Elk Factory https://elk-factory.com/en/homepage/ Creating insights with Elastic Mon, 22 Apr 2024 14:15:31 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://elk-factory.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/elk-favicon.png Elk Factory https://elk-factory.com/en/homepage/ 32 32 How Real User Monitoring (RUM) helps to improve your website or application with Elastic https://elk-factory.com/en/how-real-user-monitoring-rum-helps-to-improve-your-website-or-application-with-elastic/ Mon, 22 Apr 2024 14:00:55 +0000 https://elk-factory.com/?p=7555 How Real User Monitoring (RUM) helps to improve your website or application with Elastic Real User Monitoring (RUM) is a...

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How Real User Monitoring (RUM) helps to improve your website or application with Elastic

Real User Monitoring (RUM) is a technique used to collect data on how real users interact with a website or application in real time. It involves tracking user interactions, such as page views, clicks, and load times, directly from the users’ web browsers. This data provides insights into the actual user experience, including performance issues, errors, and user behavior. 

Benefits of Real User Monitoring (RUM) for Businesses

Enhanced User Experience: RUM provides real-time visibility into how users experience your website or application, allowing businesses to identify and address performance issues quickly to ensure a smooth and responsive user experience. 

Data-Driven Decision Making: By analyzing RUM data, businesses can make informed decisions about website or application optimizations, prioritize improvements based on actual user behavior, and measure the impact of changes over time. 

Improved Customer Satisfaction: Monitoring and optimizing the user experience can lead to increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention, ultimately driving business growth and success. 

How RUM Works in Elastic

Elastic’s Real User Monitoring (RUM) solution allows businesses to collect, analyze, and visualize real-time data on user interactions with their web applications. It involves embedding a lightweight JavaScript agent into web pages or applications to capture performance metrics and user interactions directly from users’ browsers. This data is then sent to Elasticsearch for storage and analysis, where it can be visualized and explored in Kibana dashboards. 

Real User monitoring Elastic

Real User Monitoring use cases 

1. Performance Monitoring

Identify Performance Bottlenecks: RUM allows businesses to pinpoint specific areas of their website or application that are experiencing performance issues, such as slow page loads or high server response times. By analyzing performance metrics collected from real user interactions, businesses can diagnose the root causes of these bottlenecks and take proactive measures to address them. 

Diagnose Slow Page Loads: With RUM, businesses can track page load times across different devices, browsers, and geographical locations. This granular level of insight enables them to identify pages with the slowest load times and prioritize optimization efforts to improve overall website performance. 

Detect Errors Affecting User Experience: RUM provides real-time monitoring of errors occurring within web pages or applications, such as JavaScript errors, HTTP errors, or server-side errors. By promptly detecting and analyzing these errors, businesses can minimize their impact on user experience and prevent potential revenue loss. 

2. Feature Adoption 

Track User Engagement: RUM allows businesses to track how users interact with specific features or pages within their website or application. By monitoring user interactions, such as clicks, scrolls, or form submissions, businesses can gain insights into feature adoption rates and usage patterns. This data helps businesses identify which features are most popular among users and which may require further optimization or promotion. 

Understand Feature Adoption Rates: By analyzing RUM data, businesses can measure the adoption rates of new features or updates rolled out to their website or application. This enables them to gauge the effectiveness of their feature releases and make data-driven decisions about future development efforts. 

3. Conversion Optimization 

Analyze User Journeys: RUM allows businesses to track user journeys through their website or application, from initial interaction to conversion. By analyzing user behavior, such as page views, clicks, and session duration, businesses can identify friction points in the conversion funnel and optimize the user experience accordingly. 

Identify Friction Points: RUM helps businesses identify areas of their website or application where users are dropping off or encountering obstacles in the conversion process. Whether it’s a complex checkout flow, unclear calls-to-action, or technical issues, RUM enables businesses to pinpoint these friction points and implement targeted optimizations to improve conversion rates. 

Improve Conversion Rates: By continuously monitoring and analyzing RUM data, businesses can iteratively optimize their conversion funnels to increase conversion rates. Whether through A/B testing, usability improvements, or performance optimizations, RUM provides valuable insights that enable businesses to maximize the effectiveness of their digital experiences and drive revenue growth. 

Real User Monitoring Dashboard

Guide Through RUM in an Example 

Let’s say you’re a retail company with an e-commerce website. With Elastic’s RUM solution, you embed the RUM JavaScript agent into your website’s pages. This agent collects data on user interactions, such as page views, clicks, and load times, directly from users’ browsers. 

In the Kibana dashboard, you can visualize this data to gain insights into how users are navigating your website, which pages are most popular, and where users are experiencing performance issues. You notice that the checkout process has a high abandonment rate due to slow page load times. 

Using this insight, you prioritize optimizing the checkout process to improve performance and reduce friction for users. After implementing optimizations, you monitor the impact on user behavior and conversion rates through RUM data. Over time, you see a significant improvement in checkout completion rates and overall user satisfaction, leading to increased revenue and customer loyalty. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, Real User Monitoring (RUM) with Elastic offers businesses invaluable insights into user interactions, performance metrics, and conversion rates, enabling them to enhance user experiences and drive business growth. Contact Elk Factory today to implement Elastic’s RUM solution and optimize your digital presence. 

 

 

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Master monitoring and detect performance issues with Elastic Synthetic Monitoring https://elk-factory.com/en/master-monitoring-and-detect-performance-issues-with-elastic-synthetic-monitoring/ Mon, 22 Apr 2024 13:50:53 +0000 https://elk-factory.com/?p=7562 Master monitoring and detect performance issues with Elastic Synthetic Monitoring Elastic Observability is a comprehensive solution that provides organizations with...

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Master monitoring and detect performance issues with Elastic Synthetic Monitoring
Elastic Observability is a comprehensive solution that provides organizations with the tools needed to monitor and enhance the performance of their digital experiences, from applications to their underlying infrastructure. Synthetic monitoring contributes to Observability by providing proactive insights into application performance and user experience. It generates synthetic traffic to simulate user interactions, helping organizations detect performance issues before they impact real users. By integrating synthetic monitoring with observability tools, organizations gain a comprehensive view of system behavior and performance, enabling them to optimize digital experiences and ensure business continuity. 
Benefits of synthetic monitoring

Synthetic monitoring offers many benefits for businesses that would like to deliver exceptional digital experiences: 

  • Early detection: Identify and address performance bottlenecks and errors before they affect real users, minimizing downtime and revenue loss.
  • Functionality validation: Ensure the functionality and uptime of critical applications, providing users with reliable and consistent experiences. 
  • Business continuity: Monitor critical transactions and workflows to maintain business operations and continuity, even during peak demand periods. 
  • Performance benchmarking: Compare performance metrics against industry standards and competitors to gauge competitiveness and drive continuous improvement. 
How synthetic monitoring works in Elastic 

Implementing synthetic monitoring within Elastic is a streamlined process that empowers organizations to: 

  • Configure synthetic checks: Define and configure synthetic checks to simulate user journeys and interactions, tailored to specific application functionalities. 
  • Define alert thresholds: Establish alert thresholds and notification criteria to promptly identify and address performance anomalies, ensuring proactive resolution. 
  • Integrate data sources: Seamlessly integrate synthetic monitoring data with other observability tools within Elastic, enabling comprehensive analysis and actionable insights. 
Use Cases and examples 

Real-world examples showcase the versatility and effectiveness of synthetic monitoring within Elastic Observability: 

  • E-commerce Performance: Monitor the availability and performance of e-commerce websites during peak shopping seasons to maintain user satisfaction and drive sales. 
  • Critical application validation: Validate the functionality of critical business applications, such as banking or healthcare systems, to ensure uninterrupted service delivery. 
  • Cloud-native performance: Proactively identify and resolve performance issues in cloud-native environments and microservices architectures, optimizing resource utilization and enhancing scalability. 

Synthetic monitoring, as part of Elastic Observability, helps organizations to proactively monitor and optimize digital experiences. If you use synthetic monitoring, you can ensure optimal application performance and user satisfaction. 

Ready to elevate your observability capabilities with synthetic monitoring? Explore the possibilities of Elastic Observability and synthetic monitoring solutions. Contact our team for personalized guidance and support.

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The power of Elastic: An interview with Yassin Tabla, Elastic Consultant at Elk Factory https://elk-factory.com/en/the-power-of-elastic-an-interview-with-yassin-tabla-elastic-consultant-at-elk-factory/ https://elk-factory.com/?p=6971 Het bericht The power of Elastic: An interview with Yassin Tabla, Elastic Consultant at Elk Factory verscheen eerst op Elk Factory.

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THE POWER OF ELASTIC: AN INTERVIEW WITH YASSIN TABLA, ELASTIC CONSULTANT AT ELK FACTORY
In our pursuit of innovation and delivering solutions at Elk Factory, we had the pleasure of speaking with one of our dedicated Elastic Consultants, Yassin Tabla. Discover how he tackles the challenges of modern technology and why Elk Factory is the place to launch your career.
1. CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR ROLE AT ELK FACTORY?

As an Elastic Consultant, I’m responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining solutions based on Elasticsearch for our clients. This involves configuring Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana to meet the specific needs and requirements of our clients. I work closely with some clients to understand their challenges and provide customized solutions to help them manage and analyze their data. I’ve been with Elk Factory for almost 2 years now. During this time, I’ve had the opportunity to delve into the world of Elastic Observability. I’ve gained valuable experience in implementing Elastic (ELK) Stack solutions for various clients.

2. HOW DID YOU END UP AT ELK FACTORY?

I joined Elk Factory thanks to an internship during my studies at Thomas More. During my internship, I had the opportunity to work on challenging internal projects where I could delve into the Elastic Stack. I was immediately impressed by Elk Factory’s innovative approach and the opportunity to work with Elastic Observability. After my internship, I decided to continue working at Elk Factory because of the stimulating work environment and the opportunities for professional growth.

3. WHAT MAKES ELK FACTORY, A PREMIUM ELASTIC PARTNER, UNIQUE COMPARED TO OTHER COMPANIES IN THE INDUSTRY?

Our specialization in Elastic solutions, we have in-depth expertise in designing, implementing, and managing ELK stack solutions. Also, customizable solutions that quickly respond to changing needs, enabling our clients to gain a competitive advantage.

Here are some advantages of Elastic. It is a scalable platform that can easily be tailored to the needs of large enterprises. It consists of various components including Elasticsearch (Search and analysis functionalities), Logstash (collecting, processing, and loading data), and Kibana (visualization and dashboarding). Elastic is designed for fast and real-time data analysis with low latency, allowing users to gain insights quickly from (sometimes very) large datasets. It is built on an open-source model, the software is freely available for anyone to use and customize. Elastic has an active and engaged community. This combination of scalability, flexibility, speed, and community support makes Elastic an attractive choice for large enterprises.

Our collaboration as a Premium Elastic Partner  provides us with the resources, support, and opportunities to offer our clients the best possible Elastic solutions and help them succeed in their data analysis and search initiatives.

4. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE COMPANY CULTURE AT ELK FACTORY? 

The company culture at our place can be described as dynamic, collaborative, and supportive. There is an atmosphere of open communication and teamwork, where everyone is encouraged to share ideas, provide feedback, and collaborate on common goals. This company culture has greatly influenced my work experience at Elk Factory.

It has helped me feel at home within the team quickly and encouraged me to fully utilize my skills and creativity. The atmosphere among colleagues is also very positive, with regular informal interactions, which contributes to a positive work environment and building strong relationships among colleagues. 

5. WHAT OPPORTUNITIES DOES ELK FACTORY OFFER FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH? 

During my internship, I had ample time to delve into the Elastic Stack. As a Premium Partner, employees at Elk Factory have access to the Elastic Learning platform. This platform offers a wide range of courses and training materials that allow employees to obtain various Elastic-related certifications.

6. WHAT ARE THE KEY SKILLS NEEDED TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT ELK FACTORY, IN YOUR OPINION?

In my opinion, there are 5 crucial skills, namely: Technical expertise in Elastic Stack technologies, including design, implementation, and maintenance. Problem-solving ability, with creative thinking and analytical skills. Good communication skills, for collaboration with clients and team members. Teamwork, with the ability to share ideas and give and receive feedback. Flexibility to adapt to changes and learn new technologies.

7. HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE FOR ELK FACTORY AND WHAT MAKES YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT THE DIRECTION OF THE COMPANY?

In my opinion, Elk Factory has a promising future, especially given the thriving growth of Elastic. This growth is expected to lead to expansion and opportunities for Elk Factory. I am excited about the opportunity to be part of this growth trajectory.

inspired by this story and want to join our team of experts? curious about how elk factory can help your organization?

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Enhancing automotive IT performance with Elastic Observability: A Porsche Informatik case study https://elk-factory.com/en/enhancing-automotive-it-performance-with-elastic-observability-a-porsche-informatik-case-study/ https://elk-factory.com/?p=7520 Enhancing automotive IT performance with Elastic Observability: A Porsche Informatik case study In the automotive sector, real-time data and system...

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Enhancing automotive IT performance with Elastic Observability: A Porsche Informatik case study

In the automotive sector, real-time data and system performance are critical. Porsche Informatik, a subsidiary that provides digital solutions to the automotive industry, recognized the need for a robust tool to monitor and analyze their vast IT infrastructure. The company chose Elastic Observability to overcome this challenge, using its powerful abilities to ensure optimal system performance and enhance operational efficiency. 

Challenges and Objectives

Porsche Informatik’s primary goal was to streamline their monitoring processes across a complex network of applications and services. They needed a solution that could not only handle large volumes of data but also provide real-time insights and diagnostics to preemptively address potential issues. 

Implementation and Results

By integrating Elastic Observability, Porsche Informatik was able to create a centralized observability framework. This setup enabled them to efficiently track and analyze data from various sources, including applications and infrastructure. The real-time analytics features of Elastic Observability allowed them to quickly identify and resolve issues, reducing downtime and improving user experience. 

The implementation of Elastic Observability has empowered Porsche Informatik to maintain a proactive stance on system management. It has improved their ability to predict potential system failures and handle anomalies efficiently, ensuring continuous operational flow and better service delivery to their clients. 

Key benefits 

  • Enhanced Monitoring: Comprehensive visibility into system operations, facilitating quicker response times. 
  • Proactive Issue Resolution: Ability to anticipate problems before they affect system performance. 
  • Improved Operational Efficiency: Streamlined processes and reduced downtime, leading to higher productivity. 

The success of Porsche Informatik with Elastic Observability underscores the critical role that advanced monitoring tools play in today’s digital landscape. As businesses continue to handle increasing volumes of data and demand higher performance from their IT environments, solutions like Elastic Observability become indispensable. This technology not only enhances system transparency and responsiveness but also drives significant improvements in operational reliability and efficiency. 

For companies aiming to elevate their IT capabilities, the integration of Elastic Observability offers a clear pathway to achieving these goals. It provides the tools necessary to navigate the complexities of modern IT systems, ensuring businesses can thrive in an increasingly competitive market. 

As an Elastic solution provider, we at ELK Factory are committed to helping you discover and implement these transformative solutions. Let us help you unlock the full potential of your IT infrastructure. Click here to find out more about Elastic Observability. 

This article is based on the following source.

 

 

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Improve application reliability and performance with Application Performance Monitoring (APM) from Elastic https://elk-factory.com/en/improve-application-reliability-and-performance-with-application-performance-monitoring-apm-from-elastic/ Wed, 17 Apr 2024 14:30:41 +0000 https://elk-factory.com/?p=7488 Improve application reliability and performance with Application Performance Monitoring (APM) from Elastic Observability is fundamental to understanding and improving how...

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Improve application reliability and performance with Application Performance Monitoring (APM) from Elastic

Observability is fundamental to understanding and improving how systems and applications perform and maintain their health. This specific approach integrates the extensive gathering and examination of data via logs, metrics, and traces, presenting a complete insight into the mechanics of IT environments.  

A critical component of Observability is APM, also known as Application Performance Monitoring. APM focuses specifically on the performance and reliability of applications, providing targeted insights into user experience impacts like delays and errors. This approach to monitoring allows teams to quickly identify and address issues, making sure that there is an optimal application performance within the broader scope of system health. 

Why Application Performance Monitoring (APM) matters 

Optimal application performance is essential for businesses to function. Application Performance Monitoring (APM) plays a crucial role in achieving this goal by providing valuable insights into application behavior and performance. Let’s explore how APM benefits companies: 

Improved user experience: APM helps ensure a smooth and responsive user experience, critical for customer satisfaction and retention by monitoring application performance in real time.  

Enhanced operational efficiency: APM tools enable quicker identification and resolution of performance issues, therefore, and as a result, reduces downtime and operational costs. 

Optimized root cause analysis: APM provides detailed insights into application behavior, it becomes easier to perform root cause analysis and prevent future issues. 

Reduced MTTR: With APM, businesses can significantly lower the mean time to resolution for application issues, this ensures minimal impact on business operations. 

DevOps practices support: APM integrates into continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. It promotes more efficient development and deployment practices. 

Optimized resource allocation: By identifying underperforming resources or bottlenecks, APM allows for better allocation of IT resources, increasing overall system performance.

How Application Performance Monitoring (APM) works in Elastic 

APM works by monitoring, collecting, and analyzing data from applications to track their performance and identify issues that could affect user experience. It uses tools to gather detailed information about how applications behave and interact with underlying infrastructure. This data is analyzed to detect anomalies, performance bottlenecks, or errors, allowing IT teams to perform root cause analysis and resolve issues quickly.  

APM provides visibility into the application’s operations, from the end-user experience through to the backend processes, ensuring that applications meet performance standards and user expectations. 

Elastic APM, part of the Elastic Stack, extends this functionality by offering seamless integration with logging and metrics, providing a unified view on system and application health. It can use several alternatives to gather performance metrics, errors, and transaction data related to your applications. This data is then visualized in Kibana, allowing for in-depth analysis and monitoring, enabling teams to quickly address issues and improve application performance.  

A more specific outline of the process includes the following:  

Instrumentation: Elastic APM supports various methods for instrumenting your applications to gather data, ensuring flexibility to suit different environments and requirements. While the integration of the Elastic APM agent directly into your codebase is a common approach, collecting detailed metrics on application performance, there are alternative methods available. Specifically, Elastic supports the use of OpenTelemetry, a set of APIs, libraries, agents, and instrumentation that allow you to collect and send telemetry data (metrics, logs, and traces) to monitoring tools like Elastic APM. This approach allows for the use of OpenTelemetry agents and SDKs, which can be particularly useful in environments where the Elastic APM agent is not the preferred option. Furthermore, the OpenTelemetry Collector, configured as an OTLP (OpenTelemetry Protocol) endpoint, can be used to aggregate and forward telemetry data from your applications to Elastic APM without needing direct instrumentation with an APM agent. 

Data Collection: Through the alternatives provided by OpenTelemetry integration, data collection can extend beyond the traditional agent-based approach. When using OpenTelemetry agents or the OpenTelemetry Collector (OTLP Collector), your applications can still capture comprehensive performance metrics, traces, and errors. This includes information on transaction durations, database queries, external service calls, and more, similar to what’s collected via the Elastic APM agent. The OTLP Collector, in particular, offers a versatile and scalable method to gather telemetry data from various sources and forward it to Elastic APM. This flexibility ensures that regardless of the specific instrumentation strategy—be it direct agent integration or utilizing OpenTelemetry components—you can efficiently collect the necessary data to monitor and analyze your application’s performance effectively. 

Data Transmission: The collected data is transmitted securely to the Elastic Stack, where it’s stored in Elasticsearch, a distributed search and analytics engine.  

Data Analysis: In Elasticsearch, the APM data is indexed and analyzed using built-in APM-specific indices and mappings. This allows for fast and efficient querying and visualization of the collected data. 

Visualization in Kibana: The analyzed APM data is visualized in Kibana, Elastic’s data visualization platform. Kibana provides various pre-built dashboards and visualizations tailored specifically for APM data. These visualizations offer insights into application performance, error rates, transaction latency, and other key metrics. 

Monitoring and Alerting: Elastic APM also supports monitoring and alerting capabilities. Teams can set up custom alerts based on predefined thresholds or anomalies detected in the APM data. This allows for proactive monitoring and quick response to performance issues. 

Integration with Logging and Metrics: One of the key strengths of Elastic APM is its integration with the broader Elastic Stack. This integration allows APM data to be correlated with logs and metrics collected from the same infrastructure. By combining APM data with logging and metrics data, teams gain deeper insights into the root causes of performance issues and can troubleshoot more effectively. 

Overall, Elastic APM provides a comprehensive solution for monitoring and optimizing application performance. By instrumenting applications, collecting detailed performance data, analyzing it in Elasticsearch, and visualizing it in Kibana, teams can gain valuable insights into their applications’ behavior and ensure they meet performance expectations. 


 

Discover how our expertise in implementing and optimizing APM solutions, including Elastic APM, can transform your business. Let’s ensure your applications deliver exceptional user experiences and drive operational efficiency. Reach out to us to schedule a consultation and take the first step towards maximizing the potential of your IT infrastructure. 

 

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Get ahead of the competition with AI https://elk-factory.com/en/get-ahead-of-the-competition-with-ai/ Wed, 10 Apr 2024 07:07:48 +0000 https://elk-factory.com/?p=7406 Get ahead of the competition with AI  The demand for efficient and intuitive search capabilities has never been higher. Traditional...

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Get ahead of the competition with AI 

The demand for efficient and intuitive search capabilities has never been higher. Traditional keyword-based search methods, while effective for certain tasks, often fall short when it comes to understanding the nuances of language or visual information. This is where Elastic vector search steps in, offering a shift in how businesses approach information retrieval and recommendation systems. In this article, we will take a closer look at the different use cases in which vector search can bring added value. 

A. Why Vector Search Matters for Businesses

At its core, vector search is driven by the concept of similarity. Instead of relying solely on exact keyword matches, it understands the semantic context of data, allowing for more accurate and relevant results. This capability opens up a world of possibilities for businesses across various industries. 

1. Semantic search

E-commerce: Imagine a shopping experience where you’re not limited by specific keywords. With vector search, customers can find products based on their preferences, even if they express them differently. For instance, Shopify has launched a semantic search tool for its customers to make the client’s online shopping experience more intuitive. Read more here.

Shopify
(Picture source: Shopify) 

Media & entertainment: Discovering content becomes a breeze as vector search analyzes audio or textual features, enabling recommendations based on mood, genre, or style. Think about Spotify, which makes playlists based on your listening behavior.  


(Picture source: Promoly)

Recommendation Systems: 

News & articles: Vector search goes beyond surface-level recommendations, understanding the underlying themes or sentiments of content to offer personalized suggestions. 

E-commerce: By considering diverse factors like demographics and browsing behavior, businesses can enhance product recommendations, leading to higher engagement and conversions.  For example, you are browsing through a clothing website and clicked on a pair of pants, then the website will recommend other similar pants or other clothing items which you might be interested in. 

Zalando
(Screenshot source: Zalando)

Customer Service Chatbots  

Providing tailored responses to user queries becomes seamless with vector search, enhancing customer satisfaction and reducing response times. This personalized approach enhances customer satisfaction and significantly reduces response times, ensuring a seamless and efficient experience. 

Natural Language Processing (NLP) Tasks: 

From document classification to sentiment analysis, vector search streamlines NLP tasks by deciphering the meaning and tone of text, facilitating more efficient data processing. 

An example focused on document classification illustrates the following: Suppose we have a collection of news articles categorized as “Technology” and “Sports.” Using vector search, we represent each article as a numerical vector based on its content. When a new article is introduced, vector search compares it with existing articles and assigns it (automatically) to the category with the most similar articles, enabling efficient document classification.  

To illustrate this example, we searched for an article related to ‘Tiktok’ on Forbes, and automatically got related Tiktok news articles on their website:  

Forbes Website

(Screenshot source: Forbes)

2. Image search

Vector search cannot only be used for semantic search use cases. Moreover, image similarity search can bring a lot of added value for different industries.

Image Search:
From identifying objects and scenes to aiding accessibility for visually impaired users, image search powered by vector technology transforms visual information into actionable insights. Let’s explore the example of PcFruit. In the agricultural industry, image search technology revolutionizes berry farming by enabling quick and accurate identification of berry varieties. By capturing images of berries and analyzing key features like shape and color, farmers can optimize harvesting schedules and improve inventory management. Explore the full case here

PcFruit
(Picture source: Brainjar)

B. Generative AI Integration

By harnessing the capabilities of generative AI alongside semantic search, businesses can streamline processes like customer service, document summarization, and information synthesis, boosting productivity and decision-making efficiency.  

Examples of a synergy: generative AI and semantic search 

Enhanced Customer Service: GenAI-driven question-answer solutions empower service desk employees and customers alike, improving response accuracy and efficiency.

Document Synthesis: Vector search combined with generative AI can synthesize findings from disparate sources, enabling quick access to relevant information. 

Information Summarization: By summarizing key insights from extensive research, businesses can make informed decisions faster, driving innovation and growth.

Automated Legal Research: Legal firms can utilize semantic search to sift through vast amounts of legal documents and precedents. By integrating generative AI, they can automatically generate briefs, summaries, or analyses based on specific case details, saving time and resources. 

Medical Diagnosis Support: Healthcare providers can employ semantic search to analyze patient records, medical literature, and diagnostic reports. Combined with generative AI, this technology can assist in generating differential diagnoses or treatment recommendations, aiding physicians in decision-making processes.

Financial Analysis and Forecasting: In the finance industry, semantic search can be used to extract insights from financial reports, news articles, and market data. When integrated with generative AI, it can assist in generating financial models, forecasting trends, and automating report generation for investment analysis or risk assessment. 

Conclusion: Embracing the Future of Information Retrieval  

Incorporating vector search into business processes isn’t just about staying ahead of the curve, it is about reshaping the way we interact with data. By embracing the power of semantic understanding and image recognition, businesses can deliver personalized experiences, streamline operations, and unlock new avenues of growth. As technology continues to evolve, the possibilities of vector search and its synergies with generative AI are limitless, promising a future where information retrieval is not just efficient but truly transformative. 

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Enhancing search efficiency with semantic search and Elastic technology https://elk-factory.com/en/enhancing-search-efficiency-with-semantic-search-and-elastic-technology/ Fri, 22 Mar 2024 14:19:41 +0000 https://elk-factory.com/?p=7362 Enhancing search efficiency with semantic search and Elastic technology Efficient search capabilities are important for businesses to extract meaningful insights...

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Enhancing search efficiency with semantic search and Elastic technology

Efficient search capabilities are important for businesses to extract meaningful insights and stay ahead of the competition. Traditional keyword-based search methods often fall short in delivering accurate and relevant results, leading to frustration and inefficiency among users. Discover more about the topic of semantic search, a technology that leverages the power of natural language processing (NLP) to revolutionize your search experience. In this article, we explore how semantic search works together with Elastic technology to deliver superior search capabilities and drive business success. 

Semantic search goes beyond simple keyword matching by understanding the context, intent, and meaning behind search queries. By analyzing the semantics of language, including synonyms, concepts, and relationships between words, semantic search engines can deliver more precise and contextually relevant results. This capability is especially valuable in industries such as government, e-commerce, healthcare, and finance, where precision and accuracy are very important.  

Hereby an example to visualize the key difference between keyword search and semantic search: 

A closer look at the differences between traditional “keyword search” and “AI-powered search results and answers” reveal the transformative potential of the AI-powered elasticsearch. We highlight the improved results delivered by AI-powered searches, making it clear why industries are increasingly adopting this technology. Note that the enhanced results come from out of the box elasticsearch functionalities: 

To find out more about this example, click here.  

Semantic Search in Elastic Technology 

Elastic provides a powerful platform for implementing semantic search capabilities, thanks to its powerful indexing, search, and analytics features. Here’s how semantic search works with Elastic technology: 

Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Elastic leverages advanced NLP algorithms to parse and analyze unstructured text data, extracting key concepts, entities, and relationships. This allows the search engine to understand the meaning and context of user queries, leading to more accurate search results. 

Semantic Indexing

Elastic indexes the analyzed text data using semantic metadata, such as entity types, attributes, and relationships. This semantic indexing enables the search engine to retrieve relevant documents based on the semantic similarity between the query and indexed content, rather than relying solely on keyword matches. 

Concept-based Retrieval

When a user submits a search query, Elastic retrieves documents that contain semantically related concepts, even if they don’t explicitly match the query keywords. This concept-based retrieval ensures that users receive comprehensive and relevant results, enhancing their search experience. 

Query Expansion and Disambiguation

Elastic automatically expands and disambiguates user queries by identifying synonyms, variants, and related concepts. This helps users refine their search queries and discover relevant information that may not have been initially apparent. 

Relevance Ranking

Elastic employs sophisticated relevance ranking algorithms to prioritize search results based on their semantic relevance to the user query. By considering factors such as context, entity salience, and document quality, Elastic ensures that the most relevant and authoritative content appears at the top of the search results. 

By integrating semantic search capabilities into their applications and websites using Elastic technology, businesses can unlock a plethora of benefits: 

Improved Search Accuracy

Semantic search enhances the accuracy and precision of search results, enabling users to find the information they need quickly and effortlessly.  

Enhanced User Experience 

By understanding user intent and context, semantic search engines deliver a more intuitive and personalized search experience, leading to higher user satisfaction and engagement. 

Increased Productivity

With semantic search, employees and website visitors can access relevant documents, insights, and knowledge resources more efficiently, boosting productivity and decision-making effectiveness. 

Historically, Elasticsearch and App Search required manual management of synonyms, boosts, and weights to fine-tune relevance in search results. However, with the introduction of Elastic semantic search, these manual tasks are no longer necessary. Elastic semantic search uses advanced algorithms and natural language processing techniques to automatically handle relevance tuning, ensuring that search results are highly accurate and contextually relevant without the need for manual intervention. This not only saves businesses time and resources but also improves the overall search experience for users by delivering more precise results tailored to their needs and preferences. 

Competitive Advantage

Businesses that leverage semantic search gain a competitive edge by offering superior search capabilities that outperform those of their competitors, leading to increased customer loyalty and market share. 

In conclusion, semantic search powered by Elastic technology represents the next frontier in information retrieval and knowledge discovery. By harnessing the semantic capabilities of Elastic, businesses can elevate their search experiences to new heights, driving innovation, efficiency, and success in the digital age.  

Start implementing semantic search with Elk Factory and discover the full potential of your data.

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Bridging the gap: Generative AI, LLMs, and Elastic’s role in private company data integration https://elk-factory.com/en/bridging-the-gap-generative-ai-llms-and-elastics-role-in-private-company-data-integration/ https://elk-factory.com/?p=7281 Bridging the gap: Generative AI, LLMs, and Elastic’s role in private company data integration In the dynamic landscape of artificial...

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Bridging the gap: Generative AI, LLMs, and Elastic’s role in private company data integration

In the dynamic landscape of artificial intelligence, understanding the nuances between Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), and their integration with company data is crucial for businesses seeking to innovate and thrive. With Elastic serving as the essential bridge between company data and Generative AI, let’s explore the distinctions between Generative AI and LLMs, and how Elastic facilitates the seamless integration of company data for enhanced insights and security. 

Generative AI vs. LLMs: Decoding the Differences 

Generative AI encompasses a diverse range of AI models capable of creating new data, such as images, text, and music. These models derive insights from existing datasets, fostering innovation and creativity across various domains. LLMs, exemplified by models like GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer), specialize in analyzing, understanding and generating human-like text.

It’s essential to recognize that Generative AI alone is only as effective as the data it’s trained on.

Elastic: The Crucial Link to company Data Integration

Enter Elastic, renowned for its Elasticsearch, Kibana, and Elastic Stack solutions, which serves as the essential bridge between company data and Generative AI. Elastic’s robust platform enables organizations to securely integrate their company data with Generative AI models in real-time, ensuring data privacy, compliance, and enhanced insights. 

With Elastic, businesses can send company data (anonymized) to Generative AI models in real-time, enabling dynamic responses tailored to specific needs. By facilitating seamless communication between company data and Generative AI, Elastic empowers organizations to unlock the full potential of their data assets while mitigating the risks associated with outdated or inaccurate information. 

Unlocking Innovation with Elastic and Generative AI 

In conclusion, the integration of company data with Generative AI holds immense promise for businesses seeking to innovate and stay ahead in today’s competitive landscape. However, it’s essential to leverage tools like Elastic to bridge the gap between company data and Generative AI effectively. By harnessing the power of Elastic’s solutions, organizations can unlock new opportunities for creativity, insights, and growth while safeguarding their most valuable asset: their data. 

With Elastic as the vital link, businesses can navigate the complexities of integrating company data with Generative AI, enabling them to harness the full potential of artificial intelligence while ensuring privacy, security, and accuracy in mission-critical environments. 

Elk Factory, Your Premier Elastic Partner 

At Elk Factory, as a premier Elastic partner, we specialize in helping businesses use the power of Elastic’s technology and reap the benefits of AI. Our team of experts is dedicated to guiding organizations through the complexities of company data integration, ensuring optimal performance, security, and compliance. 

Ready to unlock the full potential of AI and Elastic Technology? With Elk Factory by your side, harnessing the transformative power of (Generative) AI and Elastic Technology has never been easier. Let’s revolutionize your data strategy together. 

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Image similarity search with Elastic https://elk-factory.com/en/image-similarity-search-with-elastic/ Tue, 27 Feb 2024 14:37:07 +0000 https://elk-factory.com/?p=7147 Image similarity search with Elastic AI has been around for some time. Use cases were sometimes not achievable due to...

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Image similarity search with Elastic

AI has been around for some time. Use cases were sometimes not achievable due to the complexity of the implementation or limits within AI or computing power. Elastic technology makes it easier to enjoy the benefits of AI. Elastic makes it less complicated for developers to implement semantic search, image search and more. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. That’s the reason why we did an experiment and developed image similarity in Elastic. In this blog we will talk about the how and most importantly the impressive results achieved from the experiment.  

The context

This article explores Elastic’s application in image similarity searches, focusing on icons like the recycle symbol and the European letter ‘E’. Specific experiments with these symbols are conducted, alongside discussions on technical challenges and solutions. This article particularly highlights the promising results achieved with the recycle icon and the European letter ‘E’. The potential of Image similarity technology for future projects is promising, underlining its simplicity and effectiveness in embedding images and text for searching purposes.  

Fun fact: The implementation of this experiment with the Elastic stack took less than a day, including the repairments and adjustments that were needed during the development process.   

First we will explain the results in this article, afterwards we will provide the technical details how we realized the image similarity search. To conclude will provide some insights with respect to sizing. 

1) Image similarity – search results 

We have a dataset of 47 images to be precise:

When searching for an image, typing “European E” we receive European E’s as the first results, which is good.

Instead of using text terms to search for images, we also used one of these “European E” symbols to search by clicking “Find similar images”. This also provided the expected similar images as search results. 

Green recycle symbol 

In our dataset, we have several recycle symbols of which a few are green. We did a test searching for “green recycle”. This did in fact only return our green recycle icons in the dataset, which is a great result:

2) The technical journey: how we achieved results 

The start 

We started our exploration based on this informative blog post from Elastic. 

We meticulously followed the instructions outlined in Elastic’s blog post and GitHub repository. After thorough perusal of the README.md file, we proceeded to clone the repository and integrated the required model from Hugging Face into our cloud instance using Elastic’s eland from Github. Keep in mind that this model does not need to be used. Other models can be used as well however then the backend would need to be modified.

Modifying the code 

Encountering outdated packages during the process, we swiftly modified the requirements.txt file, ensuring compatibility and smooth installation. Additionally, we addressed image pixel limitations and fine-tuned settings for optimal performance. Below illustrates the improved requirements.txt file: 

Following these adjustments, the pip install process proceeded seamlessly. Additionally, the ‘.env file’ was updated with the necessary credentials for our cloud instance. However, while attempting to generate image embeddings and ingest them, a subsequent issue was encountered. This challenge, which will be elaborated upon shortly, came from an oversaturation of pixels within our images. To address this, a simple line addition under the imports section of the create-image-embeddings.py file sufficed. Note: The code makes sure there is no maximum image pixels limit so watch out with how you use this (Decompression bomb):  

Image.MAX_IMAGE_PIXELS = None 


Ingesting images

To start, images were needed. For this test images were used that can be easily found using Google: a recycle icon and the ‘European E letter’. All the image file types were converted to JPG as this seemed to be the best file type to use for this case. To ingest the images itself, the provided python script had to be used which is located under `image_embeddings/create-image-embeddings.py`  

Finally, all the embeddings were ingested which looked something like this: 

The embedding has 512 dimensions. Keep in mind that this image went through the clip-ViT-B-32 model. This is a free public model and is sufficient for our use case. The interface has a search box, which when submitted sends text to elastic which goes through the model (clip-ViT-B-32-multilingual-v1) that was imported with Elastic eland. This happens in the background (Flask Backend) and therefore, there is no need to look at that in this demo application, nor will we look at the Flask backend in this blog post. The interface has an image upload field. This can be used to upload images and search for other images that are similar to the uploaded one. 

3) Sizing 

Size of Images 

As mentioned above our dataset consists of 47 images. These Images have a combined size of around 3.6Mb. When looking at the index with the embedded values, the size is 469.9Kb.   

Size of Text  

We compared the sizing of embeddings for images with embeddings for text. We used a dataset containing about 8000 documents and having a size of 17.7Mb in total. Each document has only a few lines of text. When ingesting this data for ‘text search’ into an index, the index takes 36.3Mb. When ingesting for semantic search, using the E5 model the index takes 119.8Mb. In case both indexes are used for example to use RRF (Reciprocal Rank Fusion), the total index storage is 156.1Mb. 

Why did the size decrease for the images but increase for Text 

This is because of the dimensions and number of documents. The images index only had to keep 47 documents while the Text dataset’s index had to keep around 8000 documents. The Images dataset had the size of 9,99Kb per document While the Text index had around 14.97Kb per document. Which is relatively close to the Images index. If we take a look at the total vector dimensions, the Images index has 512 dimensions. However the Text index has around 768 dimensions, both the title and overview embedded fields have 384 dimensions. So after all it depends on how much dimensions are being used, if we used only one field to embed the size would greatly decrease, same can be said for the images index, if we used another model that generates more dimensions the size would greatly increase. 

If we go into even deeper detail, the images index has about 19.51bytes per dimension while the text index has 19.49bytes per dimension. As can be seen here they are about the same. So by this logic we could take 19.5b as average for each vector dimension. Keep in mind these are dense vectors, not sparse vectors.  

4) Conclusion 

We were highly impressed with the ‘Image Similarity Search’ functionality, particularly appreciating the straightforward process of obtaining a model from Huggingface, embedding both images and text, and initiating searches.  

Elk Factory – Elastic Premier Partner

Elk Factory is the Elastic partner to implement your Elastic stack. We always strive for a win-win! Together, we’ll explore how this platform can make your business more efficient, so you can benefit while we gain a satisfied customer!

Get to know us, or feel free to contact us.

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LOG MANAGEMENT IN JUST 3 DAYS https://elk-factory.com/en/log-managment-in-just-3-days/ Mon, 26 Feb 2024 14:27:23 +0000 https://elk-factory.com/?p=6822   LOG MANAGEMENT IN JUST 3 DAYS FOR a FLEMISH HOSPITAL GROUP Hospitals face the challenge of not only acting...

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LOG MANAGEMENT IN JUST 3 DAYS FOR a FLEMISH HOSPITAL GROUP

Hospitals face the challenge of not only acting swiftly but also ensuring the security and integrity of patient data. Managing and analyzing log data is crucial, and at a Flemish hospital group, we tackled this challenge using the Elastic Stack. The hospital group operates on various devices, each with its own set of challenges and requirements. The focus was on two essential categories: Windows-based systems and various network devices.

RAPID IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ELASTIC CLOUD

With Elastic Cloud, we set up a powerful cluster in just a few simple steps. The process starts by creating a cluster in Elastic Cloud, specifying desired configurations, the number of nodes, and available resources. Elastic Cloud takes care of the underlying infrastructure, allowing us to focus on the optimal use of Elasticsearch. The flexibility provided by Elastic Cloud is advantageous. We can easily scale up or down depending on our needs, whether adding extra nodes for more storage capacity or adjusting computing power for better performance. Elastic Cloud makes the process effortless and efficient.

 

FLEET SERVER

We quickly integrated the Fleet Server, a crucial part of our log management process, into Elastic Cloud. With Fleet Server, we can manage Elastic Agents at scale, with an intuitive interface that simplifies deployment, updates, and monitoring.

The implementation of Fleet Server in Elastic Cloud has given us the flexibility to centrally manage agents, regardless of their physical location. With just a few simple commands, we ensured that Elastic Agents operate synchronously and effectively, resulting in streamlined and optimized log data collection.

This Elastic Stack utilizes a thoughtful combination of Fleet Managed Elastic Agents and Logstash, creating an integrated and scalable approach to managing and analyzing log data within the hospital group. In a short period of only 3 days, we introduced an Elastic Stack implementation that not only embraces efficiency and speed but also seamlessly aligns with the unique needs of a hospital environment.

 

FLEET-MANAGED ELASTIC AGENTS

With Elastic Cloud Fleet, you don’t need to manually configure agents on each machine. Instead, Fleet provides a central interface for effortlessly deploying Elastic Agents across various machines, all with just a few simple commands.

The Fleet Server acts as the conductor, coordinating and managing Elastic Agents. It not only accelerates the deployment process but also makes it easy to apply configurations and monitor the status of agents. Fleet Server enables large-scale deployment, allowing agents to do their job without consuming valuable time and effort.

Elastic Agents act as digital watchdogs deployed to gather crucial information from different systems in the IT landscape of the Great Flemish Hospital Group.

The use of policies and Windows integration significantly reduces the need for extensive manual configurations. With this integration, default settings and configurations for Windows logs are automatically applied, allowing you to quickly and efficiently collect valuable log data without extensive manual adjustments. This streamlines the process and minimizes the time and effort required for manual configurations. Think of them as reliable monitors continuously monitoring logs and data for important insights. These agents are designed for efficiency, ensuring that all relevant information is securely captured.

 

LOGSTASH AS A DIGITAL TRANSFORMER

Logstash acts as the digital transformer of raw, unstructured data into an understandable format. Imagine it receiving raw data from various network devices and organizing it into a unified language. This purifies and structures the raw data, ready for further analysis. A local Logstash installation also reduces the load on the Elastic Cloud system by refining raw data before it moves to the next phase.

 

FLEET-MANAGED ELASTIC AGENTS AND LOGSTASH

Elastic Agents, Fleet Server, and Logstash work together as a well-oiled mechanism. Elastic Agents collect valuable information, Fleet Server centrally coordinates and manages these agents, and Logstash transforms raw data from network devices into understandable information. Together, they form a powerful solution that enables the Great Flemish Hospital Group to deal with log data quickly, securely, and effectively.

 

IN PRACTICE: LOGGING FOR WINDOWS SERVERS AND NETWORKING DEVICES

FOR WINDOWS-BASED SYSTEMS

To gain a comprehensive insight into the logs and performance data of Windows-based systems in this hospital group, we deployed Elastic Agents with Windows Integrations.

Deploying Elastic Agents with Windows Integrations was a crucial step in the log management process. With speed and efficiency, we implemented these agents to serve as valuable sources for capturing logs and performance data from Windows-based systems.

By deploying Elastic Agents with specific Windows Integrations, we ensured that no detail was lost. Whether it’s system logs, domain controller logs, or exchange server logs, these agents provide a holistic overview essential for thorough analysis and monitoring.

 

FOR NETWORK DEVICES

In managing log data from various network devices, Logstash plays a central role as the digital transformer.

To effectively direct logs from diverse network devices to Logstash, we set up syslog forwarders.

The logs from various network devices are first sent to Logstash for parsing and transformations, converting raw, unstructured data into a suitable format for analysis before forwarding it to Elastic Cloud. Logstash serves as the central point for log processing. Centralized management of log transformations in Logstash also reduces the load on Elastic Cloud, making it more efficiently utilized.

Additionally, the use of local Logstash reduces resource costs by minimizing the load on the Elastic Cloud Deployment. This allows Elastic Cloud to focus on indexing and searches, resulting in a cost-effective implementation for log management.

 

OUR STRATEGY

The heart of our strategy was to create an integrated environment for managing and analyzing log data. This solution enabled us to manage, transform, and analyze logs within a short timeframe.

The integrated Fleet Server formed the pivot in our log management process. With this powerful tool, we could efficiently manage Elastic Agents at scale. The straightforward implementation, updates, and monitoring via Fleet Server resulted in rapid and large-scale deployment of Elastic Agents, translating into significant time savings and reduced efforts.

Logstash acted as our digital transformer, where raw, unstructured data was converted into a structured format ready for in-depth analysis. The use of Logstash not only contributed to optimizing log transformation but also provided cost-efficiency by refining raw data before sending it to Elastic Cloud.

By uniting these components, we created an integrated, scalable solution for managing, transforming, and analyzing log data within a timeframe of just 3 days.

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