In the Blogs

Coveo is showing G2B, its information access suite. Gives metadata down the side, for faceted search ...

It allows Coveo Enterprise Search (CES) to crawl and index the content of a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or 2007 installation. Furthermore, it offers a more efficient search than Microsoft Exchange’s built-in search components

Coveo’s system works across different mobile devices, requires no third-party viewers, delivers low-latency access when searching, evidenced no rendering issues, and provided access to contacts and attachments as well as the text in an email. When compared to email search solutions from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo–Coveo’s new service provided a more robust and functional service. Beyond Search identified 13 features that set G2B apart.

Chris Bucholtz from Inside CRM highlights Coveo's move to bring search to CRM and Customer Service: What if you could do a search of your CRM system – and your ERP system, corporate intranet, tech support emails and customer support databases – and pull out specific details that apply to your customer, and do it in real-time? That’s the thrust behind Coveo's G2B for CRM, the limited availability of which was officially announced this morning. Coveo has worked on enterprise search tools in the past, and only recently came to the realization that a search product tuned for CRM could have a ready audience.

Getting all the data you need into a CRM system is important, obviously, but only because it later allows you to take that information out and do something with it. In many cases, that means generating a report, then looking up the nugget of information you’re looking for. But what if it could be done more easily? What if you could do a search of your CRM system – and your ERP system, corporate intranet, tech support emails and customer support databases – and pull out specific details that apply to your customer, and do it in real-time?

As companies search for the holy grail of a "single view" of the customer, Coveo Solutions, Inc., which provides search-powered enterprise information access, has unveiled its Coveo G2B for CRM, a way to provide a view of all relevant customer data from a wide variety of sources. G2B for CRM brings together data from such sources as salesforce.com, corporate intranets, tech support emails, customer support databases, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Most licensees of enterprise search systems don’t know how many documents the system must index. Coveo can handle more than 1,000,000,000 documents. Even fewer search system licensees know that many enterprise search systems have hard limits on how many documents a system can index before choking, sometimes expiring without warning. For example, Microsoft SharePoint has a hard limit significantly below the Coveo billion document target. Microsoft acquired Fast Search & Transfer, in part, to have a work around for this scaling problem. Coveo’s G2B Information Access solutions deliver security, relevant results, and very strong ease of use. You can “snap in” Coveo to SharePoint, Documentum environments without custom coding. For more information, navigate to the Coveo Web site. A free trial is available.

The Fast Search deal is going to have to show some sizzle. At the recent Enterprise Search Summit, I stopped by the Microsoft exhibit and asked about search. I was told SharePoint was quite good. I asked about Fast Search and I was told that Fast Search had a booth. I asked, “Please, show me the Fast ESP system running on a SharePoint system.” The nice Microsoft person said, “I don’t have that information.” So, no FAST logo in the Microsoft booth and no demo that I could see. Keep in mind that there were vendors such as BA-Insight, Coveo and ISYS Search Software, among others, showing potential buyers SharePoint search systems that worked, scaled, and delivered the nifty metatagging so much in demand.

The tagline that I relished was Vivisimo’s “Search Done Right.” These three words made me salivate–nifty on-the-fly clustering and a niggling memory of a properly-prepared cut of Kobe beef. Coveo spoke directly to me with its catchphrase, “People with Knowledge Drive Business.” Yes, yes.

Enterprise search system vendors assert that their technology delivers this type of solution. In most cases, these systems have to be slathered with money, time, and programming to conform to this definition of search. Many organizations want to buy intelligence, but these organizations lack the resources to make their dream come true. Example: Coveo, ISYS Search Software, SAS, Siderean Software.

Information needs in an organization are dynamic. Big Name systems require time-consuming coddling. Speed wins. Little wonder that hot, up and coming system vendors like Coveo, ISYS Search Software, Siderean Software, and a handful of others are experiencing strong sales.

A large number of mid-sized companies look at Autonomy, Endeca, and Fast Search and up and coming firms like Coveo, ISYS Search Software, and Siderean Software. In many cases, the Big Three are too expensive, too complex, and too needy of on going technical babysitting to be a good match for the mid sized firm’s overworked systems staff. Up and coming vendors of search are making significant headway in the mid market.

“Not only did Coveo’s technology meet the challenge with an easy and quick implementation, but their sales and support team was extremely responsive and there with me every step of the way.”

Coveo has been successful in moving “beyond search” with its interface and assisted-search interface. But the company has also won key accounts where vendors such as RightNow, Oracle, and others have long held sway. Coveo, based in frosty Québec City, Québec, continues to innovate despite the long winters and endless hockey season.

I found this article really interesting, because it talks about the new product that is coming out in market. Coveo solutions has released a limited of Coveo G2B for email. The company claims that Coveo G2B is the only email searching product that deliver unified search across both live and archived email from any desktop, or any mobile device.

I talked yesterday with enterprise search vendor Coveo. Here are some highlights. Coveo spun out of Copernic a few years ago. The only relationship between the companies now is that Coveo licenses Copernic’s desktop search product. Coveo has 60 employees. Coveo has 5-600 customers, including lots of big-name companies. Coveo’s pitch boils down to “inexpensive, easy to install, and no-apologies functionality.” Actually, Coveo also claims superior relevance and performance, but I’m not going to comment much on those until I have a chance for a more technical discussion.