At Attivio, we align with channel partners who have deep industry expertise, and we think of our partners as an extension of our team. We are pleased to welcome a new partner to our circle of influence: MC+A.
We had a chance to catch up with Michael Cizmar, Managing Director, of MC+A, and ask him a few questions.
JZ: Tell me about MC+A.
MC: I founded MC+A in 2004 after a post “dot com” sabbatical to Brazil. MC+A is a boutique consulting firm focused on search and search derivative technologies since before it was cool. We help our clients deliver better experiences that happen to be driven by search.
JZ: Your website says, “Changing the way you find answers and insights.” How do you do that?
Google has announced that it’s sunsetting the Google Search Appliance. Are you using it? Microsoft is sunsetting FAST. Are you using it?
Here’s the thing. The search market is changing, and the vendors know it. That’s why you are seeing major changes in the traditional search market. More importantly, though, you are noticing that traditional search simply isn’t giving you the information you need.
Traditional search was good, it indexed content and allowed you to perform quick searches. But it’s not that straightforward today. The amount of information you collect and create in your company is growing. It’s stored in multiple repositories and business systems. Some of it is secure and can only be seen by certain people.
No matter what search technology an organization uses, replacing it can disrupt normal operations. Even if employees are dissatisfied—complaining every other day to IT about how slow it is or user unfriendly—the old system is familiar.
Of course, sometimes a search solution must be replaced because the vendor stops supporting it. A good example would be HP selling off its intelligent data operating layer (IDOL) product, a.k.a. Autonomy, to Micro Focus. Who knows what they’ll do with it?
Attivio joined search colleagues in DC November 14-17 for KMWorld’s Enterprise Search and Discovery Summit. From their strategic location at the show’s Enterprise Solutions Showcase, CTO Will Johnson enjoyed meeting IT professionals, customers, partners, and vendors from across the US, demoing the Attivio platform, sharing customer success stories, and talking to folks about what’s hot and what’s not in search right now over cocktails after the show. Common topics included GSA replacement, knowledge management struggling to achieve its vision, and the continuing emergence of cognitive search.
Search professionals from across the nation are gathering in Washington DC this week for the Enterprise Search and Discovery Summit at KMWorld. For some, the looming abandonment of Google’s Search Appliance (GSA) solution will be a topic of discussion.
When Google announced plans to withdraw its appliance from the market earlier this year, many companies found themselves catapulted into a time-sensitive hunt for a Google search appliance replacement and upgrade. According to this CMSWire story, the clock is ticking and “you could have from 12 to 24 months before your search servers become bright yellow room warmers” and that’s not even factoring in the time to investigate, test, and implement a new solution.
Stranger: “What does that mean? It’s something with computers, right?”
When I’m introduced to someone, this conversation is typical. I’ve been in various technical presales positions for more than ten years. I’ve built a career on my ability to engineer solutions to prove both business and technical value to all manner of companies. But more importantly, I’ve built my career on my ability to confidently answer technical and business-oriented questions.
Common Questions
In my role as a solutions architect, I answer questions all day, every day. Here are some of the most common inquiries I get:
Google’s recent announcement that it would discontinue support for the Google Search Appliance (GSA), in favor of a cloud-based implementation for its Google Search for Work offering seems to suggest a dilemma for enterprise architects. But the dilemma is false and enterprise application developers don’t have to make a choice between a migration to the cloud or a future spent managing open source solutions (OSS) ...
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