Search Engine Marketing Optimization

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Search Technology Evaluation
Presented by
Anderson, Darren Dina, Yetunde Kyc, Konrad
Maamoun, Dalia Tambeau, Catherine
SEARCH ENGINE SELECTION
(C) 2004 petPro Industries
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What is a Search Engine

• A tool that enables users to locate information
  from various connected sources

• Uses keywords entered by users to find the
  information that is sought

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The Software

• Microsoft SharePoint Portal

• Endeca Search Engine

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Microsoft SharePoint Portal

• SharePoint Portal allows teams to create Web
  sites for information sharing and document
  collaboration

• Team and site managers can coordinate site
  content and user activity easily

• It is designed for easy and flexible deployment,
  administration, and application development

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Microsoft SharePoint Portal

• The sites facilitate team participation in
  discussions, shared document collaboration, and
  surveys

• Members' participation can also be monitored and
  moderated when necessary

• Security and task responsibilities are both
  flexible and easily accessible

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SharePoint Advantages

• The system is highly customizable through the
  provided set of Application Program Interfaces
  (APIs)

• There is consistency throughout the application
  modules

• Reputable software with extensive support

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SharePoint Disadvantages

• Implementation and customization of the software
  is complex

• Training and implementation support is provided
  at an extra cost

• The costs for implementation and customization
  are very high

• The vendor does not allow the customer to access
  technical design documentation pertaining to the
  software

• Microsoft is not the leader in the search
  industry
• Their search engine technology is very limited

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SharePoint Costs

• 250,000 to purchase implementation costs
  (dependent on the level of customization required)

• Implementation will take approximately five
  months (with a team of 5 people)

• Search engine usage training is relatively
  inexpensive (80 per person)

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Endeca Search

• Leading search solution for online catalogs and
  commerce

• Gives users the fastest and most intuitive
  catalog interaction on the Web today

• Provides instantaneous feedback

• Allows for continuous refinement

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Endeca Search Advantages

• The system has very good error checking on its
  batch processes

• The system is very user friendly and intuitive
  for all categories of end users

• Highly customizable through the provided set of
  Application Program Interfaces (APIs)

• They are a leader in the enterprise search engine
  industry and are highly respected

• They specialize in search technologies and have a
  growing list of satisfied customers

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Endeca Search Disadvantages

• The company has not been around for very long

• Training and implementation support is provided
  at an extra cost

• The vendor does not allow the customer to access
  technical design documentation pertaining to the
  software

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Endeca Search Costs

• 350,000 to purchase implementation costs

• Implementation will take approximately one month
  (with a team of 5 people)

• Search engine usage training is relatively
  inexpensive (80 per person)

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Template Critique Pros

• The ability to expand on information through the
  use of comments

• The ability to emphasize certain aspects of the
  information gathered through the use of the pivot
  tables and filter

• The template is broken down into pertinent
  categories

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Template Critique Cons

• The questions are not always clear (i.e. wording
  questions are not straightforward)

• Some of the questions are not applicable to every
  form of technology

• The information requested is sometimes
  unreasonable

• Some questions are too lengthy
• They should be broken down into several separate
  questions

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Template Critique Cons

• The content is geared towards client applications
  versus a system to be installed on a server.

• The template does not address the implementation
  of the system nor the associated cost

• The template is focused on out of the box
  software and does not take into consideration
  customizable systems and the efforts needed for
  customization

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Template Recommendations

• Simplify the questions
• gear them to the students level of knowledge

• Provide equal coverage of each category
• have the same (or similar) amount of questions
  for each category

• The ability to reorganize the sections in order
  of priority

• Broaden the scope of the content
• Include all types of technology (i.e. out of the
  box, as well as customizable software)

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Advantages of the Technology

• A search engine will enable petPro employees to
  have access to information in a timely manner,
  which will in turn improve employee productivity

• Communication between employees will increase, as
  they will all have access to the same information
  at the same time

• It will help facilitate the transition period
  during the merger with Nestle, because both
  companies will ideally have access to pertinent
  information pertaining to each other

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Advantages of the Technology

• It can provide a birds-eye-view as well as
  detailed information

• A future possibility would be to integrate the
  search engine within the petPro website, allowing
  customers better access to information

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Risks and Safeguards

• The monetary cost of implementing the system
  within petPro will be significant

• The system implementation and support training
  requirements will be extensive

• The implementation process will be time consuming

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Risks and Safeguards

• Safeguards will have to be implemented to ensure
  that the consequences of system failure are
  reduced (i.e. SDLC, regular system backups,
  firewall, anti-virus software, etc.).

• Ensure that the employees understand the benefits
  of the system in order to ensure that they will
  make use of it. If it is not used then the money
  and time spent on implementing the system will
  have been for nothing

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Pivot Table
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Conclusion

• As the pivot table demonstrates, Endeca scored
  higher overall.
• It either met or partially met our criteria

• The Endeca software better suits our needs
  because it is customizable and user friendly
• All employees throughout petPro will be able to
  benefit

• Although the costs are higher, the benefits of
  the software will outweigh the initial financial
  impact overall

• As mentioned previously, they are a leader in the
  search engine industry and highly respected

• As a result, we feel that Endeca is the better
  choice.

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• Any Questions?