ConceptSearching Add-Ons
December 1, 2011
In “Useful Enterprise Search Hastens SharePoint User Adoption,” the author briefly discusses conceptSearching and its business case targeted at the heavily regulated industries – banking, finance, healthcare, energy, etc. – and government SharePoint customers. So what are the user benefits? We learned:
Very fast recognition of any/all compliance sensitive…Further benefits include automatic recognition of document themes, referred to as “concepts” in the conceptSearching promotional material on their website, which should be particularly useful as compliance officers review and assimilate new documents to ensure that published information meets the objectives of the enterprise and conforms to guidance.
And the caveat? The benefits are delivered via a suite of products and add-ons including conceptClassifier and conceptTaxonomy Manager. Excellent search results rely on the right structure and the right tools.
We want to spend less time configuring add-ons and more time developing business intelligence. While Sharepoint adoption continues to grow, it still is not an out-of-the-box solution for enterprises. If you need a bit of help with improving SharePoint search,you might check into Mindbreeze, the company seems to have the installation and the benefits of a proper installation down pat.
Sara Wood, December 1, 2011
Protected: Metalogix Software can Migrate Google Content to SharePoint
November 30, 2011
NASA and Google Refocus on Enterprise Search Project
November 30, 2011
Researchers at the NASA Langley Research Center helped make it possible for humans to land on the moon and robots to capture far-off worlds. Information giant Google has its roots in search. That was then.
Now NASA has lost the space program and Google lost focus on search. But that hasn’t stopped the two from teaming up to improve NASA’s Enterprise search capabilities. “NASA and Google tackle a major enterprise search project” explains:
“NASA researchers had become hindered by time-consuming and relatively labor-intensive searches that often returned questionable results. NASA workers usually had to log in to multiple systems to complete the searches, and there was no common search interface that could simultaneously display results from both internal and external sources.”
The two worked together closely to set up the Google Search Appliance that is currently up and running at NASA Langley. Both sides are satisfied with the final product for NASA’s research community.
But in the fast paced information world, you need to look to innovators focused specifically on enterprise search. You may want to check out Mindbreeze and their dynamic search technologies that bring together security, mobility, and information pairing.
Sara Wood, November 30, 2011
Thanks Be For A Guide to SharePoint Server 2010 Search
November 24, 2011
To understand SharePoint’s FAST Search Server, it’s smart to work your way up by first understanding SharePoint Server 2010 Search. “Configuring Enterprise Search in SharePoint 2010” is a useful guide that covers search features and has lots of screen shots. A handy flow chart visualizes the following:
“SharePoint 2010 search architecture is made up of the Crawler, Indexing Engine, Query Engine and the User Interface and Query Object Model. We now have greater flexibility and expandability with our search design in 2010 and can setup not only multiple Query Servers but can now scale out our Index server and add multiple instances.”
Savvy businesses know the benefits of collaborative content management with integrated search – add access to the constantly growing information in the Cloud, and company knowledge gets a big boost. For those needing a deeper solution that has the ability to answer enterprise search needs in the cloud, you may want to explore Mindbreeze.
Their information pairing technology results in a complete overview of a company’s knowledge, merging enterprise information with Cloud information.
Sara Wood, November 24, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Plan for Content Management Growth: Tools and Considerations
November 23, 2011
With SharePoint 2010 and its widespread deployment, many are beginning to take stock of the lack of growth planning when it comes to content management systems. With the overwhelming growth of electronic content in just the last few years, preparations must be made for the future. No one can truly predict information volume in coming years, but some steps should be taken. Don Jones explores the theme in, “Set early plans to manage growth of your SharePoint 2010 deployment.”
The three main areas Jones focuses on are: security, managing SQL server, and keeping track of SharePoint.
“It’s key to think hard about how the group will manage SharePoint and what policies will be adopted to control — but not necessarily limit — its growth. With the right plan in place, organizations get a better return on their investments and ultimately prevent SharePoint from creeping out of control.”
We think that careful planning is important in any software implementation. Even still, maybe SharePoint isn’t the most flexible solution for long-term needs. A content management solution suite like Fabasoft Mindbreeze can meet all of your current needs with plenty of room for expansion and potential future surprises. Utilization of the Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance ensures that all of Jones’ main points above are heeded.
“The Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance is the optimal basis for highly efficient enterprise-wide search and easy configuration. To utilize the full potential of a software solution it is essential that hard- and software are fully aligned. Even more, the required time for deployment to the user is critical for gaining the highest ROI. The Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance components have been optimally synchronized in numerous tests.”
So while planning is essential, and should be regarded with any content management implementation, some solutions are more naturally suited to future growth. Mindbreeze and its agile solutions are worth consideration.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 23, 2011
Sponsored by: Pandia.com
Brainware and the Back Office
November 23, 2011
Have we been ignoring the back office as a niche for search and content processing? No, we have not ignored this niche.
There is money to be made in handling paper plus digital content, and Brainware wants to convince some organizations that it leads the field. News.Gnome.es clued us in with “Brainware Emerges As Market Leader For Intelligent Data Capture: 2011 Survey.” The survey, conducted by the Institute of Financial Operations, focused on the use of automated data capture to tame companies’ accounts payable. Thomas M. Bohn of the Institute summarizes the results:
These findings demonstrate that accounts payable departments using data capture technology—especially higher volume, complex operations—hold the advantage in reducing costs, improving turnaround times and optimizing accountability over their process. Furthermore, these insights are consistent with the numerous customer case studies I’ve witnessed while hosting events with Brainware this past year.
This press release from Brainware emphasizes that company’s leadership in this area. The enterprise serves many large companies and organizations globally, and boasts that its products “manage unstructured data without templates, exact definitions, taxonomies or indexing.”
It seems the purveyors of search solutions can’t help but invent new classifications as the try to cope with the complexity of their task. We will update this list of 14 silver bullets to include this new category.
Cynthia Murrell, November 23, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Civil and Uncivil Cloud Contents: Google and Microsoft
November 23, 2011
I recently read two articles discussing the competition that’s heating up between Google’s cloud services app and Microsoft.
According to a Wired Enterprise story “Google Vs. Microsoft: Not All Clouds are Created Equal” Google’s cloud technology has caused companies like Oracle and Microsoft, that have historically been on-premise companies to begin to change their ways. This is due to the fact that some of their chief officers have left to join Google and the company spent two days pitching its ever-growing collection of enterprise services to 350 businesses that were interested in adopting their business model.
In addition to this, the article states:
Google is now offering round-the-clock phone support for all issues involving the core services in its Google Apps suite, and then David Girouard — the man who essentially founded Google’s enterprise operation — unveiled some new tools for managing smart phones that use Google Apps. But these additions served Google’s larger message: that its web-based services are more flexible and reliable than traditional “on-premise” software — or even the cloud services now offered by the likes of Microsoft and Oracle.
While this article makes Google’s cloud technology look like it’s on the cutting edge, Microsoft is trying its darndest to compete with the search giant.
According to “Microsoft Take a Fight to Google Over Cloud App Defections” Microsoft has come out with a team called “Google Compete” to try and convince people to stay with office and not deflect to Google cloud apps.
Tony Tai, a senior program manager at Microsoft said:
In the case of Google, we find it quite common that their consumer-oriented approach falls short of meeting enterprise customers’ needs, thus providing an opportunity for us to win the customer. The wise words of Benjamin Franklin often apply: ‘The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”
Ouch! when did things get so ugly? and where has the civility gone? I suppose when a company like Microsoft loses the General Motors’ account, patience wears thin. But is Google a search vendor reliant on advertising or is Google an enterprise player intent on capturing licensing and subscription fees from organizations. Can one company be both? Microsoft may work harder to prevent Google’s becoming a two-trick pony.
Jasmine Ashton, November 23, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Overcoming SharePoint Infrastructure Woes
November 22, 2011
The IT blogosphere has no lack of discussion of SharePoint and its implementation. What is SharePoint and how is it best used? One thing is certain – SharePoint is no out-of-the-box solution. Without careful planning, implementation, and customization, a company will fail to reap any benefit from SharePoint, and may even suffer confusion and frustration in the process. Symon Garfield defines SharePoint as an infrastructure, expounding on its strengths and weaknesses in, “The Art of SharePoint Success: Strategy – What Is SharePoint?”
“The benefits are derived from the services that are implemented on the infrastructure rather than from the infrastructure itself and so it is with SharePoint. This is one contributing factor to the difficulties that many organizations face in creating a business case for SharePoint . . . Often the first SharePoint project in an organization has to bear the costs of implementing the infrastructure, even though the benefits are spread across the multiple solutions it enables.”
This initial report does not sound promising. With the furious and indiscriminate adoption of SharePoint since its 2010 update, one has to wonder if most people are making the most of their enterprise search infrastructure. Probably not. So what is to be done? How do we optimize the “benefits derived from the services that are implemented on the infrastructure?”
One solution that we have found is Fabasoft Mindbreeze, a substantive suite of information management solutions. Where SharePoint offers only an empty infrastructure, Mindbreeze provides meaning and context.
“Highly efficient enterprise search and specific connectors link together data sources in companies and organizations. They integrate the knowledge of different sections of a company into a uniform, linked whole. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise finds every scrap of information within a very short time, whether document, contract, note, e-mail or calendar entry, in intranet or internet, person- or text-related. The software solution finds all required information, regardless of source, for its users.”
Enterprise search, when done well, is an essential business tool for managing the information storage and retrieval needs of the modern day. But finding a solution that makes sense, and produces benefits without the hassle of tricky implementation, is paramount. We think Mindbreeze is worth a second look.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 22, 2011
Mindbreeze Can Stand with World’s Finest CRM
November 18, 2011
Denis Pombriant tips his hat to the ever-popular singing competition and reports on trends in CRM in, “CRM Idol: An insider’s look at the judging process.” CRM Idol was put together by Paul Greenberg and intended to bring attention to the growing field as well as reward those who are excelling in the world of CRM.
Pombriant reports on what he learned about CRM through his analysis of the competition:
“Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the competition for me was just being exposed to CRM from around the world. We often think in terms of English-language applications and perhaps assume that all the good software emanates from the U.S. That’s just not true.”
We agree that some of the best solutions are non-US based. One agile solution that we like is Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Based in Austria, it exhibits the worldly sensibility mentioned above. However, Mindbreeze and its semantic capabilities can adjust to any number of contexts. Furthermore, Mindbreeze is a suite of solutions, offering an answer to all of your needs: mobile, email, and enterprise. Mindbreeze goes beyond a CRM solution, but rather proposes an integrated and holistic application for an entity’s information organization and retrieval needs.
As more independent software vendors (ISVs) hit the market in response to the swelling tide of electronic information, solutions need to be smart and lean in order to be functional. Too much training time or too steep a learning curve, and usability is lost. With Fabasoft Mindbreeze, you get a solution that works without a lot of up-front expense in implementation and training. Take a second look and see if Fabasoft Mindbreeze is the solution for you.
*Disclaimer – Mindbreeze is currently upgrading their website. Links will be checked and if problems arise they will be updated. Thanks for your patience.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 18, 2011
Mindbreeze Picks Up Where SharePoint Leaves Off
November 17, 2011
SharePoint 2010 is a widely implemented application, but not one that solves every solution. The issue is explored further in, “SharePoint 2010 collaboration ISVs focus on workflow, analytics.” The author, Jonathan Gourlay, reports that users are increasingly relying on a number of independent software vendors to plug the holes in the service that SharePoint provides.
Mark Gilbert, lead analyst for Gartner Research had this to say:
“’Just because SharePoint is a lot of stuff, it doesn’t mean it’s all good stuff, but a lot of it is,’ said Gilbert, who estimates he’s spoken to 3,000 companies about SharePoint. He compares the platform to a Swiss Army Knife that allows the user to add tools. ‘To make [SharePoint] a real enterprise-class tool, you typically have to pay a lot of attention to the care and feeding of it and you have to add a lot of third-party tools.’”
Here’s the main question: if SharePoint is being advertised as enterprise-class, why do so many users need ISVs to bring it up to that level? The article goes on to argue that the opportunity for vendors to build upon the SharePoint platform is huge.
We argue that one smart and agile solution could single-handedly solve an organization’s enterprise and SharePoint woes. Fabasoft Mindbreeze is getting good feedback regarding its suite of solutions.
“Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise understands you, or to be more precise, understands what the most important information is for you at any precise moment in time. It is the center of excellence for your knowledge and simultaneously your personal assistant for all questions. The information pairing technology brings enterprise and Cloud data together.”
So while experts in the field are saying that system administrators have to hunt and search for several ISVs to supplement their SharePoint implementation, Mindbreeze might save a lot of time and energy with its single easy-to-use solution. It’s definitely worth a second look.
*Disclaimer – Mindbreeze is currently upgrading their website. Links will be checked and if problems arise they will be updated. Thanks for your patience.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 17, 2011
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