The Semantic Web: Finally Becoming Enterprise-Ready (continued)
human searcher. With the Semantic Web, however, the machine could make inferences: because a certain drug is commonly used to treat that disease, or because a specific symptom is typically associated with that disease, any information that contained references to those drugs or symptoms would also be retrieved, even if the disease wasn't mentioned by name.
A Bit of a Disconnect
Many corporations are already making use of Semantic Web technology -- but often management isn't aware of it because it is being used by employees in unauthorized ways, according to Scott Abel, CEO of Indianapolis-based The Content Wrangler. He points to the ways that some enterprise customer call centers are beginning to use tagging services like del.icio.us to help them better organize their reference materials. "Call center representatives are often challenged by having to look through massive amounts of online resources provided by the corporation to answer customer questions. This can include technical manuals, training manuals and lists of frequently asked questions (FAQ)," says Abel.
Unfortunately, the way these resources are organized doesn't really correspond to the way the employees must use them. But by "tagging" various pieces of this online content with such things as the name of the customer who needed it, or the specific problems customers were having that were solved by it, the call center can begin to compile a knowledge base that corresponds more closely to organizing the information the way its employees use it. "For example, a customer representative can do a quick retrieval of all the specific instances when a particular customer called in to complain about the battery life of a product," says Abel.
This helps the corporation in many ways, "not the least of which is that when a customer calls in, the representative is likely to be able to respond more quickly and accurately," says Abel. (article continues)
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