TNR Global

Greenfield base. Sweeping reach. By Bob McCarthy It's a bit like helping people search a haystack for a needle. But the haystack is virtual, and the sought after needle is cached somewhere on one of 10,000 web pages. The everyday web search most of us use, e.g., Google or Yahoo, is not sophisticated enough to be of help in our search. What will help is an enterprise search, a back end driven resource for just such mammoth applications. Since 2004, enterprise searches have been the niche for TNR Global of Greenfield and their distributed team of engineers and consultants. Started by Natasha Goncharova and Rich Roth -- she the business side and he the IT guru -- TNR now has a staff of more than a dozen spread across western Mass, southern Vermont and Metro West. They don't drive to Greenfield each morning; they work from home. If virtual networks are a future de rigueur, TNR global is on the forefront. What They Do Goncharova, Roth and their staff provide services for the back end of big web sites. "We are skilled in developing large on line systems.," said Goncharova. "Our largest client is ThomasNet.com. Thomas Register used to be a catalog publisher. They were the 'yellow pages' of manufacturing companies." TNR Global helped Thomas Register transfer their business from book publishing to on line. So now you can find all that information online. The staff manages approximately 50 servers to support the web site. Most people familiar with web search use it to find data, products, people, etc. They type in a topic and in a matter of seconds get an answer primarily as a result of a search through numerous web pages, which are mostly HTML and homogeneous. "Enterprise search is a more complex system," said Goncharova "because you are searching through heterogeneous documents. There can be Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, or PowerPoint presentations. And the sources of this information are various, including emails, company servers, and databases. So now you are accessing heterogeneous file extensions that are not structured. But enterprise search can access those massive amounts of information and find the required answer. Using web search to access similar resources would provide an answer, but the answer would not be as precise." Who They Are With more than a dozen employees situated around the Pioneer Valley and eastward, there are no time clocks to punch or managers to sign you in. Said Goncharova, "You have to have trust in [the employees] that you work with and confidence in their skills and competence. We take great care in how we hire people and how we work together." Client companies allow TNR Global's staff access to their mission critical systems. The hiring process at TNR includes a fairly rigorous interview process. They require resumes, a skills survey, a code sample to assess their technical skills. "Because most of the people we hire are web developers and engineers," Said Goncharova "we have a phone interview with at least two current employees followed by a face-to-face interview with the CEO of the company and then with the entire TNR team." On the job, the process is virtually all virtual. Staff and clients alike communicate using instant messaging and web notes, which are generated by the TNR Consultants. "For each new project we start a new web note so that anytime my peers have access," said Goncharova. "They also use a software program Timer wherein employees and contractors record their time. The system also allows the person to add notes describing their activity during that time. "So at any point in time, we can generate reports and bill clients with substantiation on what has been done," said Goncharova. It's important because clients often will require detailed explanations of the work that we have performed." Who They Help Enterprise search is more tailored for the needs of large client companies. TNR's target market is defined by sophistication, cost and the integration and implementation of a enterprise search system. Said Goncharova, "The threshold where a company will realize benefits from enterprise search is about 1,000 employees and/or 10,000 pages on line." But she also notes that a law firm with only 20 employees may find the system applicable and cost effective when they have to search through numerous databases to find a legal precedent. "Enterprise search can save time for employees and management when searching for a specific piece of information., especially when the staff itself is distributed, spread out across the country if not the world," said Goncharova. That is why large retailers, such as Amazon.com, use enterprise search to better meet the specific needs of customers more quickly. The Market While ThomasNet.com had been "in the fold" as a client of Rich Roth's before TNR Global, others have found Goncharova and staff using good old web search. "We do have people come to us via our web site (TNRGlobaljoomla.com)," said Goncharova. "One recent client, Arbor Networks in Lexington, Massachusetts, found us on line. They contacted us, checked our references over the phone and then became a customer. We never met them face-to-face." Goncharova says the business challenge in western Massachusetts is finding companies with a large enough need for TNR's services, services which can run upwards of $500,000 a year. Another challenge is finding skilled talent. She would like to find more skilled people and they are working with local universities and college to hire people after graduation. Two of their most recent employees came directly from UMass/Amherst. Looking Forward Still on the local front, TNR Global recently implemented a new service, a content management system (CMS) where they construct a web site in such a manner that a small or mid-size business can take ownership and control their web presence. They can add to their web site without the need for assistance from external staff. "We got into the CMS business because we wanted to cater to local small and mid-size businesses," said Goncharova. One market segment are synagogues, starting with Temple Israel in Greenfield. "They want to send update or newsletter to their congregation and all this information can be on a CMS based web site. Once the site is established, they don't need technology skills to update and maintain it." Goncharova maintains such a web presence can help local businesses. "The local company that has a stronger on line presence, with testimonials, phone numbers and an email address will get more clients. "An on line presence is not a panacea, but it certainly can bring you more clients because of the increased visibility and access to a larger target market", she said.