INSIDEVIEW: THE NEXT STAGE OF INFORMATION ENGINEERING?
InsideCRM

August 4, 2008

Article by Ellen Smith - read original post

Gathering data and weighing its value is a step toward mastering today’s vast flood of information.

Several years ago, at a writing class that focused on organizing information, it was mentioned that the next big field of study would be information engineering. There was so much information out there that no one could access it all in a timely fashion, and "engineers" would organize it into relevant and obtainable bits. The students laughed when someone asked how anyone could engineer an abstract, nonmaterial object like information — until the answer came that at one time, electronic engineering was laughed at in the same way.

How many sources of information must users sort through today? Social and business Web sites provide visitors with information about products, demographics and company profiles. As users become more adept at searching for the data that they want, more sources of information pop up. How can you find exactly the information you need? How current is the information? And can you remember on which Web site you saw a particular piece of information?

Social-networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook provide information about individuals and trends, while Hoover's Inc., Google and Reuters provide business and personal information. Keeping track of data is a time-consuming task and may provide contradictory or uncertain results.

Enter InsideView

San Francisco-based InsideView Inc. has come up with a solution to the information-overload problem. Rand Schulman, chief marketing officer at InsideView, described the company's product as a mashup of user interface, data and CRM applications that he calls "socialprise." InsideView integrates with CRM apps such as Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, Microsoft Dynamics and Oracle CRM, to mention just a few products. InsideView sits on top of your company's CRM software and is easy to view from whatever dashboard you use, be it a handheld or a laptop. With InsideView, you get the information that is pertinent to your needs.

InsideView gathers social, business and personal data and provides an aggregate of information obtained via an SQL search that you customize according to sales, marketing, manufacturing or personnel needs. For example, suppose that your company sells office equipment and wants to know which other companies just received funding to expand their business in that particular area. Or maybe a big client is coming to town and you want to find out what his favorite wine is. Or perhaps your company is hiring someone for a high-security position and wants to know about an applicant's personal history. You don’t have to waste time consulting numerous sources to get your answer quickly; InsideView searches dozens of sources and sequences data so you can have the most current updates — or information going as far back as you like.

One can't help wonder if individuals and businesses couldn't use InsideView to plant a particular image or create less-than-truthful rumors. But not only does InsideView have the most current information, it also cites sources and weights dubious information so that the user can decide for himself or herself what contradictions might exist.

Are there privacy questions surrounding InsideView? Probably, but all of the information that the software gleans is public information anyway. It’s nothing that you couldn’t find for yourself if you had the time.

Nearly a century ago, electronic engineering was born, and it enabled a proliferation of information. Now the concept of information engineering is here, and it’s on your laptop.