US and Europe Split After Much Attensity

February 9, 2016

Most companies that are split across oceans usually have a parent company they remain attached to, however, PR Newswire shares that “IMCap Partners Acquire Attensity Europe.”  Attensity Group Inc. is a leading provider in customer interaction management and its sub-company Attensity Europe headed its solutions across the pond.  Recently, IMCap Partners invested money in a deal for Attensity Europe to split apart from the parent and become an independent company.  Thomas Dreikauss will remain the CEO and also become a new shareholder in the new company.  None of the details related to the purchase price and other details remain private.

Attensity Europe plans to focus on developing its omni-channel customer service and its market-leading product Respond, multilingual and omni-channel response management software.  Respond increases productivity processing customer written requests and ensures better transparency over the service level.

“ ‘The market for CRM solutions is growing by just under 14% a year on average, according to Gartner, and therefore at a much more rapid rate than the overall software market. With Respond Attensity Europe is focusing on the highly attractive and rapid-growth customer interaction management/customer care segment, providing a solution that also fully meets the requirements of very large customer service units. The solution’s analytics, scalability and integration capacity are setting standards in the industry. Respond is a highly flexible, future-proof platform for customer service covering all written communication channels, including social media,” indicated Rolf Menne, operating partner at IMCap. “In cooperation with the highly motivated team at Attensity Europe, we see extremely attractive growth potential.’”

Attensity Europe will be rebranded and already has plans to take off in the coming year.

Whitney Grace, February 9, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph

Coauthoring Documents in SharePoint to Save Time

August 4, 2015

SharePoint users are often looking for ways to save time and streamline the process of integration from other programs. Business Management Daily has devoted some attention to the topic with their article, “Co-authoring Documents in SharePoint and Office.” Read on for the full details of how to make the most of this feature.

The article begins:

“One of the best features of SharePoint 2010 and 2013 is the way it permits co-authoring. Co-authoring means more than one person is in a document, workbook or presentation at the same time editing different parts. It works differently in Word, Excel and PowerPoint . . . With Word 2013/SharePoint 2013, co-authors may edit either in Word Online (Word Web App) or the desktop version.”

SharePoint is a powerful but complicated solution that requires quite a bit of energy to maintain and use to the best of its ability. For those users and managers that are tasked with daily work in SharePoint, staying in touch with the latest tips and tricks is vital. Those users may benefit from Stephen E. Arnold’s Web site, ArnoldIT.com. A longtime leader in search, Arnold brings the latest SharePoint news together in one easy to digest news feed.

Emily Rae Aldridge, August 4, 2015

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph

Software Market Begs for Integration Issue Relief

July 2, 2015

A recent report proves what many users already know: integrating an existing CMS with new and emerging software solutions is difficult. As quickly as software emerges and changes, users are finding that hulking overgrown CMS solutions are lagging behind in terms of agility. SharePoint is no stranger to this criticism. Business Solutions offers more details in their article, “ISVs: Study Shows Microsoft SharePoint Is Open To Disruption.”

A report from Software Advice surveyed employees that use content management systems (CMS) on a daily basis and found 48 percent had considerable problems integrating their CMS with their other software solutions. The findings mirror a recent AIIM report that found only 11 percent of companies experienced successful Microsoft SharePoint implementation . . . The results of this report indicate that the CMS market is ripe for disruption if a software vendor could solve the integration issues typically associated with SharePoint.”

No doubt, Microsoft understands the concerns and perceived threats, and will attempt to solve some of the issue with the upcoming release of SharePoint Server 2016. However, the fact remains that SharePoint is a big ship to turn, and change will not be dramatic or happen overnight. In the meantime, stay on top of the latest news for tips, tricks, and third-party solutions that may ease some of the pain. Look to Stephen E. Arnold and his SharePoint feed on ArnoldIT.com in order to stay in touch without a huge investment in time.

Emily Rae Aldridge, July 2, 2015

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph

Lexalytics: GUI and Wizard

June 12, 2015

What is one way to improve a user’s software navigational experience?  One of the best ways is to add a graphical user interface (GUI).  Software Development @ IT Business Net shares a press release about “Lexalytics Unveils Industry’s First Wizard For Text Mining And Sentiment Analysis.”  Lexalytics is one of the leading companies that provides sentiment and analytics solutions and as the article’s title explains it has made an industry first by releasing a GUI and wizard for Semantria SaaS platform and Excel plug-in.  The wizard and GUI (SWIZ) are part of the Semantria Online Configurator, SWEB 1.3, which also included functionality updates and layout changes.

” ‘In order to get the most value out of text and sentiment analysis technologies, customers need to be able to tune the service to match their content and business needs,’ said Jeff Catlin, CEO, Lexalytics. ‘Just like Apple changed the game for consumers with its first Macintosh in 1984, making personal computing easy and fun through an innovative GUI, we want to improve the job of data analysts by making it just as fun, easy and intuitive with SWIZ.’”

Lexalytics is dedicated to helping its clients enjoy an easier experience when it comes to data analytics.  The company wants its clients to get the answers they by providing the tools they need to get them without having to over think the retrieval process.  While Lexalytics already provides robust and flexible solutions, the SWIZ release continues to prove it has the most tunable and configurable text mining technology.

Whitney Grace, June 12, 2015

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph

Free Version of InetSoft Style Scope Agile Edition Available

June 10, 2015

The article titled InetSoft Launches Style Scope Agile Edition for Dashboarding and Visual Analytics on PRWeb tells of a free version of InetSoft’s application for visualizing analysis. Business users will gain access to an interactive dashboard with an easy-to-use drag and drop sensibility. The article offers more details about the launch:

“Advanced visualization types ideal for multi-dimensional charting and point-and-click controls like selection lists and ranger sliders give greater abilities for data exploration and performance monitoring than a simple spreadsheet offers. Any dashboard or analysis can be privately shared with others using just a browser or a mobile device, setting the application apart from other free BI tools… Setting up the software will be straightforward for anyone with power spreadsheet skills or basic knowledge of their database.”

Drawbacks to the free version are mentioned, such as being limited to two concurrent users. Of course, the free version is meant to “showcase” the company’s technology according to CMO Mark Flaherty. There is a demo available, to check out the features of the free application. InetSoft has been working since 1996 to bring users intuitive solutions to business problems. This free version is specifically targeted at smaller businesses who might be unable to afford the full application.

Chelsea Kerwin, June 10, 2015

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph

SharePoint Release Delayed and Criticized

April 28, 2015

SharePoint was lauded earlier in the year for committing to a new on-premises version of SharePoint Server 2016. However, since then the rollout has been beset by delays and criticism that on-site installations will continue to play the ugly stepsister to the cloud. The United Kingdom’s The Register provides a cynical assessment of the latest news in their article, “SharePoint’s Next Release Delayed Until Deep into 2016.”

The article begins:

“Exchange Server 2016 will be not much more than a rollup of features already deployed to cloud Exchange . . . Redmond’s also revealed that SharePoint server won’t get another refresh until the second quarter of 2016. There won’t even be a beta – or technical preview as Microsoft likes to call them these days – to play with until 2015’s fourth quarter . . . But all those cloudy bits may not be so welcome for the many smaller organisations that run SharePoint, or for organisations waiting for an upgrade. SharePoint 2013 was released in October 2012, so such users are looking at nearly four years between drinks.”

Every SharePoint rollout seems to be plagued by trouble of some variety, so the delay comes as little surprise. The test will be whether tried and true on-premises customers will settle for what increasingly seems to be little support. We will withhold ultimate judgment until the release is made available. In the meantime, head over to ArnoldIT.com to keep up with the latest news. Stephen E. Arnold has made a career out of following all things search, and his dedicated SharePoint feed keeps you informed at a glance.

Emily Rae Aldridge, April 28, 2015

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph

The Evolution of SharePoint Online Collaboration

April 14, 2015

SharePoint Online is quickly playing catch up to the on-premises version, but the fact that they weren’t identical from the start is still perplexing. Tech Target explores the topic further in their article, “Following the SharePoint Online Collaboration Evolution.”

The article sums up the current situation:

“To an outsider, it would appear that SharePoint would have been the perfect one-to-one on-premises and cloud server option, considering it’s a Web-based option. However, it’s more complex than a move in data center location that’s local to Microsoft. And in terms of development, much of the effort has gone into the option that will drive the migration to Office 365 and the revenue from such a move, which is Exchange Online.”

Hybrid enablement is one area that SharePoint 2016 watchers are keeping a close eye on, as part of an overall focus on bringing more Office 365 experiences to on-premises customers. On the other side of the coin, certain online features are being strengthened by their reliance on SharePoint on-site under the hood. Look for Delva, Office 365, and OneDrive for Business among others. Overall, the future of SharePoint is exciting but still coming into focus. Keep an eye on ArnoldIT.com, a Web service run by a longtime search expert Stephen E. Arnold. His SharePoint feed will make additional SharePoint news accessible as it becomes available.

Emily Rae Aldridge, April 14, 2015

Stephen E Arnold, Publisher of CyberOSINT at www.xenky.com

Microsoft Streamlining Update Process for SharePoint 2016

April 9, 2015

One of the most frequent complaints from SharePoint users and administrators is the cumbersome update process. It seems that Microsoft is listening and finally responding. Read more in the Redmond Channel Partner article, “Microsoft To Revamp Update Process for SharePoint 2016.”

The article sums up the news:

“The process of updating SharePoint Server will become less cumbersome in the next version of the product, according to a Microsoft executive. Speaking about the upcoming SharePoint 2016 during an IT Unity-hosted talk last Friday, Bill Baer, a Microsoft senior technical product manager and a Microsoft Certified Master for SharePoint, said that IT pros will get smaller updates and that applying them will entail less downtime for organizations.”

Less downtime for organizations will be a welcome change. Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime search expert, and has followed SharePoint through its ups and downs. He often finds that though SharePoint is the most widely adopted enterprise solution, its complicated nature and poor user experience often lead to perceived failures. Keep up with the latest SharePoint news on ArnoldIT.com, specifically the dedicated SharePoint feed, to determine if the streamlining of updates leads to higher marks for SharePoint.

Emily Rae Aldridge, April 9, 2015

Stephen E Arnold, Publisher of CyberOSINT at www.xenky.com

Mistakes to Avoid When Migrating to Office 365

April 2, 2015

Sadly, many migrations are considered failures by the organization and users, even if all the content survives. Why is this the case? Well, user experience usually suffers greatly. Redmond Magazine offers more insight and advice in their article, “5 Mistakes To Avoid When Migrating from SharePoint to Office 365.”

The article starts with a mention of the upcoming SharePoint 2016 release, and the every evolving Office 365 before stating:

“The question for many organizations isn’t whether to stay with SharePoint — rather, IT managers are grappling with how to advance its use in the most strategic and cost-effective way possible. As organizations consider a myriad of options from Microsoft, it becomes essential to have not only a long-term strategic technology vision — but also a SharePoint migration and upgrade roadmap that’s big on efficiency and low on cost.“

It is easy to be shortsighted. And while planning is hard and cumbersome, having a long-term plan is one of the only ways to avoid some of the mistakes mentioned in the article.  Stephen E. Arnold is another resource to consider when planning. His Web site, ArnoldIT.com, is a top destination for the latest news in search, including SharePoint. His SharePoint feed provides a one-stop-shop for all the latest tips and tricks to assist your organization with their SharePoint planning.

Emily Rae Aldridge, April 2, 2015

Stephen E Arnold, Publisher of CyberOSINT at www.xenky.com

New UltraSearch Version Available for Free Download

April 1, 2015

Anyone who has researched alternatives to Window’s built-in Desktop Search has probably read about the freeware program UltraSearch. Now, MajorGeeks.com offers a free download of the latest version, UltrasearchPortable 2.0.3. The description specifies:

“UltraSearch finds files and folders on local NTFS drives and provides the results in just a few seconds.UltraSearch does not maintain an index which is stored on your hard disk, but achieves its speed by working directly on the Master File Table (MFT) of the NTFS partitions. UltraSearch even identifies NTFShardlinks. Simply enter a file name or a pattern like *.exe and see the first results while you are still typing. In addition, UltraSearch supports regular expressions. Additional information like file size and file dates (last changes, last access and file creation) will be shown for all listed files. Naturally, the Explorer context menu is available inside UltraSearch. UltraSearch enables you to exclude folders, files or file types from searches via an exclude filter. The search results can be sorted according to different criteria, printed or exported as text, RTF, HTML, CSV, and Excel file.”

UltraSearch can be started from within a Windows Explorer directory. It also allows users to store the 100 most recently used search patterns for later reference, and includes an autocomplete function and pattern suggestions.

Keep in mind, though, that UltraSearch is not your only Windows Desktop Search alternative. Some others include Sow Soft’s Effective File SearchGaviri Pocket Search,Snowbird, ,FileSearchEXSuper Finder XTLocate32Search Everything, and Launchy. There’s plenty to check out for the comparative shopper.

Cynthia Murrell, April 1, 2015

Stephen E Arnold, Publisher of CyberOSINT at www.xenky.com

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