Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
will probably not have as many ads, or the same kinds of ads, as a site visited
mainly by teenage rock and roll fans. Peer Index attempts to provide these data.
Unified Inbox
Most computer users (including me) get information daily from dozens of web-
sites. Unified Inbox attempts to streamline this process by providing a common
focal point for common email and calendar sites and combining information into
a unified inbox.
Unified Inbox was launched in 2012 on Waiheke Island, New Zealand, by Toby
Ruckert and Markus Lehnert. The location of the company is clear proof that soft-
ware is now a global commodity. About four years of research were spent prior to
the formal launch. Some of the features are protected by a patent.
The basic idea is to consolidate input information from emails, Facebook,
Twitter, Basecamp, Dropbox, Evernote, Google calendar, and others into a single
stream. For corporate usage, individual input messages can be commented on and
have notes affixed and are then routed to another user. The notes and additional
information are persistent and are kept with the messages. For example, a bug re-
port from a customer might be received by a help desk employee, reviewed, and
then routed to a maintenance programmer with notes and text about customer com-
ments.
The internet and the World Wide Web provide so much information from so
many channels that “information overload” has become an endemic problem. Uni-
fied Inbox is one of a number of companies that are striving to simplify input in-
formation and make diverse sources connect to each other.
Yesware
Yesware is an interesting niche company that offers add-ons to email services.
These additional features are aimed specifically at sales personnel, who have to
collect substantial information about client contacts. Yesware was founded in 2010
in Boston, Massachusetts, by Matthew Bellows, Rajat Bargava, and Cashman
Andrus. Bellows had been a salesman and was attempting to help other salesper-
sons extract useful information from emails without the tedious reentry of data in-
to customer resource management (CRM) systems.
Yesware is a private company that has received about $5 million in venture
funding from Google Ventures and the Foundry Group. Usage grew rapidly from
the day of launch to more than 100,000 users in about a year. Major companies
such as Motorola have become clients.
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