2. Major Problems of Corporate Search Solved by Our Technology

2.1. Introduction

This section lists only 4 major problems solved by the SoftInform technology. It should be noted that not one of the existing technologies provides an efficient solution to any of them.

In the present day and age the main challenge is in delivering the information on our solution to long existing problems to the corporate client, because most of the clients simply do not know that their problems are easily solved with the help of the SoftInform technologies.

2.2. Problem 1. Prompt Search of Required Information

The conventional phrasal search implemented in all existing systems (both desktop and corporate solutions, as well as in the Internet) cope with their task, but the result is far from being satisfactory.  One of the stumbling blocks is the time wasted on selecting key words and viewing useless documents displayed in the final lists of search results by a not quite correct query word (phrase). Searching documents with a similar content  implemented in software based on SoftInform Search Technology cuts down the time spent on searching the required information to the minimum, providing accurate similarity results and displaying the list of documents in a convenient format.

In other words, we are not talking about a system that will be the fastest to react to the query (1 second instead of 5 seconds). We are saying that you will have to go over a much smaller amount of texts in order to find just the information you need.

For example, you need to find documents (in particular, news) on acquisitions by some IT companies of their competitors or prospective firms stored in your informational system or database. The conventional procedure looks as follows: you type in the phrase "acquiring company" and get a huge list of documents (though not necessarily exactly what you were looking for). Further on, you will find the document you were looking for in the 10th place. Having looked through this document you understand that it would be a good idea to try searching by phrases "companies merger" and "company acquisition", etc. As a result you end up thinking up more key phrases for searching and processing an enormous number of documents.

But when you use the SoftInform technology, as soon as you find the required document just click  button "find documents with a similar content", and you will immediately see a relevant list of documents dedicated specifically to the required topic (with a similar content). Thus, instead of wasting several hours on searching the required information (browsing through the list of results and trying new key phrases) you can do it all within a matter of a few minutes.

2.3. Problem 2. Fuzziness of Informational Content

A database or an information system of an enterprise may contain documents from various sources, containing similar or identical information. The same text may appear under different headlines, with slight changes or amendments, which will make it quite difficult to find it. For example, a database may contain two or three similar documents virtually identical by content, but with different headlines and slight  alterations in the text itself. And what about those situations when one expert will comment on document #1, while another expert comments on document #2, and so on! First of all, it means double work (why comment two or three times on the same document?). Second of all, further on (if, say, the comments are different) part of the processes or added information may never be seen again. SoftInform Search Technology provides a perfect solution to this problem: when an operator adds a new document to the database, by means of the similar search tool he can determine in an instant whether this document is new or whether it duplicates a file already existing in the database.

2.4. Problem 3. Generating Similarity Report on Document Already Existing in the Database

It is not uncommon to find duplicating documents in the informational database of an enterprise, provided from different sources or added by different people.  As a rule, information is accumulated over years; therefore, in order to use all strengths of the SearchInform technology to the full extent, you have to rid your system of unnecessary duplicates. Practice shows that those unit managers who have done this job are stunned at the disorder that was deeply set in their organization of data processing.

In order to find duplicates and unnecessary "similar" files SoftInform Search Technology uses the similarity analysis report feature. By the way, the process is dozens of times shorter than conventional comparison. For example, comparing documents in an informational database that contains, say, several millions of documents will take about a month. But with the similarity analysis report feature not more than a day!

2.5. Problem 4. Consolidating Information from Various Sources

This problem deserves separate consideration. As the bulk of the surrounding information grows, it becomes more and more relevant. Large enterprises have to invest a lot of efforts into combining information from various systems into a single one. In addition to the high cost of developing a new solution, another major problem is deploying this solution at the enterprise. This, in its turn, may be quite painful for the management during a certain period upon deployment. Our technology and information systems developed on its basis are called to solve this problem absolutely painlessly for the enterprise.

SoftInform Search Technology is first and foremost a corporate tool for searching information in the local network of an enterprise (documents of virtually any format), information systems, DBMS, CRM and so on. A major strength of our solution is consolidation of information from various sources. SoftInform Search Technology incorporates a system of rubrication (a fast and convenient tool for categorizing any documents by the required topics) and automatic categorization of documents, namely, automatic distribution of new documents by the existing rubrics according to the general similarity principle. Such an approach to organizing and consolidating data allows structuring informational components of any large enterprise within the framework of one application. And you won't have to convert documents and data into some single format. All information available for indexing and further search can be categorized, structured and conveniently displayed.

Due to such an approach the SoftInform technologies are without any problems built over the already functioning  informational systems of the enterprise and allow solving all issues on consolidating and searching information from various subsystems without having to re-organize the whole informational infrastructure of the enterprise.

This ability makes it quite easy to deploy the SoftInform technologies at virtually any large enterprise at minimal cost. Undoubtedly, the expenditure will be much greater than deploying  box solutions from SoftInform, but will yield much more benefit for the enterprise. In essence it is a custom development of a new information system of an enterprise that will incorporate in it all of the already existing solutions.

2.6. Integration

The SearchInform System is easily integrated into the informational structure of an enterprise connecting to various data sources and having a client-server architecture. Deploying SearchInform won't require changing the existing business processes and will allow the company to save the efforts it has invested into the already existing informational infrastructure. At the same time the system combines isolated corporate applications and data into a single information system, thus resulting in a more efficient solution to business tasks.
It goes without saying that the cost of deploying SearchInform is much higher than the cost of the box version, but it is this type of custom development tailored to specific purposes that allows employing all features originally provided in the technology and software delivered by SoftInform.

As soon as we receive an order for deploying a project based on SoftInform Search Technology, our experts will carry out an informational audit of the information database of your enterprise and draw up the range of functions for the future system with the view of maximum simplification of its development and deployment.