Data Intelligence refers to the tools and methods organizations use to better understand the information they [...]
I’m showing my age somewhat, but when I was at school, Google search was only just [...]
As I promised in my last blog, I will discuss real-world examples of hybrid search deployment [...]
As promised, this is a follow up blog about a deployment at one of the world’s [...]
Awhile back, I wrote a three-part blog series on federation. (Part One: “Make Federation a Part [...]
During my regular industry reading, I noticed that Digital Transformation continues to be a hot button [...]
In my previous blog, I covered some of the challenges and limitations with hyperautomation solutions in [...]
In this blog, I discuss the limitations of existing first-generation standalone Automation and Integration platforms. In [...]
Data is growing exponentially, and over 90% of data is unstructured1, creating a challenge for organizations [...]
If someone had said to me at the start of the year that Brexit would not [...]
In part two of my blog series, I discussed how the single index is going the [...]
After my last blog, I received several questions about use cases for a federated approach. So, [...]
I have been in the enterprise search market for over a decade and have had the [...]
Azure Cognitive Search is a cloud search service with built-in AI capabilities that enrich all types [...]
Ask yourself this – do you want to live in a world where you spend hours [...]
So, day one of London’s Taxonomy Bootcamp 2019 is well under way. Every day is a [...]
Search orchestration is a heavily used method for querying multiple search indices at once, and then [...]
I was delighted to recently join the BA Insight Shared Insights Podcast to talk about how [...]
This month is my six year anniversary at BA Insight, and during these years, after many [...]
I am asked more and more by my clients and prospects if we can help them [...]
I am a technologist at heart who has always been extremely interested in working with customers. [...]
To quote the Grateful Dead, “What a long strange trip it’s been.” I am getting very [...]
It seems that at the start of every year, people spend time predicting what will happen [...]
For the past four years, my esteemed colleague Jeff Fried has posted a blog on his [...]
Raise your hand: How often do you review the title of, say, the Word document you [...]
Towards the end of 2018, the second edition of Deloitte’s “State of AI in the Enterprise” [...]
Why don’t computers work like people think? Why can’t I just ask a simple question when [...]
Simply put, how much effort, energy, and forethought you invest in the content strategy and overall [...]
Forbes recently posted an interesting article on nine disruptive tech breakthroughs in 2018. I found it [...]
According to AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management), the definition of enterprise search is: “The [...]
Welcome to part three of “Are we in an AI revolution?”. If you haven’t already, be [...]
Welcome to part two of “Are we in an AI revolution?”. If you haven’t done so [...]
It seems that no matter where you look, AI is the subject that is being talked [...]
I remember becoming interested in joining BA Insight a couple of years ago. At that time, [...]
Beyond SharePoint In part one of this post, I looked at the state of Search as [...]
Facebook is Getting Serious About Business I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Facebook is starting [...]
We’ve all read the stats about how much of the content currently being generated and managed [...]
The most important part of my job is listening, not selling. Several months back, I was [...]
In this two-part post I’ll try to explain, compare, and contrast the different search solutions available [...]
I’m delighted that Matthew McDermott and Kevin Watters have joined BA Insight’s Advisory Board. Both are [...]
Way back in the middle of 2017, my colleague Jeff Fried participated in an exclusive member [...]
After having a great ride in cyber security for over four years, I was excited to [...]
Elastic{ON} 2018 just concluded, and what a great week it was. We at BA Insight started [...]
Don’t you just hate it when you cannot find the content you are looking for? You [...]
New Year’s predictions are a longstanding tradition, dating at least back to the 16th century French [...]
The goal of the KISS Taxonomy is to improve the search user experience, as well as [...]
As organizations move toward the cloud, there has been some confusion around management and optimization of [...]
You hear about AI, machine learning, and cognitive services from every direction these days. Personally, I’ve [...]
When I’m asked what makes BA Insight special, I talk about our talented and dedicated employees, [...]
In this blog I will be introducing the KISS Taxonomy Implementation (KTI). Be sure not to [...]
Cognitive Search Starts with Understanding Search Cognitive search, and indeed, the entire new wave of cognitive [...]
We recently announced a new product called SmartHub (you can read the announcement here). This is [...]
How much time do you spend searching for the right content? According to one study, knowledge [...]
Adoption and engagement are quickly becoming the most discussed topics in the SharePoint community. Why? Because [...]
In my last blog, I discussed why search connectors are the backbone in delivering an “Intelligent [...]
Two of my colleagues recently published blog articles that I would like to piggy back on. [...]
I recently participated in my first podcast on the BA Insight Shared Insights show. I discussed [...]
Last week we announced a new application, Search for Dynamics (you can read the announcement here). Search for [...]
One of the great things about being a B2B sales professional is being involved in the [...]
My colleagues Don Miller and Mark Aschemeyer published their perspectives about the importance of metadata and [...]
Do you ever feel like change sneaks up on you? Or feel surprised at how much [...]
Full disclosure before I begin. I have known my colleague Don Miller for almost 13 years. [...]
“Jeff, do you have any insight into how people really use Delve? People are asking me [...]
We use search every hour and every day of the week, and it is awesome because [...]
Today BA Insight announced a new version of our Visual Refiners application (you can read the [...]
Last week we announced a new version of our AutoClassifier (you can read the announcement here). [...]
Today BA Insight announced a strategic and exclusive partnership with NGAGE Intelligence to develop a Next-Generation [...]
In my previous blog article, I set the stage for this year’s predictions by looking at [...]
It’s that time again. It’s become a bit of a tradition to lay out predictions for [...]
In my 12 years working with over 150 enterprise SharePoint customers, I have heard a few [...]
Back in March I did an analysis of “the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” of [...]
One of the things I get asked most often is “What Makes Good Enterprise Search”? Every [...]
The Microsoft Ignite conference was a whirlwind – vastly broad in the range of content, and [...]
Working at BA Insight I talk to customers and prospects every day about the challenges they [...]
Intranets may seem like an old concept, but they’re having a resurgence. The number of intranet “renovation” [...]
During my tenure at BA Insight, which is approaching three years, I have read lots of [...]
I love sports, no matter what sport it is. I love watching them and playing them, [...]
I’m not an IT guy. There, I said it. I’m not a programmer or a developer. [...]
In my role as Chief Customer Officer at BA Insight, my team and I are often [...]
Organizations have long been struggling with how to make knowledge assets available to employees, partners, and customers. Although there have been major technological advances in how this information is captured and made available over the past two decades, these have mostly been around a single business process. For example, when I joined Servicesoft, we were pioneering the idea of using search and classification engines to help transfer information to customers as part of the emerging eService market. At OutStart, we initiated the idea of objectifying learning and making the development of learning component-based so that it could be consumed via a “just-in-time” model. This meant that learners interacted only with learning objects that helped them increase their knowledge, and therefore their value, to the organization. In the last decade, another silo of information capture has emerged in the form of Social Business Software, making it easier than ever to capture nuggets of knowledge that can help others. The interesting dynamic in all of this is that there are large investments being made to capture information and knowledge assets, but very little of it is actually accessible by employees or customers.
In the ‘90s, multiple software vendors tried to address the issue of information access by providing software to implement portals, whether they were used for helpdesk integration, customer support, intranets, or R&D to help with the collaboration and reuse of IP. As the technology evolved and search engines and appliances became available, the portals were replaced with implementations of enterprise search. The problem with this approach is that it views the search engine as a ‘one size fits all’ solution, as opposed to viewing it as an enabling technology that helps organizations address a business issue. Failed enterprise search projects became the norm as companies tried, and continue trying, to resolve their information access challenges by implementing new search appliances while they still have underlying issues around integration with other systems, classification and tagging, and a sub-par user experience.
I joined BA Insight because I saw an immense opportunity to transform the way enterprise search is being implemented. I am sure you know that the amount of content that is being generated is growing exponentially across an increasing number of sources, and the inability to find the information assets our people need is costing us billions of dollars in lost productivity while leading to low morale and customer dissatisfaction.
When I evaluated the opportunity at BA Insight, I found the company to be uniquely positioned to provide a new approach to the unification of information that stops the pattern of enterprise search failures. We do this by transforming SharePoint, which has become ubiquitous across enterprises, into a unified information access platform that enables fast implementation of search-driven applications at a fraction of the cost of other options while de-risking search projects.
There are many notable and successful search-driven applications available on the Consumer Internet. Many are ‘killer apps’, and as a class they have fundamentally changed the way people interact with information. However, in comparison, corporate Intranets, customer support portals, helpdesk applications or knowledge management solutions don’t come close to being killer apps, nor do they provide a remarkable user experience.
I found it intriguing that BA Insight has the technology, people, and partners to help catapult enterprise search to the next level. We replace a people-intensive, SI-oriented approach to implementation with a technology-based approach that is lower cost, lower risk, easier to implement, and easier to upgrade. We do the heavy lifting to make our products work with different versions of SharePoint as well as various versions of other software applications that exist within a customer’s infrastructure. We automate how content is tagged to improve findability and also provide out of the box capabilities to improve the user experience with how information is found and accessed.
I believe that in order for a company to be wildly successful, it must demonstrate the following five important attributes:
First is customer-centricity. Customers put their trust in startups with a vision, and we must partner with them to make sure they succeed. I am so proud of all of the customers I have had the honor of serving, as well as their achievements, and I consider it the cornerstone of my past success and BA Insight’s future success.
Second is our team. Our people have the experience and the desire to help our customers implement and deploy incredibly powerful applications. We want to help our customers build killer apps, as opposed to search portals. This is a team of high energy, committed, customer-centric experts who have embraced the idea that search-driven applications could be a lot better and are working to change how they get implemented. I am fortunate enough to have become part of the BA Insight team and am so proud of everyone who works here. In a short period of time, we have made incredible progress on many fronts and I feel strongly that everyone’s loyalty and belief in the company will continue to provide an incredible depth for us and help our customers transform how they work with search technology.
Third is the technology. We have a broad set of capabilities that extend the value of existing SharePoint investments, so we eliminate the need to change the underlying infrastructure, saving a lot of time and money. We have over 90 out of the box connectors, a world class auto-tagging engine for content within and outside of SharePoint, visual refiners to let users drill down and find information quickly, an active workspace with content assembly, and document preview capabilities. We also provide a lot of flexibility in how our technology can be implemented. Our full platform, for example, is particularly well-suited for new projects. On the other hand, if search-driven applications have already been implemented within an organization, then components of our platform can be leveraged to augment the existing technology to improve results.
Fourth is to be financially responsible. Company success is about investment and return on that investment, and it needs to be measured in two fronts:
And fifth is promoting a strong work/life balance. Work is important, but we cannot forget our families and shouldn’t compromise being with them due to office pressures. For a long period of time I was a workaholic, but after my first son was born I committed to change. Over the years I have done my best to practice what I preach, successfully balancing work and family life, and I encourage our employees to do the same. I enjoy nothing more than spending time with my incredible wife and our great boys.
These attributes are prevalent at BA Insight, and I am very enthusiastic about the opportunities that lie ahead. I am extremely confident that we are well positioned to enable the future of unified information access as we help visionary organizations around the world realize the value of the collective intelligence that is being captured every day within the massive volumes of content they produce.
