by Bill Ives
October 15, 2007 at 7:09 am
· Filed under Enterprise 2.0
Google provides an enterprise version of its search tool through the Google Search Appliance. It can go through up to 30 million documents which is more than I have but within the realm of need for many large enterprises. The Google Search Appliance is an integrated hardware and software product that allows enterprises to employ Google search formulas inside the firewall, as well as on the web. It operates like Google web search with the addition of algorithms specific for enterprise data, security features, no ads, the ability to search both unstructured and structured data, and the ability to prioritize search of specific enterprise applications.
With the Google OneBox for Enterprise feature, an enterprise can access information from its business applications — including employee directory and calendaring, CRM, ERP and business intelligence. It operates in more than 200 different file formats, and in over 100 different languages. The security features ensure that users can only access the information that they have permission to view.
Like the web Google search results often provide 10s or100s of thousands of results. Sometimes even millions of returns are offered. In most cases employees, like web users, are happy to look at the top 10 or perhaps the top 50. But what if you want to go beyond that and for business intelligence, market analysis, or other reasons look at the bigger picture? What if you want to see the relationships between the documents and other data sources in these enterprise search results? What if you want to use “termless” search to go beyond designated key words and look within the text of certain documents to see what themes emerge.
To address these business needs, iQuest can now be integrated with the Google Search Appliance. Among other features, it adds social network analysis to search. You not only see the most relevant search returns, but you see the relationships between these information sources. You can see the information hubs and spokes, who are at the center of conversations, and who are left out. You can get a visualization of these relationships and then drill down for more detail on any item.
iQuest Discovery™ employs social network analysis algorithms combined with token and link extraction to find hidden relationships and undiscovered information by mining unstructured data from large document stores, the Web, email logs, phone archives, message boards, blogs and enterprise intranets. It works and integrates with currently available search technologies such as the Google Search Appliance. You get to see who is talking to whom, what they talk about, when they talk and where those conversations are taking place. To help you see these relationships it creates a visualization that connects relevant data points. The results allow you to identify anomalies and mutual connections to surface the hidden relationships linking people, places and ideas.
As a disclaimer, I serve as an advisor to iQuest on occasion but I was not part of the integration with Google and I have no relationship with Google. However, I am very pleased to see this integration occur and think it is natural combination, extending what Google can do through iQuest and bringing more focused data to iQuest through Google to better target its analytic powers.
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BrianDecember 5th, 2007 at 11:37 am |
Could VOIS.com become another Facebook?
Since the advent of social networking sites in 1997, the phenomenon has taken the world by storm. Once called a passing fad social networking is now a thriving business, in 2006, alone it garnered over $6.5 billion in revenue, while the three biggest players, connected over 280 million subscribers in a way never known before to society. This form of connection has drawn the globe closer together than anyone ever predicted.
Just a few years ago, MySpace.com, solely dominated the social networking site market with almost 80% of the social networking site market but now websites like Facebook entered the social networking site race becoming the 8th most viewed website in the U.S. according to web measuring traffic site Alexa.com. Facebook.com which originally started at Harvard University , later extended to Boston area schools and beyond has mystified many naysayer’s with its explosive growth over the last three years and an astounding asking price of $10-$15 billion dollars for the company. But who will be next?
Who will carry the torch into the future?
With the rapid growth of the likes of MySpace and Facebook the burning question on everyone’s tongue is who is next? As with any burgeoning field many newcomers will and go but only the strong and unique will survive. Already many in the field have stumbled, as indicated by their traffic rankings, including heavily funded Eons.com with its former Monster.com founder at the helm, Hooverspot.com and Boomj.com with its ridiculous Web 3.0 slogan. There are many possibilities but it is a dark horse coming fast into view and taking hold in the social networking site market at the global level that has us interested the website – Vois.com. Less than a year ago, this newest contender directed at 25 to 50 years olds graced the absolute bottom of the list with its website ranked at a dismal 5,000,000. With not so much as a squeak this rising star has come from the depths of anonymity growing an eye-popping 10,000% in less than one year to make itself known worldwide now sporting a recent web traffic ranking in the 5,000 range.
Understanding the Market
When people in the United States hear about Facebook and other services such as MySpace the widely held belief is that these websites are globally used and are as synonymous as Google or Yahoo in regards to having a global market presence. This idea is completely misguided. Now it is true that both of these social networking giants are geared to service the western industrialized cultures but when it comes to the markets of the future, the emerging markets, they have virtually no presence. The sites themselves are heavily Anglicized, and Facebook in particular has an extremely complicated web interface that eludes even those familiar with the language, making them virtually inaccessible in other parts of the world even where English is the main language.
Our interest in Vois is global and geopolitical. Simply, Vois understands this lack of market service and is building its provision model on a global research concept developed by Goldman Sachs a few years ago. The concept is basically predicated on the belief that beginning now using current economic models and continuing those models over the next few decades will lead to a major paradigm shift in the world regarding nations who are current economic leaders like those being the USA and the other members of the G-7 and those who will become dominant in the world economy mainly the BRICs. In the Goldman research report Goldman highlights the fastest growing nations and has dubbed them with the two acronyms BRIC’s and N-11. BRIC standing for ( Brazil, R ussia, India and China) representing the fastest growing economies and N-11 or what are being called the Next-11 representing the next 11 countries to emerge as future important economies such as Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam. This approach has already been implemented with some success with companies like Orkut, who has over 80% of the market share in Brazil and large holdings in India and Eastern Europe . Other providers such as Hi5 have the world as their focus and are making great strides in global market share while Facebook builds itself into a niche provider wholly unready to take on the world.
A Growing Presence
As Vois breaks new ground in the world market pursuing previously ignored demographics, they afford themselves the opportunity of tremendous growth unfettered by the giants such as Facebook and MySpace. While cultivating this new user base, Vois will also be able to monopolize on their business revenue strategies, creating an area of commerce that will make their site increasingly attractive to business and users the world over. This concept, dubbed sCommerce, allows the subscriber to promote themselves in both personal and a professional fashion while giving them the option of setting up shop on the site. This approach will allow business owners to target their market in a way never before allowing them to focus on interested groups of individuals while providing follow-up without having to commit to wasteful blanket campaigns that are typically the order of the day. This newfound border will allow Vois to explore new revenue models while provide a tremendous service for both their regular subscribers and business subscribers alike. With all this going on, rapid traffic growth to the site, we pose the question – is Vois the next Facebook, it sure looks like it but only time will tell….
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