Fast was one of Microsoft's largest acquisitions, at US$1.2 billion. As the only African Microsoft Gold Certified Partner to attend the FastForward 09 Conference, in Las Vegas recently, 3fifteen, local Microsoft development powerhouse and Britehouse subsidiary, now has an excellent grasp on the concepts put forward by Fast, and how this will be integrated in the next version of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
3fifteen is now in a position to offer even better cutting-edge enterprise search consultancy to its customers. “Attending the conference helps to give us a competitive edge on many levels,” says 3fifteen business unit manager, Philippe Morin.
“Given the price tag, and strong focus on the technology sets, Microsoft is clearly investing heavily in information access and representation as the next technology wave that businesses will need to increase business productivity and profitability in many instances.”
“In order to be able to pass on to our customers the benefits of Microsoft's investment, we needed to get the inside track on how enterprise search in general is being successfully implemented globally, and how, specifically, the Fast ESP platform is positively influencing the ways in which companies can do better business.
“FastForward 09 gave us the opportunity to do just that. We met with, and heard case studies from a few of the 3 500 organisations around the world already using Fast. They included global business and technology consultants Booz Allen Hamilton, international IT services company Tieto, Dell, and Accenture.
“In addition, we were exposed to Microsoft's roadmap for Fast and SharePoint moving into the next iteration of the technologies.”
“So, we're now in a position to add enormous additional value to our customers. And, of course, the fact that we've demonstrated such significant commitment to the product itself, should give our customers confidence not only in Fast, but in our ability to fully exploit the vision on their behalf.”
With the introduction of Fast into the Microsoft stable - and the integration of the product into Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 - Gartner (http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/microsoft/vol6/article4/article4.html) has recognised Microsoft as being one of the leading players in the information access space.
“Web sites need to become, and are becoming in some cases, more intuitive to the user's intention. This means that the appropriate content can be served to satisfy that intention. This, and the idea of social networking, is moving Web site communication from a single interaction between two parties to a distributed dialogue among many people. Fast was designed to facilitate intuitive interactions with users. This ultimately creates a better environment for distributed access of information between employees and suppliers, and between an organisation and its customers.
“So, whether your interest is in enhancing your business productivity or e-business environment, Fast gives you the means to service the specific intent of the user, in terms of content, at any given moment.
“Fast Search for SharePoint focuses on enhancing enterprise business productivity. Fast Search for Internet Business will be Microsoft's foray into leveraging the platform for Web sites as it has done so beautifully for so many years.
“Whether an organisation uses the internally or externally-focused Fast, the benefits are an increased ability to convert information into revenue streams, track important topics, build a loyal user community and, generally, overcome whatever challenges access to information poses for the business.”
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