?
November 18, 2011
I saw a story at CBS News’ Web site. The write up “25 College Majors with the Highest Unemployment Rates” was as troubling as it was amusing. I learned yesterday that at some of the top engineering, science, and mathematics recruiting events, US companies were in the minority. In the good old days before Booz, Allen & Hamilton became an azure chip consultant and McKinsey executives donned orange jump suits—college recruitment was a hunting ground for big name US outfits. The idea was to snag the people who were the “right package” for the plum jobs at top line consulting firms, investment banks, and Fortune 50 companies. I did a couple of recruiting swings in the mid 1970s for Halliburton NUS and later for the pre-Daedalus Booz, Allen & Hamilton. I find the brain drain which sucks talent from the US to hot spots like Brazil, China, and South Korea fascinating.
The CBS story reminded me that self appointed experts will probably come to search, content processing, “big data”, and other fields of mass confusion from these disciplines. What will tomorrow’s “experts” bring to the table in terms of subject matter expertise? Here’s the top 10college majors with the alleged highest unemployment rate:
- Clinical psychology 19.5%
- Miscellaneous fine arts 16.2%
- United States history 15.1%
- Library science 15.0% (tie)
- Military technologies; educational psychology 10.9%
- Architecture 10.6%
- Industrial & organizational psychology 10.4%
- Miscellaneous psychology 10.3%
- Linguistics & comparative literature 10.2%
- (tie) Visual & performing arts; engineering & industrial management 9.2%
You will want to digest the entire list at the link provided.
A couple of comments. I got a hearty laugh when I mentioned that my focus in college was medieval religious sermons in Latin. No one laughed when I mentioned that I wasn’t reading the documents. I was indexing them using punched cards. But notice that “miscellaneous fine arts” does leave about 83 percent of those with that training unemployed. The top stop, which surprised me, was clinical psychology. I will not forget my early consulting project for T George Harris, then the publisher of Psychology Today. I recall his describing those with degrees in psychology as “crazy” and then divided psychologists into two broad categories. One category involved psychologists who watched interactions among male and female rats and others who did math.
Notice that unemployment rates for visual and performing arts graduates and engineering and industrial management graduates is “only” 9.2 percent. Presumably some of the most talented engineering people with jobs will be working outside the United States.
What about the azure chip consulting firms and the self appointed experts? My thought is that the work product of these outfits will reflect the talent applying themselves to these disciplines. Ever wonder why so many firms are in financial trouble? Ever ask, “Which management consultancy was helping these folks?”
Ever ask, “Why did that enterprise search project fail?” Ever ask, “Which search or content processing consultant advised that outfit?”
Good questions to ask.
Stephen E Arnold, November 18, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Beyond Search About Page Update
November 9, 2011
After the carpet bombing by AtomicPR, I updated my About page. I wanted to make clearer than ever my policies. You can find the About page at this link.
The main point is that I did not design Beyond Search to be a news publication. If news turns up in the blog content stream, that’s an error. We rely on open source content and use it as a spring board for our commentary.
Beyond Search exists for three reasons:
First, I capture factoids, quotes, and thoughts in a chronological manner, seven days a week, three to seven stories a day. We have more than 6,700 content objects in the archive. I use this material for my for fee columns, reports, and personal research. If someone reads a blog post and thinks I am doing news, get out of here. The blog was designed for me by me. I have two or three readers, but the only reader who counts is I.
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Test question: Which one bills for time and which one donates to better the world? Give up. Mother Theresa is on the right. The billing machine is on the left with the mustache. PR and marketing professionals, are you processing the time=money statement?
Second, if someone wants us to cover a particular technology topic, we will do it if the item is interesting to us. If we write something up, we charge for our time. We also sell ads at the top and side of the splash page content window. The reason? I pay humans to work on my research with me, and I put some, not all, just some of the information I process in the blog. I am not Mother Theresa, don’t have much interest in helping injured dogs or starving artists. Therefore, in my world my time invokes money. Don’t like it? Don’t ask me to do something for you, your client, your mom’s recent investment, or a friend of a friend.
Third, the Beyond Search content links to high value, original information like the Search Wizards Speak series. Anyone in an academic or educational role can use my content without asking. If you are a failed home economics teacher now working as a search expert or an azure chip consultant pretending you know something about content analytics, you will have to get my permission to rip off, recycle, republish, or otherwise make what’s mine yours. I have been reasonable in allowing reuse of my content. There’s one person in Slovenia who actually translates my blog content into a language with many consonants. No problem. Just ask. Don’t ask? Well, I can get frisky.
Now That Is a Blue Chip Consultant
November 4, 2011
Every once in a while I am asked what I mean when I use the phrase “azure chip consultant.” One way to explain is to give an example of what an azure chip consultant can only aspire to achieve. Navigate to Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s “Ex-McKinsey Consultant Banki Wins Release From Prison.” The idea is to be so darned good it is a crime. Here’s the passage I noted:
U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan signed papers ordering Banki’s immediate release after U.S. prosecutors in New York agreed in a hearing today that he may be released on his own recognizance while they seek to reverse the Oct. 24 appeals court decision that overturned convictions for violating the Iran trade embargo and running an unlicensed money-transfer business.
English majors don’t have a chance against McKinsey professionals. Back to billing in a nonce.
Stephen E Arnold, November 4, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
The Gartner Cloud Flip Flop
November 3, 2011
Hey, if it sells, it must be right. A big flip-flop by a major IT consultant concerning public vs. private cloud services is screaming “opportunism” to me.
Gartner, a global technology research company, recently asserted that “enterprises should consider public cloud services first and turn to private clouds only if the public cloud fails to meet their needs.” This has not always been the opinion of Gartner. “Gartner Flip-Flop: Try the Public Cloud First” on InfoWorld tells us more:
At the core of this advice was the fact you should first consider your requirements and the objectives for using cloud computing before you move existing systems to the clouds or create new systems. Don’t jump right to private clouds just because they solve the problem that IT has with letting go; instead, look to the value of public cloud computing first. If it’s not a fit, then go private. But in all cases, let the business requirements drive you, not the hype.
Seems to me that Gartner is chasing revenue by flip-flop. Changing from public to private means you wouldn’t necessarily have to buy and maintain your own software, but you would have to keep up with payments more regularly. The pay-as-you-go economics of public clouds, in addition to the fact that these services are gaining popularity in areas of sales automation, customer service, accounting and expense management, is a pretty obvious explanation for the change of heart.
And search? Obviously search is better from the cloud. Toss in an app and one doesn’t have to do research to make predictions.
Andrea Hayden, November 3, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Quote to Note: Modern Truisms
October 18, 2011
I don’t plan on getting back on the rubber chicken circuit, but a good quote is often useful. I noted one in the hard copy newspaper of the faltering New York Times. The story with the quote was “A Series of Red Flags for Financial Planning Concern,” page B5 of the Personal Business section in the Business Section of the October 15, New York Times. I love that metadata. Don’t you?
Here’s the quote attributed to Dan Candura, “a financial planner,” whose photograph accompanies the article. Mr. Candura does not have the cheerful demeanor of a character on the defunct TV show “Friends” in my opinion. He allegedly said:
It’s easier to sell the bad stuff than the good stuff.
I must say that when I read the quote I thought about search and content processing marketers, azure chip consultants flogging studies, and assorted unemployed English teachers, failed Webmasters, and political science majors turned “search expert.”
What is the “bad stuff”. Well, if I understand the New York Times’ write up, the “bad stuff” are investments that are too good to be true. In search and content processing, the “bad stuff” are systems which contain cost spikes like those children’s toys which shoot a crazy doll in one’s face without warning.
The only problem, of course, is that the search bad stuff does not end with cost spikes. Other “benefits” of selling search and content processing systems include:
- Content adaptors which don’t work as advertised or have to be customized to handle a specific client situation
- Technical issues associated with updating indexes in “real time”, a bogus concept in my experience
- The need for “eternal engineering support.” The idea is that the license gets the consultants in the door. The consultants never leave, however.
A pop and tune from the Jack in the Box lovers to Mr. Candura, who was quite “candid”.
Stephen E Arnold, October 18, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Battle in the Grandstand: Analyst Flails at CEO
October 10, 2011
An azure chip consultant grandstanded and fell from the bleachers. Don’t worry, nothing vital was injured; he landed on his head.
Yes, as TechEye.net reports in “Analyst wades into Oracle’s Ellison,” Carter Lusher of the analyst firm Ovum criticized Oracle CEO Larry Ellison’s keynote address at this year’s Oracle OpenWorld as being too dull. Columnist Nick Ferrell writes that Lusher was:
apparently bored out of his mind as Ellison showed off a confusing number of diagrams and specs of Oracle’s Exadata and Exalogic appliances. . . . Lusher said that during the Oracle Open World Keynote Ellison missed the opportunity to deliver [Oracle’s] vision beefed up with exciting customer stories, his world famous Belly Savalas party trick , some HP light bulb changing one-liners and perhaps a couple of knob gags.
Here’s a thought: if technical information confuses and bores you that much, maybe you should attend something more your speed. Doodlebops, perhaps?
Really, one should stand on firmer ground before casting aspersions. Oracle may not be perfect, but it is performing in a perfectly acceptable manner. The company is a “mega-vendor,” in Ovum’s own words, leading purveyors of hardware, software, services, and infrastructure.
Besides, it has billions of dollars and quite a few Fortune 1000 firms in a choke-hold. Ovum should be so lucky.
Cynthia Murrell October 10, 2011
Study Sets Stage for Vapor Niches
October 7, 2011
The global market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC) has published a new vendor assessment profiling the leading providers in the worldwide standalone early case assessment (ECA) applications market which is currently an undeveloped niche. This report rigorously scores current search software providers and predicts their market capabilities and strategies.
The Sept 19 news release IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Standalone Early Case Assessment Applications 2011 Vendor Analysis reveals leaders in a hitherto unknown niche. The release states:
DC sized the revenue for the standalone ECA applications market at $281 million in 2010. The top 5 vendors, by revenue, accounted for 71% of total revenue during this period. Given the reported revenue growth of the market leaders in the first half of 2011, IDC forecasts revenue for the standalone ECA applications market will total $400.8 million in 2011 and will reach $857.0 million in 2015,” said Vivian Tero, program director, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Infrastructure at IDC.
Consultants and advisors continue to struggle to get their arms around vendors who are changing direction without logic, notice or much reason. Consultants who fail to recognize this run the risk of creating “vapor niches”.
Jasmine Ashton, Sept 24, 2011
Gmail: Two Views
September 27, 2011
I found two articles about Gmail interesting and mildly amusing. The notion of free email with scripts chugging away doing mysterious things is not for me. The first article asserts that I am a silly goose. Big surprise since I am a goose. That’s a snap of me in the Beyond Search logo. Who made the assertion? An azure chip consultant that’s who. Navigate to “Gmail now ‘Viable Alternative’ to Microsoft, says Gartner.” I used to know what percent of the commercial enterprises were using Gmail. I can’t recall the number but it was in single digits, but you can check the facts by asking Google. Here’s the key passage:
Cain said that apart from Exchange, Gmail is the only email package that has done well in the enterprise market recently, while others such as Novell GroupWise and IBM Lotus Notes/Domino have “lost market momentum”. But Google still has a way to go, the Gartner report said. Because Google focuses on features for the mass market, large organizations with complex requirements – such as financial institutions – have found Google is resistant to requests that would only apply to a few customers. “Banks, for example, may require surveillance capabilities that Google is unlikely to build into Gmail given the limited appeal,” the report said. Similarly, the report said large system integrators and enterprises report that Google’s lack of transparency in areas such as continuity, security and compliance can “thwart deeper relationships”.
I read this an find some fancy dancing, but there’s that single digit estimate of Gmail’s uptake. Hmmm.
The second article is “Lack of Transparency Scares Enterprise Off Google Mail.” Same source, the azure chip consultant. However, now the message is less than optimistic. Here’s the snippet I noted:
There are certain sectors where email is very sensitive that Google will not win over in the near future. That includes places like banks which really could do with stronger security and surveillance, not less of it, as Kweku Adoboli has proved. Gartner reckons Google isn’t willing to introduce that any time soon. More importantly, larger organizations, says Gartner, complain that Google isn’t transparent about what it does with your data. And that is a big problem.
Is this an example of curation with spin, honest misinterpretation, or masterful marketing? For Gartner, it is definitely marketing. For the critics, it is prudence.
Stephen E Arnold, September 27, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Can You Manage Email with SharePoint?
September 21, 2011
Microsoft’s architecture makes use of function-specific servers. There are servers for SharePoint, SQL Server, customer relationship management, accounting, and so on. Large Microsoft-centric deployments use multiple specialized Microsoft servers. Smaller firms may use SharePoint and a special-purpose server such as Microsoft Windows Small Business Server http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-small-business-server/default.aspx. Microsoft certified professionals advise and implement best practices for handling performance and scaling. Search Technologies provides advisory and engineering services to organizations wanting to optimize enterprise search systems such as Microsoft Fast Search Server as well as other vendors’ search solutions.
I read an article in CMSWire which presented an idea I had not previously considered. The author of “Case Study: SharePoint as an E-mail Management System” http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/case-study-sharepoint-as-an-email-management-solution-012308.php advanced an interesting approach to email.
Microsoft provides Exchange Server, robust clients, and a number of methods to leverage email, which along with search is one of the most widely used online applications. The method disclosed in the article gives a SharePoint user access to a user friendly way to have email appear in search results. The article asserts that most e-mail is archived in digital storage while leaving a stub in Outlook.
The solution referenced in the article suggested writing a program that would interact with Outlook, but also tag the content with metadata to facilitate the profiling and retrieval program. The solution was implemented in the Handshake http://www.unitysystems.info/2009/08/10/the-handshake/ enterprise content management system.
My reaction to this approach is that the author solved a situation specific problem. However, such a solution introduces several potential warning lights. First, if a bug exists in the original program, one runs the risk of creating a situation which would be confusing to a user exists. A more serious issue could compromise the integrity of the email content itself. But the largest issue is that the write up did not discuss any security measures taken to verify that only authorized individuals would see or could know about the existence of emails on a specific topic.
The Search Technologies approach to unique client requirements such as the one described in the CMSWire article is to implement the rigorous information collection, project planning, and requirements statement. As part of that work, the Search Technologies’ team and the client discuss such key issues as features, performance, and security.
Armed with this work plan, Search Technologies then identifies the options for addressing the clients’ need. In many cases, we use Microsoft-developed or Microsoft-certified solutions. If original scripts or code is required, Search Technologies works tests the code prior to making it available to the client. After the client reviews the code, then Search Technologies implements the solution.
For integrating SharePoint content, Search Technologies would rely upon its proven methodology, tapping the experience of hundreds of content centric and search related projects to determine how to meet a client’s need. What reduces the cost of extending a SharePoint system is using proven engineering principles. A misstep increases costs and can compromise the client’s information. Search Technologies delivers value because it implements a system and method that delivers results in a cost effective manner. Search Technologies focuses on working through an issue, not working around one.
Iain Fletcher, September 21, 2011
The 2011 Search Trends from Forrester
September 12, 2011
The wave which was supposed to be a tsunami seemed to become one of the lapping ripples that my goose pond enjoys. Slap, slap, slap. No roar, crash, thunder. Just slap, slap, slap. Boring.
Bill Ives’ Portals and KM blog examines a new report in “Forrester on Enterprise Search Trends.” The report was, as the title suggests, put out by Forrester and examines “six key trends to watch” in enterprise search. We monitor the trends in enterprise search here at the goose pond in Harrod’s Creek, and we take an interest in what the poobahs, pundits, wizards, and unemployed English majors generate in their “real” reports.
The six “trends” examined in the report strike us as similar to vanilla wafer cookies. You decide because we are biased toward our own work in this unusual enterprise software sector. Each of the Forrester trends seems to us to be an extension of existing directions. For example, “search managers will initiate business conversations, not gather requirements.” Is that such a seismic shift? I’d bet a list of “requirements” will still be in that IT worker’s notes at the end of that meeting. Then there’s, “business leaders will dictate the scope of search.” Well, sort of. There is the commoditizing angle and the search enabled application movement. But business leaders are important if these management wizards pay attention to finding information within their organization. See the article for the other “trends.”
The write up observes:
As the industry standards for search evolve, the report predicts that vendors will change their products to adapt to new customer investment trends with changes in semantics capabilities and increased usage of search-based applications (SBA).
Well, that’s just business, isn’t it? Any company which fails to adapt is out of luck. Just because something has evolved doesn’t make it a new craze. We wonder: do some azure chip consultants recycle what’s in the Beyond Search blog? Please let us know if you spot any examples to sit along side the comment made to our beloved goose Stephen E Arnold about a certain azure chip consulting firm enjoining its new hires to read the free information available at ArnoldIT.com as prep for these talented art history majors’ advisory career in search technology.
Cynthia Murrell, September 12, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, an company in Oslo, Norway that published Stephen E Arnold’s most recent monograph about enterprise search, The New Landscape of Enterprise Search. No trends it that report, however. Mr. Arnold confines himself to an analysis of what the six leading vendors’ search systems actually deliver. Which is the best? Mr. Arnold favors Exalead in his new Search 2012: The Incredible Shrinking Market for Search, available on site or via a webinar.
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