How do I protect sensitive information on my database

Information on your database can be restricted and user-access defined. This makes it possible to allow some searchers access to the information that is relevant to the job needs, but still protects other confidential information like salary packages etc.

What is Natural Language Processing or NLP?

NLP is the ability to ask a complex data question in plain English. EasyAsk will then interpret the question and provide the same data an old fashioned report would have. You no longer need to know the computer language you would previously have needed to produce the report. An example is:”who is the largest customer, by volume?” In the old days, to get the answer to that question you would have required your technical department to design the parameters for the report, programme the keywords and run the search.

Why should I bother? What is the benefit for my company?

Information is gold. Many companies already have all the answers to their – and their client’s – questions hidden away in their own databases. The trick is not to pay for more info but to use what you already have effectively. In short the more you know the better your decisions are.

Johan P van den Bergh a business consultant and former CEO posted this real world application for EasyAsk based on his previous experience.

EasyAsk

You have spent a large amount on the most sophisticated and management systems to manage your business. You have a fully integrated Business Information (BI) system and all your routine questions have been programmed to give you the answers for your board meetings.

It is the evening before the board meeting and you are doing final preparations. It is an important meeting; you are requesting a large unbudgeted amount to be able to deal with a threat from the opposition. Suddenly, you need additional information to clarify a question that has been in the back of your mind for some time, but which you have been unable to formulate.

How many times has this happened? You have what you think you need and then suddenly something else is obviously required to make that breakthrough you know will make the difference. It is too late to get the backroom people in to come and programme your Bi system to access the report. Anyway, you will only need the specific information once and probably never again. The cost of configuring the required data and to extract the report is not worth the effort. Anyway, the people are not readily available at 21:00 and you have to do without it.

No more with Progress Software Corporation’s EasyAsk®. It is the one system that looks at all your company data and answers your questions without backroom involvement by searching with natural language processing (NLP). You ask the question. EasyAsk® will search your company data, no matter in which system or on which platform - custom made or propriety - even e-mail, and give you the answer, quickly and without any IT intervention or further software development.

Now you will be able to get answers to all those questions that you could not get in the past; the stuff that that turns mediocre performance into sparkling bottom line results. You configure it the way you want it.

Does this sound too good to be true? Speak to QBCon for a demo of this and you will see how you will be able to make a difference to your bottom line in a very short period. Get those elusive answers that were not available, or only available with painful and costly interaction, with the system programmers.

The Search Tool That Could

I recently started with a new client and found the best little business intelligence tool imaginable amongst their products. It is called EasyAsk and you would not believe the answers it could get from a database. What surprised me was the questions you could pump into this search engine – it essentially searches your database in a different way – and the answers you would get out.
I typed in “How many months has Winston been the top salesperson” and got a result. Winston is a friend who works at QBCon (www.qbcon.com), the client. Simply put the programme produces reports on data that would have taken a team of techies a week in seconds, even if you are a techno lightweight. This is much cooler than you think. It means that everybody in your company – maybe even your customers - can get access to custom searches. The best bit; you don’t need to know a database language or anything. Just type your question in English and Bob is your uncle.