FirstRain: Searching the Business Web
Jinfo Blog

By Perrin Kerravala

Abstract

The August issue of VIP Magazine features a product review of FirstRain, a business intelligence search and monitoring engine. FirstRain is an innovative product that seeks to simplify search and reduce information overload in the enterprise. It employs patented search technology to crawl the web and extract only high value business events (news, blog posts, press releases, company and people information, government filings, commentary and more).

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The August issue of VIP Magazine features a product review of FirstRain, a business intelligence search and monitoring engine. FirstRain is an innovative product that seeks to simplify search and reduce information overload in the enterprise. It employs patented search technology to crawl the web and extract only high value business events (news, blog posts, press releases, company and people information, government filings, commentary and more). The search technology greatly improves business relevancy of results, even for simple searches, thanks to the FirstRain Business Web Graph – a dynamic and continuously adapted taxonomy that describes over 8,000 distinct lines of business and business-related topics.

FirstRain is targeted towards non research-based professional staff who need easy access to breaking information from reliable sources – sales and marketing professionals, financial analysts and C-level executives. These staff may waste substantial time seeking and sorting through this information using familiar sources like Google. FirstRain’s appealing value proposition is that their search and taxonomy can save clients time, frustration and doubt, while improving current awareness.

FirstRain is a venture capital backed company, founded in 2006. Their early years were spent developing their search and patented categorisation technologies, as well as their user interface. This past July, FirstRain released role-based monitors, which greatly increase the speed and efficiency in setting up alerts for common information needs – tracking customers, prospects, industries or investment portfolio companies. They also announced iPhone and Android apps, adding to their substantial list of existing content delivery options. For example, FirstRain content can be integrated into enterprise applications such as intranets, SharePoint portals, and CRMs like Salesforce.com.

Just last week FirstRain announced raising US $6.4 million in new financing, led by the tech-focused Oak Investment Partners. In their press release, CEO Penny Herscher said “this new capital is all about our growth trajectory: growing the sales team and investing significantly in product development”. It will be interesting to see what developments they will announce next; a full-featured, dedicated iPad app is coming soon.

VIP’s full review takes a detailed look at FirstRain’s search and monitoring capabilities and enterprise integration options, and takes the FirstRain search and reporting tools for a test drive.

VIP subscribers can read the review by logging into their FreePint account.

Purchase your copy of VIP Report: Product Review of FirstRain from the FreePint Shop. Or save money by purchasing VIP No. 93, which also includes the VIP Report: Product Review of Thomson Reuters' WestlawNext.

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