Companies Striving for Success Choose Proven Enterprise Search Software Providers
December 25, 2012
The days of limited mobile app options came to an end a few years ago with the increased popularity of BYOD (bring your own device) work options. A growing demand for products to simplify work processes brought about phenomenal improvements on tablets and mobile devices. In turn, the enterprise app market skyrocketed, not in price but in product offerings. Companies looking to invest in the most beneficial applications for their business will want to weigh their options carefully.
Enterprise Apps Today’s article “Choosing the Right Enterprise Apps for your Business” touches on the importance of all around support when filtering through application options:
“Today, a hefty proportion of cutting-edge applications can be found on cloud platforms in the form of SaaS (software-as-a-service). While a quick glance at the website of an enterprise software offering will tell a great deal about the maturity of a project, it is hardly the entire story. For the huge investment of time and money that a business expects to make in an enterprise software deployment, it’s important to first ensure that a supporting ecosystem is in place.”
The article offers good advice and guidance on choosing the best applications, but companies striving for success will choose a proven enterprise search software provider. Intrafind offers guidance on strategy, applications and use of enterprise search software that can help businesses make the most of their investment. Financial firms and pharmaceutical industry leaders are just a few examples of the types of enterprise that rely on Intrafind’s capabilities.
Jennifer Shockley, December 25, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
2013 Will See Search go to Business Critical
December 25, 2012
This last year, 2012, saw a lot of developments in the world of enterprise search. Martin White, an expert on the topic, wrote the 2012 recap article, “Search in 2013 Will Become a Business Critical Application,” for CMS Wire. His recap of 2012 developments goes like this:
“Looking back, 2012 has been quite a year for search. From a business perspective Lexmark acquired Isys-Search, Lucid Imagination changed its name, Attivio gained a US$ 37 million investment, Coveo followed with an US$ 18 million investment, Apache Lucene and Solr moved to Release 4, ElasticSearch set up a commercial arm and Microsoft announced a seriously well-featured SharePoint 2013 search application.”
Perhaps more importantly, White goes on to discuss what 2013 might look like. To sum it up, 2013 will see Big Data take center stage and enterprise search will go from a necessity, to an absolutely necessity. Business will no longer be able to be conducted on any scale without a sophisticated search infrastructure. White recommends that organizations take the following steps, amongst others:
“Find out what skills the organization already possesses in information and data discovery and analysis.
Start to build networks with other organizations using your particular search technology stack. If your vendor is reluctant to help, ask them why!
Plan to be at either Enterprise Search Europe or the Enterprise Search Summit in May.”
I would add another to the list. Check out LucidWorks and see what their solutions can do for your organization. Intuitive out-of-the-box, it offers the latest enterprise search technology without bogging down your existing staff.
Emily Rae Aldridge, December 25, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Strong Infrastructure and Flexible Computing Options Has Enterprises Flying High on Search
December 24, 2012
Companies are looking for the most economical way to increase ROI and the right software can easily provide the solution. The problem then comes to choosing the right software for your business?
CIO’s utilizing the cloud combined with enterprise search are literally floating on cloud nine, according to Wall Street Journal’s article “Oracle Earnings Show CIO Preference for Cloud and Systems”. Oracle’s shares exceeded analyst expectations by 3 cents per share, and credit is given to the cloud combined with search software:
“CIOs are embracing cloud software because of lower initial costs and other benefits, such as the ability to increase their usage of software, upgrade applications without the disruptions that come with traditional on-premise applications and the positive financial impact of being able to take cloud services as an expense rather than having to capitalize software and hardware purchases. Companies are investing in technology rather than in employees. That’s not good news for people who are unemployed, but it is good news for employees who are getting technology in their hands that can make them more productive.”
Cloud solutions combined with integrated infrastructure such as the partnership demonstrated by IBM Pure and Intrafind make for a good investment. The word hybrid comes to mind. This partnerships combines the stability and strength of IBM with the ever evolving enterprise search development that comes from a well established open source foundation. The result is more accessible, more secure and more usable enterprise information. Companies that choose the cloud combined with proven enterprise search software will be floating on their own cloud nine with Oracle and the other successful businesses.
Jennifer Shockley, December 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Another Enterprise Search Vendor Turns Big Data Solution
December 22, 2012
Technology vendors go through many iterations of their image; they change as quickly as the technologies do. Funnelback has announced that they are on version number twelve of its website and enterprise search offerings. Their press release, “Funnelback 12 Delivers Quantum Leap in Scale and Speed of Enterprise Searching for Big Data,” discusses the new features and more.
Big data drives quite the demand and Funnelback is one of many that promises search technology to quell the queries. Search results in this iteration return more date-based facets, easily categorizing results by dates, and TextMiner, a new feature offers definitions of acronyms and terms for users.
According to the article, Matthew Sheppard, Manager of Research and Development stated:
“Version 12 significantly enhances the speed and scale of searching in the enterprise. As the issue of Big Data increases globally, the need for powerful search technology with the ability to search multiple information sources and across large data sets becomes paramount. Funnelback Version 12 unlocks the value of enterprise information like never before.”
Funnelback is now a big data search system just like Vivisimo. It seems that words are more magical than the technologies they describe.
Megan Feil, December 22, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Scribe Software Leads Pack in Integrating CRM with Enterprise Search
December 21, 2012
A leader in CRM data integration recently announced impressive Q3 results and consistent growth, thanks to long-term investments, CRM integrations, and increased ISV partner adoption. Scribe Software also states that integrating CRM with enterprise-wide systems is all about accelerating business pace, according the article “Scribe Reports Consistent Year Over Year Growth, Up 22% YTD” on MarketWire.
President and CEO of Scribe Software, Lou Guercia, continued on the success of the company:
“Today’s businesses need their data and need it now — to better serve customers, to make their sales and account teams more effective and efficient, to close more sales faster, and to earn better return on their technology investments. We enable ISVs, systems integrators and businesses to integrate critical customer data while saving time and IT costs and we do it well, as our business results show."
The company was also recently recognized as one of the industry’s top software companies and for having the best cloud application, we learn in the same article.
We completely agree that successful integration of management, search, and back-end functionality is a critical component for comprehensive information solutions. Options exist and one that you may want to pursue is with IBM’s Pure system, coupled with the mature, open-source based Intrafind enterprise search solution.
Andrea Hayden, December 21, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
LucidWorks is Go To Vendor for Enterprise Search
December 20, 2012
Frost & Sullivan is a top business consulting firm offering market analysis, market research, and reports. Their latest report reveals LucidWorks as a quickly growing industry standard in the enterprise search market. Read the full press release on PR Newswire at, “LucidWorks is Rapidly Emerging as the Go-To Vendor in the Enterprise Search Market, Notes Frost & Sullivan.”
The press release begins:
“Based on its recent analysis of the enterprise search market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes LucidWorks with the 2012 Global Frost & Sullivan Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award for leveraging inherent strengths and displaying tremendous entrepreneurial skills to emerge as a vendor of strong repute in the global enterprise search market. ‘The award not only recognizes LucidWorks’ strong all-round growth but also its vision in forging a unique path without feeling compelled to follow the established trends in the market,’ said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Sashankh Kale.”
The Frost & Sullivan award recognizes a strong entrepreneurial spirit, a solid business plan, and robust growth. LucidWorks is definitely worthy of the honor. The company’s redesign early this year pointed toward the commitment to serving customers well with a streamlined product line based on test open source software. This past year has been a good one for LucidWorks, but 2013 is shaping up to be the best yet.
Emily Rae Aldridge, December 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Big Data Build Up Reaffirms the Need for Reliable Enterprise Search Solutions
December 19, 2012
Since 2005 Coveo has been researching ways to improve enterprise search and now they are ready to make a move. The Wall Street Journal’s “Coveo Raises $18 Million for Enterprise Search from Tandem Expansion Fund” talks about the search and indexing technology that they feel will set them apart from other providers during the next enterprise search evolution.
Coveo is banking on big data buildup and improvements in the economy insuring that companies are prepared to investigate the next big step in enterprise search:
“Many companies delayed investments in search during the recession and now find they’ve got hundreds of internal sources of information, including many new ones. They’re saying, ‘our employees can’t find anything and we’re at risk because if we get sued, we don’t know what we have in our files that could financially or otherwise embarrass us. Costs have to be kept down and search becomes a necessary ingredient.”
Coveo has a philosophy and business model for continual improvement even if they may appear slow in actual development. Continual improvement to a system based upon open source technology and a strong academic foundation with frequent product enhancements may be a preferred choice for some enterprises who want excellence sooner rather than later. Intrafind has been a stable resource for enterprise search solutions since early 2000, offering customers a high performing, user friendly interface that provides relevant results and user support throughout companywide operations.
Jennifer Shockley, December 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Coveo and Sitecore Combine
December 19, 2012
MarketWire hosts a very interesting announcement: “Coveo and Sitecore Offer a More Personalized, Relevant Approach to Enterprise Search.” It sounds a lot like what you would get if you combined Endeca and Vivisimo. The press release tells us:
“Coveo integrates seamlessly with Sitecore’s Customer Engagement Platform to provide the extensibility and scalability to enable more personalized website searches. Coveo accomplishes this by enabling unified information access from an unlimited number of disparate data sources, directly within an organization’s website, as well as UI configurability and other advanced search and navigation functionalities. . . . Using Coveo and Sitecore to power customer self-service sites enables customers to solve even complex challenges online, reducing customer support costs and increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.”
Coveo taps into meta-data to bring contextually-relevant, faceted search to Sitecore’s platform. The companies are renewing the partnership after successfully pursuing a number of joint projects. Sitecore’s Amar Patel praised Coveo’s ability to deliver relevance; J.P. Provencal of Coveo admires Sitecore’s passion for innovation.
Sitecore combines web content management with customer intelligence in their Customer Engagement Platform. Sitecore serves several big-name companies, like American Express, Microsoft, and Nestle. Established in 2001, the company now maintains offices around the world.
Coveo was founded in 2005 by some members of the team which developed Copernic Desktop Search. The company serves organizations large, medium, and small with solutions that aim to be agile and easy to use yet scalable, fast, and efficient.
Cynthia Murrell, December 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Hybrid Cloud with Cloning Capability May Not Bode Well for Cloud Platform Developers
December 17, 2012
The introduction of hybrid technology comes as no surprise, but one has to wonder how current developers will feel about being cloned in the future. TechCrunch’s article “CloudVelocity Launches With $5M from Mayfield to Bring the Hybrid Cloud to the Enterprise” discusses the introduction of a hybrid cloud and its growing potential, along with its cloud cloning ability.
This new technology could save companies a bundle off initial investments, but smart platform designers may take precautions against cloning in the future. One has to wonder what preparations have already been made, if any. Investors want to be certain the risk of this approach is worth the effort.
“One Hybrid Cloud platform, aims to extend the enterprise data center to the public cloud, by enabling multi-tier applications to run without modification in the cloud and access services that reside in the enterprise data center. In a nutshell, the startup allows enterprises to get the benefits of private clouds in the public cloud. Users can discover, blueprint, clone, and migrate applications between data centers and public clouds. Currently, CloudVelocity supports full server, networking, security and storage integration with AWS but plans to integrate other public clouds.”
The excitement around startups and cloud solutions is great but corporations are reluctant to take chances with sensitive data. Those enterprises seeking stability in the growing hybrid cloud universe may find some assurance in relying on a mature, capable enterprise provider. Intrafind offers consultative solutions and reliable cloud solutions with secure access.
Jennifer Shockley, December 17, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Coveo Funding Hits a Deep Drift $34 Million
December 14, 2012
I was slogging through the Swedish snow when my mobile phone beeped. I glanced at the tiny screen on my Canadian-engineered BlackBerry and saw an interesting headline: “Coveo, Canada’s Big Data Offering, Nabs $18 Million as It Edges Closer to Profitability.” The article told me:
Coveo, the Quebec-based big data analytics company, has received a massive $18 million from local growth equity firm, Tandem Expansion Fund. It is best known for its recently-launched Coveo for Salesforce product, a cloud-based application which delivers quantitative insights about customer interactions. The app works by pushing relevant real-time information to sales and marketing teams, whether its an account, a lead, or new opportunity.
Interesting positioning. I thought about Vivisimo—the company with the deduplication and on-the-fly categorization technology—transforming into a Big Data company after IBM’s PR department wordsmithed the company.
The Venture Beat story about Québec-based Coveo included another fascinating factoid, which I assume is accurate. How am I to judge coping with the brisk wind howling down the fjord? To wit:
The company will use the funding to build out its sales and marketing team, as it anticipates “hyper-growth” in 2013, according to a press release. It anticipates that it will be “operating at or close to profitability” in 2013.
I highlighted the words which stuck in my mind: hyper-growth and close to profitability. Both are good notions, particularly when there are millions of investors’ dollars waiting for the Canada goose to yield its down. (My arctic grade overcoat is stuffed with goose feathers from Canada, by the way.)
The pointy icicle which lodged in my mind was contained in this statement in the story by Christina Farr:
All major existing investors also participated in the round, including BDC Venture Capital, Propulsion Ventures SEC and Fonds de solidarité FTQ. This round of funding brings the company’s total investments to $34.7 million.
Coveo was founded in 2004, according to Wikipedia. Note that source. Assume the data are correct. Coveo has been generating revenue but has required the alleged $34 million to get near profitability. In eight years, the company has required $4 million in year plus whatever it generated from the license to its software.
The Wikipedia write up is not clued into the actual Big Data functions of Coveo. In fact, that source, which may be out of sync with reality, points out that Coveo is in this business:
CRM and Contact Centers for sales & service, WCMs for one-to-one marketing, and Enterprise Content for engineering and operations. Coveo Role-based Insight Consoles™ provide advanced navigation into consolidated, correlated information mashups, within any application, including Coveo for Salesforce.
Coveo’s own Web site is the definitive source. Here’s what the company says is its core competency at www.coveo.com:
The three main lines of business, which I may be misreading as the snow collects on the screen of my outstanding BlackBerry mobile device, are:
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