“Federated Search” happens when a single query is used to simultaneously search multiple searchable resources. This is a simple but powerful tool that can come in handy at several scenarios within an organization.
The data size on the internet is doubling every year. This means, not only are there humongous amounts of data from innumerable sources coming under the ambit of public information but also that every day there’s new and updated information that’s rapidly replacing old data. Unlike the past, Internet information is an integral source for everyday decision making. Any function within an organization that’s neglecting this factual reality is risking rapid obsolescence.
The good news is that we have an enormous amount of and more updated data available on the web. The bad news, however, is that this data is seldom structured. And it’s a herculean task to figure out if they are relevant, current or even credible. Another stark challenge is that the internet is a very unorganized place. As the technologies, infrastructure expectations and source formats differ, so do the complexity of data sources. This demands deep technical and business expertise to make the data usable for enterprise consumption.
However, with the right solution design and technology, some businesses have resolved these challenges and built themselves a competitive advantage. Here are some of the use cases of federated search solutions that we’ve helped with:
Price Match for Retail
An Australian retailer has a price match feature for its consumers. They offered their customers to match the lowest prices their named competitors were offering online for any of their products. To help store associates validate claims of the customer, we used our federated search platform that tracked their key competitors and a real-time price check delivered through their mobile app.
Know Your Customer
For a banking solutions provider, our federated search platform tracked 200 plus Government sites for filing information, key news sources and scour Google for any red-flag information. The solution is designed in such a way that while the customer is filling in his on-line form, within 30-60 seconds the information comes in from the relevant sources and processed for ‘red-flags’. This was a quantum leap from the traditional methods that relied on subscribed datasets which might have had information that was last updated as long as six months back.
Background Check
For an HR service provider, our platform was used to track criminal records and other licensed personnel databases to collate, filter and highlight possible matches helping reduce the background check times significantly down.
Supply chain ordering
A global Loyalty and Rewards program which had partnered with multiple global marketplaces & retailers for reward redemptions, had to find the lowest price for the same product across multiple channel options. Our solution tracked prices and availability across suppliers and used an algorithm to figure out the best price/experience source to place the order automatically based on the real-time polling of pricing and availability.
Credit check for SMEs
For a bank’s SME loan and credit card portfolio, a list of 67 sources including social media, Government sources, and review sites were identified category wise to track and provide additional signals about the creditworthiness to help process their risk profiles faster.
These are only a handful of uses cases that have made a big difference in business scenarios involving a combination of finding the right sources, accessing collating, normalizing and processing real-time information for faster and more efficient decision making.
Our platform Mobito has custom-built features for the federated search and comes with its own customizable downstream workflows Customers across different functions in different industries have been discovering several more of such opportunities. With almost two decades of industry experience in this space, we bring deep expertise and technology to recommend the right solution for your needs. If you are curious about a use case that might need a federated search solution, get in touch with us for a free, no-strings-attached consultation.
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