Mobile exalead-whitepaper-a4-8-lw

Are You Ready for the Mobile Enterprise?

Accelerate Your Strategy with aSearch-Based Infrastructure and

Search-Based Applications

ST Groupe & Exalead Whitepaper

MOBILE

1 The Mobile Enterprise: A Consumer-Led Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

2 Rule #1: Mobile’s Not a Just Another Channel, It’s a Different World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

3 The Challenge: Enterprise IT is from Mars, Mobile is from Venus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

4 The Search-Based Application Architecture for Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

5 Usability: Agile Interface, Unified Access, Pertinent Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

6 SBAs: The Right Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

7 ST Groupe’s SBA Platform of Choice: Exalead CloudView . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

8 The Three Approaches to Mobile Application Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

9 Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

7.1 GEFCO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

7.2 Groupe Randstad France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

10 End Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE MOBILE ENTERPRISE: A CONSUMER-LED EVOLUTION

Just as consumer-led demand has reshaped the manufacturing sector—ushering in an

era of just-in-time production and mass personalization of goods, and redefining relation-

ships between suppliers, manufacturers and customers—so now employees are taking

center stage in making the long-awaited Mobile Enterprise a reality.

Employees are, after all, consumers, and consumers are crazy about mobile technolo-

gies. IDC expects shipments of application-capable, non-PC mobile devices (smart-

phones, media tablets, personal digital assistants, netbooks, etc.) to outnumber PC

shipments within the next 18 months, and forecasts that nearly 25 billion mobile apps will

be downloaded in 2011, up from just over 10 billion in 2010.1 And while enterprises work

to formulate strategic mobility plans that go beyond RFID scanners and mobile email,

these consumer-employees are heading to the office armed with their own mobile

devices.

Led by C-level executives, more than half of all workers are already using their personal

mobile devices to conduct business at home, on the road and at their desks, repurposing

consumer applications for business use, downloading a growing array of business appli-

cations from iTunes and other app stores, and putting pressure on IT for greater mobile

access to enterprise assets and applications.

Accordingly, we believe now is the time for organizations to move beyond the whiteboard

and begin implementing an effective mobile enterprise plan. Those who act swiftly stand

to gain a significant advantage over more reactionary competitors. To succeed however,

one needs to not only react swiftly, but appropriately. This requires crafting a mobile

enterprise strategy that recognizes the disruptive nature of the mobile world.

RULE #1: MOBILE’S NOT A JUST ANOTHER CHANNEL, IT’S A DIFFERENT WORLD

More powerful processors, better browsers, high-bandwidth 3G networks, and cross-

Wi-Fi /cellular data access have collectively made smartphones, tablets and netbooks via-

ble platforms for enterprise applications. However, no matter how powerful their proces-

sors or fast and reliable their connectivity, mobile devices are not mini-PCs. They are

disruptive tools that are redefining the ways in which we interact with information. We

find these new generation devices part company with their PC counterparts in seven key

ways:

• 24/7 Connectivity: More affordable fixed data plans and expanded network coverage

are facilitating anytime, anywhere connectivity, and forever changing our expectations

for fully contextual, on-demand access to information.

• Local Context: Enabled by GPS, A-GPS (Assisted GPS), and augmented reality

browsers (e.g., Layar), mobile technologies bring location-based context to interactions.

Beyond classic routing and mapping, location data can be used to significantly boost

the pertinence and timeliness of information delivery.

• New Ways of Sharing: Mobile devices bring an active, physical dimension to

information sharing, with devices so small and light they can be freely passed around

as a means of exchanging information. It’s a capacity that both encourages

collaboration and brings a new degree of spontaneity to it. In a related twist, the small

size of devices like smartphones, together with the use of SIM cards, even enables

them to do double duty as devices like debit/credit cards and subway passes, in addi-

tion to the multimedia functions outlined below.

• Extensive Multimedia Usage: Mobile devices are enabling unprecedented integration

of multimedia into interactions, supported by more powerful processors and higher

speed networks, and encouraged by technologies like mobile image capture, video

capture, video conferencing, audio recording, and bar code scanning.

Page 1ST Groupe & Exalead Whitepaper: Are You Ready For The Mobile Enterprise? v 1.0 © 2011 Exalead & ST Groupe

Forrester forecastsenterprise mobileusers will represent73% of the U.S.workforce by 2012,including 25% who arenot officially ‘mobile’yet want to use theirpersonal mobiledevices to accesscorporate applications.Worldwide, IDC expectsthe mobile workerpopulation to hit 1.19billion in 2013,accounting for 34.9% ofthe global workforce(75% in Japan and theUS, and 50% inEurope). 2

82% of U.S. businessexecutives use asmartphone, and 65%of them are willing touse mobile devices tomake businesspurchases.

Oct 2010DigitalTrends Survey 3

ARE YOU READY FOR THE MOBILE ENTERPRISE?

• New Ways of Interacting: With PCs, one uses a mouse and keyboard to navigate

through a high volume of data. With a large, high-resolution monitor (or dual monitors),

users can keep a dozen applications open at once – a necessity given information silos.

With mobile devices, one moves sequentially through more limited data sets in a visual

or physical way, employing mouse-less navigation and input tools like touch screens,

pens, pads, rockers, trackballs, voice commands and motion detectors (accelerometers).

• Primacy of Search: While the use of mobile devices for e-commerce is on the rise, in

a non-entertainment context they are used primarily for rapid information search and

retrieval rather than data entry and transaction processing. And in a search context,

while virtual or physical keyboards may be used to enter text in a Web-style text box,

application developers must find ways to accommodate search and retrieval using the

alternative tools above.

• Social Decision Making: Facebook is the number one iPhone application, and social

networking occupies the number three spot after music and games in the list of top

smartphone uses.5 And, most consumer mobile applications whose primary purpose is

not social networking are nonetheless written to interact with social networks. There-

fore, mobile technologies are habituating users to continual social interaction, setting

the stage for high adoption of collaboration and social decision-making in the enterprise

mobile arena.

Collectively, these capabilities produce a novel and highly engaging user experience. It is

an experience that is so appealing and intuitive that mobile devices are now poised to

eclipse PCs as the preferred method of accessing the Internet, with many users opting to

go online via their mobile device even when they’re seated right in front of a PC.6

For businesses, this means simply rolling out small screen versions of existing enterprise

applications will not satisfy your users, help you achieve significant productivity gains, or

give you a strategic competitive advantage. It’s essential to develop applications that take

advantage of the unique capabilities of these devices and the new types of interaction

they support.

If one can find a way to port the consumer mobile experience to enterprise applications,

employees, customers, and partners could reap significant benefits from:

• Anywhere, anytime access to pertinent, real-time enterprise data

• Rapid, zero-training information retrieval, and

• Natural, human modes of collaborating and of visualizing and sharing information

Those involved in industries and processes heavily dependent on real-time data and

employing the highest percentage of mobile workers are naturally at the front line of those

that could reap the most immediate benefits:

• Logistics

• Inventory Management

• Supply Chain Management

• Healthcare and Medical Services

• Salesforce Automation

• Field Service & Support

But, the range of enterprise data that could benefit these workers and others encom-

passes the full spectrum of enterprise cloud resources, including everything from email to

documents to wide-scope enterprise applications like:

• Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM)

• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data

• Business & Competitive Intelligence

• Product Lifecycle Management

Accordingly, one must not only re-envision applications for the mobile world, one must

find a way to bridge the entire enterprise IS ecosystem with this new mobile world. Given

the incongruous nature of these two worlds, this appears to be a formidable task.


“Compelling valuefrom mobileapplications will notbe delivered byreplicating processesthat are currentlyavailable as desktopapplications.” 4

In a 2010 IBM survey,55% of respondentsexpect mobilesoftware applicationdevelopment forsmartphones andtablet PCs to surpassapplicationdevelopment on allother traditionalcomputing platformsby 2015.8

“Mobile line-of-business applications— such as field serviceand healthcare apps —are the next wave ofmobile applications.” 7

THE CHALLENGE: ENTERPRISE I.T. IS FROM MARS, MOBILE IS FROM VENUS

Beyond a disruptive user experience, the mobile world as a whole is characterized by un-

predictability, rapid change, perpetual innovation and a free flow of information. Enterprise

information systems are characterized by rigidity, control, planning, compartmentalization

(silos) and a slow rate of change. How then can one adapt a rigid, conventional IS eco-

system to meet the unique needs of the mobile enterprise? We see six main challenges:

• Availability

How do you satisfy the need for real-time, 24/7 data access when applications are

routinely taken offline for maintenance and batch updates?

• Scalability

How can you meet the needs of an unpredictable number of users and volume of

traffic?

• Performance

How can you extract sub-second responsiveness from systems that can be slow even

on a local network? And how do you expand information access without straining

existing systems?

• Usability

How do you create interfaces well suited to read-only, search-centered tasks and new

modes of interaction? How do you provide access to all relevant resources without

perpetuating silos? Checking a dozen sources to accomplish a single task is tough in

the enterprise environment, and impossible in a mobile context.

• Adaptability

How do you provide meaningful access to data-intensive applications in bite-size

chunks?

• Security

How do you meet enterprise security needs in a mobile environment?

At ST Groupe, we have worked closely with our clients to examine all options available for

meeting these challenges: developing a Web services framework, creating a new middle-

ware database, deploying a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP), and deploying

a Search-Based Application (SBA) architecture.

A Web services approach could theoretically provide the agility needed for the mobile

enterprise, but it is a complex and structured approach requiring system-wide adaptation

of existing resources.

Developing a new middleware database may satisfy the need for a consolidated data

layer, but such large-scale data integration projects are complex, costly and difficult to

evolve. In addition, such a strategy addresses only data consolidation and not mobile

application development needs.


MOBILE

Mars and Venus: The Mobile World meets The Enterprise

Using a MEAP that offers back-office integration in addition to application development,

deployment and/or management tools could be useful, but they tend to be tied to a single

vendor’s application suite (e.g., MEAPs from SAP and Oracle) or they employ less than

ideal integration strategies: conventional data integration using a relational database, Web

services integration, or ‘pass-through’ connections managed via application programming

interfaces (APIs) or SQL-based tools. Such connections introduce complexity in construc-

ting composite applications, and keep mobile application availability tied to source system

availability.

On the application development front, however, MEAPs can provide helpful toolkits for

OS-specific development (e.g., offerings from Microsoft, Apple and RIM) or for multi-

channel, device- and platform-agnostic development (typically full Web solutions). (See

the Chapter “The Three Approaches to Mobile Application Development” for more on Na-

tive vs. Full Web development.)

However, the final option, the SBA framework, provides the fully independent, consolida-

ted data layer the mobile enterprise requires (without conventional data integration), and it

can aid application development with or without an OS-specific or multi-channel MEAP.

Engineered for high-volume, read-only transactions on the Web against impossible to

forecast traffic, the SBA architecture also offers the scalability, performance and availabi-

lity the mobile enterprise demands.

In our estimation, it is in fact the only technology that can bridge the otherwise incompatible

worlds of Mobility and the Enterprise. Let’s now look more closely at this architecture and

the ways in which it responds to the special challenges of the mobile enterprise.

THE SEARCH-BASED APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE FOR MOBILITY

To construct a search-based mobile architecture, one first deploys a search engine along-

side one’s existing enterprise information cloud. The engine serves as a bridge between

the enterprise and mobile worlds, non-intrusively collecting and processing enterprise

cloud data, and making it available to mobile devices.

First, the engine uses data connectors and crawlers to collect data from structured data

repositories (databases, CRM, ERP, etc.) and unstructured resources (documents, email,

the Web, multimedia files, etc.), and to compile this data into an index. It is a rapid and

automated process. One simply needs to set top-level parameters for the connectors,

and the search engine itself does the hard work of collecting, analyzing, classifying and

updating data.

Once the data layer is created, a built-in interface expressly engineered for information

search and retrieval can be easily adapted for mobile devices, enabling rapid deployment

of search-based mobile applications. Or, custom or packaged mobile applications can

access the data layer directly using standard Web technologies (HTTP, REST, XML, RSS,

SOAP, RDF, OWL, etc.), automatically benefitting from the engine’s unique capabilities

(lightning-fast query processing, automated data aggregation and filtering, full-text search,

fuzzy matching, massive scalability, etc.).


Exalead CloudView’s Mobile SBA Architecture

It is an elegant solution that is as robust and agile as it is simple, and it is ideally suited to

meeting the unique requirements of the mobile enterprise. It is also a solution that can be

rapidly implemented, satisfying the need for a swift response to user (and market) de-

mands for mobile enterprise services.

Availability: 24/7, Real-Time Access

First, the data layer the search engine creates is completely independent from and non-

intrusive upon source systems. This ensures that essential data is available 24/7, even if

a particular source system is offline. One can also add or remove source systems on the

fly without having to rebuild the index, further bolstering availability. As an added benefit,

the layer also provides a convenient source of data that can be cached on devices to

ensure service continuity when Wi-Fi or cellular access is unavailable.

Second, the SBA architecture enables complete control over data freshness. The engine

can use push or pull strategies for incrementally updating the index, and the frequency of

updates can be set individually for data sources. Updates can be set for regular intervals

(quasi-real time, every minute, daily, etc.), or performed only on request from an applica-

tion. Updated data in the index is then available to users in real time.

Scalability: Easy, Unlimited Scaling

Search engines were expressly engineered for read-only access to high volumes of data

by large numbers of users. Their column-oriented index structure, flexible document

model, distributed architecture and request processing techniques equip them to scale to

virtually any number of users or volume of data. With the right engine, such scaling is

also rapid and hassle free. One can scale infinitely simply by adding on commodity

servers, with no painful data migration or system rebuild required.

Performance: Sub-Second Responsiveness, Non-Intrusiveness

The same characteristics that give SBAs their massive scalability also enable their high

performance. Index-based SBAs process requests 100s of times faster than relational da-

tabase systems. SBAs can deliver sub-second responsiveness even against staggering

volumes of data (billions of records and petabytes of data) for thousands of simultaneous

users.

And because the engine in essence decouples data from underlying systems, mobile

users can benefit from this sub-second responsiveness even if source systems are pain-

fully slow to interact with inside the firewall. In fact, SBAs can even improve the behind-

the-firewall performance of these source systems by offloading read-only access

requests, freeing resources for ‘write’ transactions. It is a highly efficient, write-once, read-

unlimited-times strategy.

USABILITY: AGILE INTERFACE, UNIFIED ACCESS, PERTINENT DATA

Due in large part to the influence of the Web, search has become the dominant mode of

retrieving and navigating information in almost all user contexts. It is therefore only natu-

ral that search should play a central role in enterprise mobile applications, where simple,

rapid access to information is a requirement, not an option. And thanks to users’ familia-

rity with search, SBAs are usable without training.

In addition to this innate usability born of familiarity, SBAs offer extended usability through

an agile interface and unified, contextual information access.

Agility

Whether designed for tablets or smartphones, SBA interfaces are very flexible, perfor-

ming well even in low bandwidth environments, accommodating both small smartphone

screens and larger tablet displays, and supporting navigation by touch, keyboard and

other input mechanisms.

This navigational flexibility is aided in part by the automatic generation of facet-based

navigation. Facets are dynamic data categories and clusters that can be used as an alter-

native to text boxes as a means of searching and navigating through data: a mode well

suited to keyboard-free maneuvering.


MOBILE

In addition, one has great flexibility in how facets and data are visualized: tag clouds,

sliders, wheels, charts, graphs and other methods of visualizing data are all inherently

supported.

Unified Access

The SBA engine uses semantic and statistical processing to meaningfully aggregate

cross-silo data so users can benefit from a holistic view of information without having to

consult multiple applications. The engine can also make multimedia content exploitable

through technologies like content-based image retrieval (CBIR), in which a computer in-

dependently analyzes and classifies the content of images, and independent audio/video

transcript generation, classification and indexation.

Pertinent Data

The ease with which you can construct mashups with SBA platforms also enables you to

deliver more pertinent information. Mashups meaningfully aggregate data on the fly at

query time, meaning enterprise cloud data can be integrated with external data like Web

or social media content and GPS data to deliver highly contextual information.

In short, an SBA hides away the complexity and scale of information systems and deli-

vers to users exactly what they need, in a form they can immediately digest. This is

exactly what task-based mobile usage demands.

Adaptability: Big Data in Small Streams

Search engines also offer a unique advantage in adapting high volume information sys-

tems to the small message sizes dictated by mobile networks. A search engine by design

uses ranking and relevancy mechanisms to deliver only the most pertinent data for a

given request.

Consider a search engine on the Web: the base of available data may encompass billions

of pages, but only a handful of relevant sources are delivered in an HTML page of just a

few kilobytes. Users then move through result sets in a sequential yet rapid way to refine

or redirect their search. This capacity for rapid, sequential navigation of highly relevant

data is tailor made for delivering big-pipe data across tiny channels.


Security

The use of an SBA platform helps you enforce existing security rules without impacting

the mobile user experience. The SBA platform enables security to be managed at the

infrastructure level (in the search engine itself) rather than at the application layer. Data-

level security is achieved using Access Control Lists. Internal and external network

interactions are protected via secured standards (AES, HTTPS).

At indexing time, information regarding the users and their rights is appended as meta-

data to index entries for data, documents and resources. Read rights can then be ins-

tantly checked at the index level (with source applications consulted in the case of write

and execute requests). This boosts scalability and performance and permits you to pro-

vide users with the convenience of single sign-on access for all resources while enforcing

source-specific rules.

For the user, the platform behaves as though it had only crawled and indexed the content

authorized for that particular user. It not only blocks access to unauthorized documents,

but also to the titles, summaries, document previews and other metadata associated with

those documents. And, the platform as a whole can be configured to respond in real time

to changes in user permissions and rights.

SBAs: THE RIGHT CHOICE

Given all these unique capabilities, it is clear that only an SBA architecture can effectively

bridge the enterprise and mobile worlds. It endows enterprise information systems with

the availability, scalability, performance and security mobile usage requires. It delivers the

agile interface, unified access, pertinent information and rich collaboration suited to the

new modes of interacting being forged in the mobile arena.

And, it provides the high level of agility the mobile enterprise demands, with the capacity

to rapidly create and modify applications, to deliver big data in optimal message sizes,

and to scale to any volume of data or number of users.

In summary, it meets both the vertical and horizontal needs we address within our global

approach to developing mobile applications:

• Vertical (infrastructure) needs: information access and routing should be ultra-

efficient and consistent with the usage conditions of the mobile environment.

• Horizontal (business) needs: the information delivered must be relevant to a particular

business task or workflow, and users need to be able to distill that body of information

in a rapid and pertinent way.

Thus, in our view, the SBA approach is perfectly adapted to the construction of solutions

satisfying all these prerequisites. However, not all search engines are SBA capable, and

not all SBA-capable engines are equal. To succeed, one must choose the right SBA

platform.

We have extensively studied the offerings in the search marketplace, and the Exalead

CloudView search engine is undoubtedly the superior choice for SBA development in

general, and for enabling the mobile enterprise in particular.


MOBILE

ST GROUPE’S SBA PLATFORM OF CHOICE: EXALEAD CLOUDVIEW

ST Groupe’s analysis of leading open source and commercial enterprise search platforms

revealed that Exalead CloudView is clearly the market’s top SBA platform:

• It is the only enterprise search platform developed simultaneously for the Web and the

enterprise, enabling it to apply advanced semantic processing to Web-scale volumes of

data while delivering exceptional usability

• It is ideally engineered to enable information access, discovery and analysis in a cloud

environment

• It offers equally adept analysis and processing of both unstructured and structured

data, with a unique capacity to transform unstructured data (documents, email, etc.)

into structured data and to meaningfully connect it with existing structured data (data

bases, CRM, ERP, SCM, etc.)

• It features unique administrative tools that accelerate development and facilitate

management, like a drag-and-drop mash-up builder and WYSIWYG control over data

relevancy and ranking

To date, ST Groupe has deployed Exalead CloudView in a number of highly successful

SBAs for both mobile and non-mobile channels, including applications for clients such as

Gefco, Acacia and Randstad/Vediorbis. Some of these SBAs are highlighted in the Case

Studies chapter which follows the review of mobile application development approaches

presented in the next section.

We invite you to call us today to discuss which of these approaches is best for your orga-

nization, and to learn more about Exalead CloudView and the role that SBAs can play in

helping you realize your mobile enterprise.


Exalead CloudView’s Triple Advantage over Competitors

Performance• Massive scalability• Sub-second responsiveness• Low TCO

Usability • Simple, Web-style search• Dynamic, contextual navigation• Easy configuration & management

Agility• Deploys in days or weeks• Evolves as source data evolves• Open, standards-based framework

THE THREE APPROACHES TO MOBILE APPLICATION DESIGN

Mobile technologies have evolved to the point that you can now develop feature-rich soft-

ware applications for mobile devices using sophisticated, modern development tech-

niques. But what design and implementation strategy should you choose given your

constraints and expectations? How can you be sure to get the most out of targeted de-

vices? How can you be sure your application is truly usable? The following table ad-

dresses these questions in summarizing the main approaches to developing applications

for smartphones and tablets.


MOBILE

Strategy As-Is Use ofExisting WebApplication

Full WebDevelopment

Native DeviceDevelopment

What is it? An existing Webapplication is madeavailable to mobileusers, without anymodifications for mobileusage.

Application specificallydesigned for mobiledevices. Developed andaccessed via standardWeb technologies.

Application specificallydesigned for mobiledevices. Developed andaccessed usingOS/device specifictechnologies.

Target Audience Existing enterpriseusers - unlikely to winnew users. Noassurance of cross-device compatibility.

Device/OS-agnosticapproach that cansupport one or multipleaudiences using avariety of terminals.

Serves only users of thetargeted platform(s). Nocross-devicecompatibility withoutfurther specificdevelopment.

Performance Performance likelyperceived as degradedin mobile context.

Performance can beoptimized for mobileenvironment.

Performance can beoptimized for mobileenvironment.

Graphical UserInterface (GUI)

GUI not optimized formobile devices; may bedifficult to navigate;content may beinaccessible.

With the right designapproach andoptimization strategies,one can develop a veryresponsive GUI anddeliver a successfuluser experience.

Can use platform SDKkits to construct simpleUIs. Can extensivelycustomize GUI to delivera rich user experience.

Device-SpecificInteraction (GPS,gyroscope,accelerometer, camera,printers, scanners, etc.)

None. Can interact nativelywith principal terminalhardware/softwarefeatures. Can extendinteraction as neededwith extensions ornative code wrappers(adds some complexity).

Platform SDKs containAPIs with everythingneeded to interact withall the hardware andsoftware features of theterminal. Optimizationstill required to ensure asuccessful userexperience.

TechnicalImplementation

No separateimplementation.

Developed using HTML5, CSS 3 and JavaScript.Relatively easydevelopment usingstandard skill sets.

Programming language(Java, Objective-C,JavaScript, etc.)depends on targetedplatform andapplication. Generallymore complexdevelopment requiringmore specialized skills.

Relationship to SBAs An SBA provides analternative to as-is useof existing applications.

SBA provides dataaggregation andinformation search,access, and reportingfunctionality that can beincorporated into anyprogrammingenvironment. SBAwidgets can bedeveloped using HTML 5and CSS 3.

SBA provides dataaggregation andinformation search,access, and reportingfunctionality that can beincorporated into anyprogrammingenvironment.

Our Recommendation To be avoided if possible.Better to deploy an SBAwith light customizationof out-of-the-box GUI.

A good choice fororganizations targetingmultiple audiences orseeking maximumportability and flexibility.User experience cansatisfy most B2B needs.

A good choice fororganizationsstandardized to aparticular device/OS andpossessing the requisiteskill sets. Maximizesuse of device featuresbut restricts agility.

"Mobile Web applicationscan, in certain scenariosand with careful attentionto application program-ming interfaces and ex-tensions, provide a richuser experience that doesnot equal native applica-tions, but approximates itat a fraction of the deve-lopment effort and withgreater portability andflexibility." 9

CASE STUDIES

Gefco

With over 10,000 employees in 100 countries, GEFCO is one of the top 10 logistics

groups in Europe. The company provides multimodal transport and end-to-end supply

chain services for industrial clients in the automotive, two-wheel vehicle, electronics, retail

and personal care sectors.

GEFCO engaged ST Groupe to help them rebuild the Track & Trace solution for their au-

tomotive transport service. This service entails transporting vehicles from factories to

dealers, with GEFCO being responsible for the whereabouts of 7 million vehicles on any

given day. Their Oracle database system consolidates all logistical movements of these

cars worldwide, and holds 3 terabytes of data.

After 2 years of expensive optimization projects, GEFCO was still encountering perfor-

mance difficulties with the legacy Track & Trace system: more than 1 minute response

time per query, restricted access during work hours to avoid conflicts between information

requests and internal transaction processing, and data latency of up to 24 hours due to

batch updating.

ST Groupe worked with GEFCO to replace this legacy system with a CloudView SBA. The

award-winning makeover delivered better performance, agility, usability and security—at a

lower cost—than their previous database-centered model. Results highlights include:

• A query response time of less than a second

• A data refresh rate cut from 24 hours to 15 minutes (with the system capable of

delivering a quasi real-time refresh rate if so desired)

• A 50% cut in the cost per user

• A large improvement in information accessibility - with no end user training needed

• A 99.98% availability rate with a limited material investment

• Automatic generation of operational reporting against all data facets

The nature of GEFCO’s business and the special characteristics of the revamped appli-

cation (fresh data, instant responsiveness, high availability and maximum usability) made


Long, complex forms replaced by a single text box for launching complex queries, with navigation and searchrefinement supported by cartography and dynamic data facets.

rolling out a mobile version of the application a natural next step. As the application was

already endowed with mobile-ready usability, the main task was to adapt the application

for a small screen format and mobile modes of input. Routing and mapping capabilities

were then integrated to create a highly successful mobile application for logistics.

Groupe Randstad France

Following the acquisition of Vediorbis in July 2008, Randstad is now the second largest

HR services provider in the world. Present in 43 countries, Randstad's 26,970 employees

work at close to 4,200 branches and in-house locations to employ over half a million

people on a daily basis.

ST Groupe is working with Randstad to integrate Exalead Cloudview into a strategic

redesign of the human resources applications used by staff and customers. Given the

highly time-sensitive and location-dependent nature of recruitment, and the extensive

interaction with social networks in the employment field, producing applications for mobile

devices was a high priority.

Deploying a CloudView SBA has enabled users to search multiple internal and external

resources from a single text box—with no painful data integration—including:

• Multiple resume databases and applicant tracking systems

• Email messages, text files and PDF documents

• Social networking, Intranet and Web sites

CloudView also boosts the quality and relevancy of this unified content by mining it for

embedded information, and using the enhanced data to produce mobile-friendly faceted

search and navigation by dynamically generated categories (related terms, location,

education, years of experience, etc.). Semantically mined data can include:

• Named entities (people, places, organizations, dates, etc.)

• Key phrases and concepts

• Hidden relationships and connections between resources

To deliver smarter matches against this enhanced content, CloudView’s semantic tools

also provide "type ahead" query completion, spelling correction, fuzzy matching, and

phonetic and approximate spellings – aids especially appreciated in the mobile environ-

ment, where time is of the essence and typing quality may be less than ideal.

In a matter of seconds, clients and staff can hone in on and share information about an

ideal candidate, and candidates can instantly identify and respond to their dream opportu-

nity. Managers also gain anywhere, anytime access to interactive operational business re-

porting.


MOBILE

END NOTES

1. Frank Gens, IDC Predictions Team, IDC, "IDC Predictions 2011: Welcome to the New Mainstream,"

Dec. 2010, Doc # 225878.

2. Michele Pelino, et al., Forrester Research, Inc., "Enterprise Mobile User Forecast: Mobile 'Wannabes'

Are The Fastest-Growing Segment,” Oct. 2008. Sean Ryan, et al, IDC, "Worldwide Mobile Worker Popula-

tion 2009–2013 Forecast ," Dec. 2009, Doc # 221309.

3. http://digitaltrends.fabernovel.com/slide/view/?slug=m-commerce-et-b2b-disposition-a-effectuer-des-

acha&utm_source=dgt_newletterhtml&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8209 (in French).

4. Paul D. Hamerman, Forrester Research, Inc., "Mobile Applications Will Empower Enterprise Business

Processes" Sept. 2010.

5. Morgan Stanley Research, "The Mobile Internet Report," Dec. 2009.

6. Ibid.

7. Michele Pelino, T.J. Keitt, et al., Forrester Research, Inc., "The Global Mobile Application Landscape,"

Apr. 2008.

8. IBM Survey, "IT Professionals Predict Mobile and Cloud Technologies Will Dominate Enterprise Compu-

ting By 2015," Oct. 2010, http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32674.wss.

9. Ray Valdes, et al., Gartner, Inc., “Hype Cycle for Web and User Interaction Technologies, 2010,” July

2010.


About ST Groupe

For 25 years, ST Consulting has been providing its clients with strategic assistance in the areas of project mana-

gement, business process management, functional and technical IS architecture development, and change mana-

gement. ST Engineering services encompass Internet applications and web portals (JAVA/ JEE, Microsoft.net,

open source), business applications, infrastructure development and Managed Services (Service Centers, TMA,

Support) . ST Groupe’s client base includes over 50 large companies in sectors including banking and finance, in-

surance, business services, the public sector, industry, construction and civil engineering, logistics, retail and

telecommunications.

.

About Exalead

Founded in 2000 by Search engine pioneers, Exalead® is the leading search-based application platform provider

to business and government. Exalead's worldwide client base includes leading companies such as Pricewater-

houseCooper, ViaMichelin, GEFCO, WorldBank and Sanofi Pasteur, and more than 100 million unique users a

month use Exalead's technology for search. Today, Exalead is reshaping the digital content landscape with its

platform, Exalead CloudView™, which uses advanced semantic technologies to bring structure, meaning and ac-

cessibility to previously unused or under-used data in the new hybrid enterprise and Web information cloud.

CloudView collects data from virtually any source, in any format, and transforms it into structured, pervasive,

contextualized building blocks of business information that can be directly searched and queried, or used as the

foundation for a new breed of lean, innovative information access applications.

Exalead was acquired by Dassault Systèmes in June 2010. Exalead has offices in Paris, San Francisco, Glasgow,

London, Amsterdam, Milan and Frankfurt.

Exalead UK33 Cavendish Square

London W1G 0PWTel: +44 (0)207 182 4003Fax: +44 (0)207 182 4181

Exalead GermanyDS Deutschland GmbH

Bonifazius TürmeRhabanusstr. 3

D - 55118 MainzTel: +49 61 31 90 82 56 45

Exalead ItalyCorso Giuseppe Garibaldi, 86

20121 - MilanoTel: +39 02 62 71 10 10Fax: +39 02 62 71 10 11

Exalead BeneluxDodeweg 6c

3832 RC LEUSDENThe Netherlands

Tel: +31 85 201 59 82Fax: +31 85 201 61 80

Exalead France10 place de la Madeleine

75008 ParisTel: +33 (0) 1 55 35 26 26Fax: +33 (0) 1 55 35 26 27

Exalead USA221 Main Street, Suite 750 San Francisco, CA 94105

Tel: +1 (415) 230 3800 Fax: +1 (415) 230 3850

ST Groupe1, rue Saint Georges

75009 ParisTel: +33 (0) 1 53 20 41 10Fax: +33 (0) 1 48 74 01 11

Technology

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