BroadVision, Inc. (Pink Sheets:BVSN) announced a product roadmap for the next 12 months. The roadmap includes new products including an e-business framework with modular web services, agile development toolsets, a companion implementation methodology, a vertical application, an on-demand strategy, and the general availability of QuickSilver 3.0, the newest version of BroadVision’s e-publishing solution. BroadVision Kona Application Services is a library of modular web services including: e-Commerce solutions for transacting business online through B2B and B2C channels; Portal solutions; Content Management solutions to give business users control over the quality of information as they create, manage and publish content to e-business applications; and Process Management, a solution to develop and deploy user-centric self-service processes as well as task-centric workflow processes. Kukini is a new toolset incorporating XML, Web 2.0-based user experiences and packaged as an extension module to the Eclipse interactive development environment, Kukini leverages Kona’s core capabilities such as the BroadVision Process technology and yet is independent of the Kona engine. BroadVision Kukini is scheduled for general availability in the second quarter of 2007. BroadVision QuickSilver provides features for creation and publishing of lengthy, complex documents supporting multiple output formats (including HTML, PDF, and Postscript) and automatic publishing of personalized content to BroadVision Portal solutions. QuickSilver 3.0, available immediately, delivers a number of new features including Unicode support and improved support for XML authoring. http://www.broadvision.com
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Hot Banana Software, Inc. announced that it has launched Version 5.5, which integrates Web site optimization and marketing automation features. The company also made significant changes to its SaaS and licensed pricing, focusing on small-to-midsized marketers. The company’s new release, Hot Banana Version 5.5, focuses on three areas: (1) Web content management, empowering marketers to build Web sites and take control of their content; (2) Web site optimization, giving marketers the tools they need to fine-tune the marketing performance of their sites; and (3) marketing automation tools for capturing Web site visitors, turning them into qualified leads and transferring the leads to CRM systems. The Web CMS integrates third-party Web analytics, email marketing and CRM solutions. It also consolidates all the capabilities from Hot Banana’s formerly optional Active Marketing Suite into one core product. The company has made its pricing structure more affordable, creating a three-tier model based on usage: one to five users, six to 25 users and unlimited users. Hot Banana SaaS, the company’s hosted offering, starts at only $329 per month, while Hot Banana Licensed Software starts at $4,999. The most expensive package is a licensed-software offering that handles an unlimited number of users and URLs for only $27,999. As part of its re-positioning strategy, Hot Banana has re-launched its own corporate Web site using Version 5.5, at http://www.hotbanana.com.
MindTouch announced that its MindTouch Deki commercial wiki software has received the VMware Certified Virtual Appliance certification. With this designation, MindTouch Deki is deemed compatible with VMware’s entire product line, including VMware Player, VMware Workstation, VMware Server and VMware ESX. MindTouch Deki is a business wiki that installs in minutes, giving corporate workgroups the ability to share information and collaborate almost instantly and securely on their own networks. It is a complete pre-installed, pre-configured application and operating system that runs on any Windows or Linux machine. From small departments to large enterprises, MindTouch Deki runs atop the VMware Player or any product from VMware. It also enables content portability whereby users can move both the wiki application and its content from machine to machine, even to removable storage devices up to 100 Gigabytes. MindTouch Deki is free for the first five users and is designed for on-demand scalability. The free license does not include software updates and fixes, support or certain advanced features, such as Outlook Connector. A full product license (for five users) starts at $995. http://www.mindtouch.com
MIT, Wharton, Pearson, and Shared Insights have developed a very interesting project. They have set up a wiki allowing a community of people to write a business book that will be published by Pearson in the fall. The overall premise is that communities can augment or even replace certain traditional business efforts. Marketing has emerged as the leading area for such efforts. I wrote a short section on the power of word of mouth in service marketing. The preliminary results will be shared at the Community 2.0 conference next week in Las Vegas.
SpringCM announced the availability of SpringCM Version 3.7 which incorporates more integrated collaboration, meeting, routing and transfer capabilities. Users access SpringCM through a Web interface, and use the system to automate work order and invoicing processes, improve access to data and documents, and streamline workflow. The new features in SpringCM Version 3.7 include the following, and are available to current subscribers at no additional cost: Web Publishing Tools – Direct access to public folders enhances Web publishing capabilities; Addressable Fax & E-Mail Folders – Policies and rules associated with the folders allow for the direct submission and processing of incoming documents, such as invoices, expense reports, credentialing documents and contracts; Roles and Permissions – New permissions and metadata capabilities provide more flexibility and security in controlling who has authority to access documents and when; WebDAV Support – Technology enables dragging and dropping of documents to transfer them to specific locations; Web Services for Workflow – Web services provide integrated access to workflow system information; Editing Enhancements – New tools enable quick document markup and editing capabilities. The new version of SpringCM is available now. http://www.springcm.com/
SearchBlox Software, Inc. has released SearchBlox Content Search Software Version 4.0 with replication support and a completely re-designed AJAX-based Admin Console. The new release also supports hit highlighting of search terms in HTML and PDF documents. The replication feature, available in SearchBlox ENTERPRISE Edition, keeps search indexes in multiple instances of SearchBlox synchronized. Using the new replication feature, search applications can be deployed using multiple instances of SearchBlox. The new release also features a new AJAX-based Admin Console which makes the management of SearchBlox Content Search Software more interactive. The new UI hides the complexities of managing the built-in HTTP, File system and RSS crawlers and makes the software accessible to novice users. SearchBlox is 100% Java and uses the open source Apache Lucene search API. SearchBlox supports indexing and searching of content in 37 languages and can be deployed on any platform that supports Java. It been tested on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, UNIX, IBM AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, and z/OS operating systems. SearchBlox can be deployed as a J2EE Web Component to all major J2EE Application Servers including BEA Weblogic, JBoss, IBM Websphere, Oracle OAS, JRun and Apache Tomcat. It is also available as a standalone server for Windows, Mac OS X and Unix/Linux platforms. The SearchBlox Free Edition is available free of charge and can index up to 1000 documents. The software can be downloaded from http://www.searchblox.com/.
I recently spoke about language needs with a person who works in a multinational company. She mentioned that although English was the official corporate language, and all employees in different countries spoke it, issues arose when non-native speakers communicated with each other. The problem was not with special terminology, which everyone knew well, but rather with an incorrect tone of the message.
My native Finnish is a good example of a language which is quite different from e.g. Latin languages. We use a lot of the passive tone, and rather straightforward sentences, with little or no flourishes. When “translated” literally e.g. into English, the message can sound curt or commanding, due to lack of words like “please”, “I would like to…” etc. A Finn could happily say “I want a steak” in a restaurant, without thinking that it sounds different from “Could I have a steak, please”. On the other hand, a Finn would find a typical US user manual with its extremely exact instructions almost offensive to his or her intelligence.
A translator or an interpreter knows such cultural differences and takes them into account. But an increasing number of people communicates daily with each other in a non-native language. (All the worse when the communication is done mainly via email, where short sentences, typos and too many recipients on the cc: line add to the problem!) Knowing the special terminology is essential, but not enough. This also means that companies need to think about testing the language skills of their employees, and about giving them language and cultural training. After all, a satisfied customer would expect to hear not just the right words, but the right message.
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