The Demands of PLM for Manufacturers Today
July 4, 2012
As the global economy becomes more competitive, resources more sparse and stakeholders more demanding it is no wonder that PLM is having to step up their game to offer more. A recent PC Quest article, “Accelerating Innovations in Product Design”, explains how with emerging technologies, especially 3D, PLM providers are able to offer more to a manufacturing community needing more by the minute.
As the article explains,
“Today, product definition resides not just within an individual company, but also across an extended enterprise, including suppliers, partners and customers. PLM has traditionally existed within the walls of an organization. Now companies are integrating supply chain network with their PLM systems to get visibility into the entire gamut of processes involved. The core of PLM today is to integrate manufacturing applications with business apps.”
When one really boils down PLM solutions data management is the key to a successful integration of processes and elimination of waste and duplication. Inforbix, a leader in the PLM solutions industry describes its apps as “…integrated cloud solutions for manufacturing companies that tackle everyday tasks such as finding, reusing, and sharing product data without the overhead of traditional data management systems.”
Catherine Lamsfuss, July 4, 2012
Tips for Businesses to Take Ownership of SharePoint Management
July 3, 2012
Sometimes tensions exist between legacy management issues in SharePoint and new business goals and values. In her blog post, “How to Get Business to Take Ownership of SharePoint,” Veronique Palmer addresses the issue and offers some tips on how to get a business to take the SharePoint reins.
The author explains one of her tips:
Do you have a training plan and support path? If you want business to take ownership, you have to train them to do that. If you want them to use the platform in a certain way, you have to train them…Once they start building their own sites, do you have a dedicated help desk that can assist them with queries quickly without having to log a change request? What type of support do you have in place for them?
Palmer also points out that the system needs to be flexible and open to change and a governance forum initiative that involves key business people is imperative. To bypass the need for some expensive or time –consuming training, consider a third party solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze, which extends the capabilities of your SharePoint system. Their Web Parts based information pairing capabilities give you powerful searches and a complete picture of your business information, allowing you to get the most out of your enterprise search investments. And your end users will benefit from the fast and intuitive search with clearly displayed results and simple navigation.
Philip West, July 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
SolidWorks Introduces Mobile Design App
July 3, 2012
Although engineers and designers alike have been begging for mobile design apps they are the most reluctant to accept the apps released onto the market. Security is a major concern as is a mobile device’s ability to provide enough juice to handle a 3D CAD/CAM app. The latest app to hit iPads everywhere is SolidWorks’ eDrawings as described in the Design News article, “eDrawings App Launches on the iPad”.
As the article explains of the new app:
“eDrawings lets anyone involved in product development (not just CAD users) load and send 2D and 3D designs via email. The viewing tool essentially creates a lightweight representation of 3D models or 2D drawings created by SolidWorks and other widely used CAD systems, opening the door for anyone with a PC to examine and provide input on design data. With the iPad version, anyone with that device can view, interpret, and peruse the design data, making it a viable option at client sites, in the field at a sales meeting, or at home.”
While critics of mobile design apps have been burned a time or two and have solid reasons for doubting the ability of a new app to turn the design industry on its ear, we believe hope springs eternal. Product data management and product lifecycle management providers like SolidWorks and Inforbix, both leaders in the industry with reputations for innovation, are working fervently to make PLM more adaptable for users as well as relevant. All the kinks may not be worked out of mobile design apps but we believe with a little time mobile apps will be just another aspect of PLM.
Catherine Lamsfuss, July 3, 2012
Speculation on New Surface Tablet and SharePoint 15 Integration
July 2, 2012
Rich Wood, an enterprise search and collaboration guru at Perficient, takes a closer look at Microsoft’s new Surface Tablet and SharePoint in his post, “Wish List: Four Keys for SURFACE and SharePoint Next.” Wood outlines some features that he suggests will help the next SharePoint release take full advantage of the slick new tablet. The author explains one of his wish list items:
An INTEGRATED USER EXPERIENCE is essential. There’s been a lot of talk about the “Metro” UI of Windows 8 and the Windows Phone. It’s beautiful and slick and very appealing, although of course some have grumbled that it’s too much of a jump from the traditional Windows style. To truly integrate into this brave new world, SharePoint Next needs to look and feel like an extension of Windows 8 and (less difficult by far) play well with its cousin, Office 15.
Wood also suggests that responsive design, touch friendly command interaction, and a SharePoint app should all be high on the priority list to integrate SharePoint and the Surface tablet. He brings some good points to the table as mobile usage only continues to increase.
It seems the folks at Mindbreeze also understand the importance of the mobile experience:
Smartphones and tablets are constant companions, indispensable in the business world. Information needs to be able to be exchanged at all times and wherever you are. Easily. Quickly. Securely. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile makes company data available on all mobile devices.
Mindbreeze can save employees time by connecting them to the right information via a user-friendly interface. Navigate to http://www.mindbreeze.com/ to read more.
Philip West, July 2, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Business Intelligence Niche Splits Open
July 2, 2012
Datamation says business intelligence is where the action is in “BI Goes Wild: Business Intelligence Becoming Ubiquitous.” Does that mean Search is of secondary importance? No (of course not!) but BI is in the spotlight because of its broadened adoption, as described in a new survey from Dresner Advisory Services.
Dresner’s 2012 Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence Market Study queried professionals from around the world, though over half were in the US. Half the respondents were IT pros, about a fifth senior (non-IT) executives, and the remainder included a smattering of workers in marketing, finance, research and development, operations, and other roles. Survey takers represented a wide range of industries.
The study found that the use of BI applications has grown dramatically outside the traditional areas of information processing, finance, and marketing; the “other” category grew by 13% over the last year. The article notes:
“The improving ease of use and other factors are driving an increased number of BI tools in large companies. ‘The proliferation of multiple BI tools continues to accelerate as various lines of business independently invest in solutions,’ Dresner notes in his report. ‘Nearly half of the largest organizations reported the use of four or more tools.'”
The report noted that some key areas now using business intelligence include human resources, supply chain, R&D, and strategic planning. See the write up for some ways in which these “other” departments are making use of BI applications, as well as ways their traditional usage is changing.
Just remember: it would all be for naught if it weren’t for the ability to Search.
Cynthia Murrell, July 2, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Conference to Maximize Gaming and Social Media
July 2, 2012
Industry conferences are par for the course but the recently announced Global 3D Virtual PLM Conference & Exhibition is a new breed of conference that encourages participation by being totally virtual. The MCAD Café article, “Social PLM 2012, The Global Virtual Conference and Exhibition in PLM, Engineering and Product Design Is Announced,” explains this first-in-its-kind approach to conferencing for the PLM industry.
“In an innovative 3D immersive format with avatars, which is close to face-to-face, based on Altadyn’s conferencing platform, 3D-VirtualEvents.com , attendees can interact with expert speakers and PLM vendors through a life like experience with an amazing sense of presence, which favors social collaboration, but in the most efficient manner from their office, with no need to lose time and spend money travelling. They can also network in real time, and have hallway conversations with other attendees from around the world.”
The creators of the conference, 01consulting, are presenting the virtual conference in a game-like format that encourages exploration and socialization among visitors. Pushing participants headfirst into social media is a great approach for a conference focusing on the social aspects of PLM. We expect as more companies currently utilizing new PLM solutions realize the benefits social media can offer their industry and performance they will embrace it.
Catherine Lamsfuss, July 2, 2012
Microsoft Snags a Big Search Project
July 2, 2012
Search Content Management recently reported on a new win for Microsoft in the article “FAST Enterprise Search at Core of European Court of Human Rights Website.”
According to the article, The European Court of Human Rights has quite a task ahead of it. After nearly a decade of using a site designed using Fulcrum Technologies’ document management software, ECHR has decided to use Microsoft’s FAST Enterprise Search to overhaul its Web site in order to make it as intuitive and simple as Amazon and simplify the search process. In addition to this, ECHR is also working to make the new site accessible to mobile devices.
It is imperative that this happens because the ECHR Web site currently receives 4.6 million visits a year from lawyers, government officials, students, professors, journalists and citizens seeking rulings and information about the state of individual freedoms in Europe. In addition to this, the new site will enable search of 90,000 documents on rulings that affect more than 800 million inhabitants.
When discussing the upcoming project, the article states:
“Beginning next week, ECHR expects to expand the reach of its site search capabilities to more than 5 million users and be able to accommodate 5,000 visitors at a given time when rulings are made. The integration of document management, enterprise search and a cloud-based collaboration in the Web CMS promises automated Google indexing for public-facing documents, improved ECHR real-time collaboration efforts and reduced overhead.”
Due to the nature and status of this project, being selected to do the ECHR’s Web site redesign is certainly a win for Microsoft.
Jasmine Ashton, July 2, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Google and Paid Search Results
July 1, 2012
It has become apparent lately that Google’s long-time stance on paid search inclusion is changing. The company has recently begun accepting payments from companies for inclusion in some of its newest search products, such as Google Hotel Finder and Google Flight Search.
Google seems to be taking payment from those desiring to be included in search results, particularly in the area of travel. Extreme Tech’s article, “If Google Cozies Up to Paid Search Listings, Will Semantic Search Suffer?,” tells us more about Google’s jump into paid search results:
“Ask Google if paid listings are starting to appear, and the company does not shy away from its change of heart. Search chief Amit Singhal told Sullivan that the company found that some queries ‘could not be answered based upon just crawled data’ and required Google to ‘license data or go out and establish relationships with data providers.’ In other words, the company’s perfectly fine with it.”
The article’s title poses the question: Will semantic search suffer from this change? We at Beyond Search think not. Our view is that payment improves relevance. With a smaller set comes better data and we are impressed with the model and Google’s openness to change.
Andrea Hayden, July 1, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
SEO Tools Straight from Google
June 30, 2012
Here’s a useful list of tools one can use to dupe Google, at Search Engine Journal’s “55 SEO Productivity Tools We Use at Single Grain.” Notice that a number of tools are from Google itself. In fact, the number one item comes free, direct from the search giant. Single Grain‘s list specifies:
“Tool #1 – Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool
“Although the free Keyword Research Tool offered by Google’s Adwords doesn’t offer as many features as standalone SEO programs offer, this resource is a great option for checking general search, competition, and CPC metrics on the fly. Be sure to check out the feature that allows you to brainstorm keywords by URL in order to uncover the keywords your competitors may be targeting!”
So, Google encourages gaming its system? It sure seems that way. Here’s another example, further down the list:
“Tool #6 – Google Correlate
“One final Google tool to take a look at is Google Correlate, which will help you determine if trends that exist in your target keywords’ search volume variation correspond with trends in the real world. This can be especially helpful when understanding unexpected SEO behavior or when predicting the potential variability of search volume for future projects.”
These are just a couple of the numerous Googley items in the extensive account. Why is Google making it easier for search engine optimizers? We thought they brought in the Panda to make gaming their algorithm more difficult. Is it just us, or is the company is sending mixed signals?
Cynthia Murrell, June 30, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Overcoming Common Challenges with a SharePoint Implementation
June 29, 2012
DachisGroup.com recently posted, “SharePoint 2010: Why after 2 Years is it Still so Hard?” The author points out that SharePoint has grown exponentially, gaining 125 million licenses in just over two years, but some users are still baffled thus stunting some adoption of the platform. The author explains,
Unfortunately, despite its ubiquity, SharePoint suffers from a host of worst practices for adoption. In “Taking your SharePoint Implementation to the Next Level”, we discussed the reality that organizations have to stick with, and make SharePoint work, but that enterprise decision-making is focused incorrectly. There is too much focus on the needs of implementers which results in a punishing user experience that sabotages adoption.
The author argues that a user centered approach is needed to improve SharePoint implementations, and, in the article, a series of Webinars and blog posts focused on overcoming some of the common challenges of a SharePoint implementation is announced. It may be worth the bookmark if you are considering an implementation or are experiencing user adoption issues.
Asking the right questions will help ensure that limited project resources are spent on the key aspects rather than unnecessary functionalities that will only complicate the system. A third party solution, like Fabasoft Mindbreeze, can also help you connect the dots in your SharePoint adoption. Mindbreeze’s intuitiveness means less training required. They also have tutorials and wikis that are easy to use and more efficient. Here you can browse Mindbreeze’s support tools for users, including videos, FAQs, wikis, and other training options. Check out the full suite of solutions at Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Philip West, June 29, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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