BIIA member WAND Inc. (http://www.wandinc.com/) is now very widely acknowledged as a market leading player in horizontal and multi-lingual taxonomy and classification development.
Wand has dedicated its 15 years of existence entirely to the business of developing taxonomies which are product based thus go beyond the traditional route of UNSPSC, Harmonized Codes or NAICS , as well as those superficial and now dwindling Yellow Page classifications.
In a recent conversation with BIIA’s Chairman David Worlock, the founder of Wand, Ross Leher stated that he was actually 15 years too early in starting Wand. It has taken the company that long to be appreciated and a sudden interest is shown by major enterprise software and systems players in this field of activity, simply because search engines work more efficiently when accurate product terms are being used. Furthermore since most discovery is machine to machine and not person to machine therefore the Wand taxonomy adds value to commoditized content and workflow.
It is mindboggling that the content industry has not grasped the significance of the importance of product driven taxonomy. It appears that the technology companies seem to get ahead in the game rather than content companies.
We venture to say that the new generation who is growing up with iPhones and iPads are searching on the basis of names of gadgets, brands and products while rushing about doing their things. They will never resort to industry classifications, which we, the older generation, used to work with.
We recommend that you read David Worlock’s recent blog (KISS – but don’t tell) on his interpretation what Wand taxonomy means for our industry.
