Enterprise Software Touts User Friendliness

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Enterprise software makers are focusing more on ease of use with their recent releases, an element usually associated with video games and mobile devices than in complex enterprise
software products.

Recently, SAP (NYSE:SAP), known for detail-oriented and meticulous software, attempted to break out of that mold by releasing a natural language search engine for its business intelligence product.

This week, SAP’s BusinessObjects division released two new applications, SAP BusinessObjects Risk Management and SAP BusinessObjects Process Control, to help companies reduce risk and manage compliance issues.

Sometimes, manual processes set the ease of use bar quite low. The two new applications can easily best paper processes. “Rather than manually tracking numerous initiatives one by one, customers can manage various risk management and compliance programs at the same time in one environment,” the company said.

“The enhancements we announced today allow customers to clearly see where they are most vulnerable to risk and where they need to bolster controls to mitigate that risk. With the continuous monitoring and transparency SAP provides, companies can respond quickly to new business threats and help comply more efficiently with new regulations,” said Narina Sippy, SAP BusinessObjects vice president and general manager for governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions, in a statement.

Vignette Content Management 8.0

Vignette (NASDAQ: VIGN) this week released Vignette Content Management 8.0 (VCM 8.0). The product is designed to deliver brand consistency and its GUI is designed to make the software easy to use.

“A novice user will be able to build Web sites in minutes rather than hours while maintaining brand consistency using the proven scalability and power of Vignette architecture,” the company said.

“Our conversations with enterprise clients often revolve around the difficulties non-technical users face when editing and publishing Web content. Business and marketing teams must be enabled to share company information and messaging in a timely manner. This is an important edge in today’s competitive business atmosphere,” said Melissa Webster, IDC program vice president for content and digital media technologies, in a statement.

A cloud-based log search engine

Also this week, startup cloud IT management provider Paglo, whose first product released in 2007, announced what it’s calling the world’s first cloud-based log search engine. The product, called Paglo Logs, is designed to help IT managers find the causes of problems faster.

As in the SAP BusinessObjects announcement, software is replacing a manual process, although in this case it’s not a paper-based process. “The power of search is that it enables rapid discovery of key operational events, a platform for meeting compliance requirements and a way to accelerate the investigation of security incidents,” the company said.

It’s not the first to release natural language search for logs — LogRhythm did this last year, for example — but it may well be the first to provide this capability in the cloud.

A limited version is available for free, and paid accounts cost $99 per user per month. Free accounts are limited to 10 MB of logs, and logs in free accounts can only be stored for seven days, the company told InternetNews.com in an e-mail.

“Because Paglo is already cloud-based and can collect data from anywhere (on-premises or in cloud …) the platform provides more value than any on-premises software or appliance. This value will continue to grow as the world becomes more cloud-based,” the company added.

Article courtesy of InternetNews.com.