vertical search engines: system-initiated information retrieval information today may 16, 2001 ©...
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Vertical Search Engines:System-Initiated Information Retrieval
Information Today
May 16, 2001© Stephen E. Arnold, 2001
ARNOLDInformation Technology
Arnold Information Technology
• New book The New Trajectories of the Internet, Infonortics, Ltd. May 2001. Portions of this presentation appear in this new monograph.
• Contact:Stephen Arnold502-228-1966, voice502-228-0548, [email protected] or
What We’ll Examine
• Examples• Snapshots of “older” vertical plays• How to think about vertical engines• New approaches• Wrap up• Questions / comments!
Sites with Screenshots
• www.alifemedical.com• www.mercado.com• www.scopeware.com• www.pdamedic.com
“As long as they’re born faster than we can make them hate us, we’re in business.”—New York Times, April 8, 2001
Search-and-Retrieval Marketing?
Verticals: A B2B Play
• Create an exchange…chemicals, rubber, steel
• Move business processes to the Internet• Chemdex, Vertical Net, and others• What happened? Massive losses..
Vertical Net Portals
Vertical Net’s Losses Rising
Vertical Net Losses (Mil)
$0.0
$50.0
$100.0
$150.0
$200.0
$250.0
1997 1998 1999 2000
Vertical Net Annual Report, April 2001
As B2B Search Went South
• Big dogs emphasized verticals:– Verity – Licensing and services– Autonomy – Classifier and voice
• New players ... a new twist and spin:– Flurry of activity in medical arena– Look at search and flip it– Seek, analyze, display
Following Funds and Opportunity
• A Life Medical• Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing pushing
the technology…– Process discharge text– Identify codes– Provide point-and-click search, expand, or commit
Case 1: A-Life Medical: Embedded Query
www.alifemedical.com
Display, Edit, and Commit Codes…
Why A Life Is Important...
• Search-and-retrieval – Removes the burden on user– Places information in the work flow– Access to information when it is needed in the
course of a task
Activity in “Catalog Search”
• Works but users express frustration • Requires extremely precise queries• Search engines says they broaden the query,
but they work like Mercado’s…or Easy Ask…or Bug’s Eye
IntuiFind: Enter Query
www.mercado.com
IntuiFind: Related Videos
A Connection
Commerce
Content
Collaboration
Heterogeneous Data
ROI
• University of Texas (Austin) Center for Research in Electronic Commerce
• < 15 percent of processes online, no increase in revenue per employee
• > 35 percent of processes online, “significant increases in revenue”
• > 40 of customer-related processes had to be online before significant impact on ROI or revenue per employee
Center for Research in Electronic Commerce, March 2001
Finding Hot Spots for Fast Cash
Innovation Path
Vertical Search Segment Matrix
Group Examples Content Types FunctionPublic data Google, Alta Vista,
InktomiDistributed, Internet-accessible data
Spidering and value-added segmenting features
Affiliated firm data
EasyAsk, Mercado IntuiFind, Requisite Tech. BugsEye
Disparate, distributed data sources
SQL and legacy data sources, text, Web documents
Proprietary / 3rd party data
Sagemaker, Northern Light, OpenText, iPhrase, Verity
Multiserver text search
Branded content, Web access, internal content indexing, portal
Intranet data Monomine, Atomz, Plumtree
Text search Departmental, SME indexing and retrieval
Customer data SPSS, Brio, NuTech Solutions
Data mining eCRM, personalization, eCommerce
Vertical Access Portals
• Set up fee• License fee• Content fee• Everything Yahoo! does, but internal and
external sources
Vertical Content Characteristics
• Bounded content• Distributed• Heterogeneous file types• Staff created or purchased; therefore,
important• Work-related; therefore, ROI an issue• Legacy (old), current (yesterday and today),
and time-sensitive (now)
Verticals a Play
Horizontals and Verticals
Zoom on “Vertical”
Zoom on “Vertical”
A vertical offers a “search” opportunity at each intersection of business function and industry niche.
Personnel and banking
Zoom on “Vertical”
Accounting and banking
Each Silo Contains
Questions …
• One search tool?• Use the search-retrieve-review model?• Learn different systems?• Accept security risks?• Believe marketers’ statements about ROI?• Live with unpredictable software?• Upgrade to obtain acceptable performance?• Live with “just text”?• A wireline connection?
Where We Are
• Search business changing• Horizontal services — disappointing sales• Niches — promising...but tricky
– Targeted solutions– More focused sale– Experience counted in a segment
New Directions
• Demonstrate return on search investment• Integrated with work / leisure activities
– Embedded search– Fits context of the user’s task– Just-in-time delivery (not push)
• Wireless and wireline• Partial solutions…suggestive
Mirror World Technologies
www.scopeware.com
Legacy Data
MWT Wireless Support
All-in-One Work / Embedded Search
• PDA Medic– Emergency medical services– HotSync – The price is $5,000 for five
• EMS Manager is a turnkey personnel tracking software program. – Price: $1,000.
Source: Pen Computer Solutions, January 2001
Vertical Search: In Line and On Point
• Where needed• When needed• Wireline• Wireless -- fixed point and mobile• Near real time -- faster is better
Opportunities
• Data mining + traditional search-and-retrieval• Rendering dynamically generated content • Combining information from multiple sources• Maintaining fresh content• Adapting to the user• Near real-time / high speed• Predictive delivery – “just in time” information
or “in line” information
Arnold Information Technology
• Founded in 1991, small team of specialists
• Provides technology assessment and information engineering services
– Planning– Analysis
• Recent projects:– Wireless for the world’s largest software company– University of Michigan next generation network for Kresge Business
School– Design and planning for U.S. government’s firstgov.gov– Inventory and analysis of Canadian online initiatives– Technical and financial analysis of 24 Application Service Providers
• Contact: [email protected]
Information Technology
ARNOLD
Thank you!
Thank you!