Paytronix App Upgrades Give Brands More Control Over Mobile Experience

Interview with Alli McKee, CEO and Founder at Stick.ai

[vc_wp_text]“The rise of AI-powered products forces us to double down on the human skills: communication, relationship building, storytelling. It enables us up to be more creative, as a whole.”

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[easy-profiles profile_twitter=”https://twitter.com/founderofstick” profile_linkedin=”https://www.linkedin.com/in/allimckee/”]

Tell us about your role and how you got here? What galvanized you to start Stick.ai?

Communication is the world’s single biggest challenge today. We know visual communication is more effective, and yet we can’t do it because the vast majority of us aren’t designers. Our appetite to consume visual content has skyrocketed, yet our ability to create visuals hasn’t changed.

I wanted to change that. As a Bain consultant and IDEO.org designer, I had built up a repeatable process for turning ideas into visuals. Teaching it at the Stanford d.school, I realized that we could couple this process with recent breakthroughs in NLP and Machine Learning to turn it into a program.

I started Stick to put myself out of a job, so now anyone can create simple visuals on their own.

How are the sales technologies different today from when you first started?

There are so many more of them! When I started out, there were ~150 players. Now there are 5,000. Think about that. It means that without marketing, we each went from having 0.7% to less than 0.02% of mindshare.

While the tools are more powerful, they are also so much harder to find. Welcome to the Attention Economy. That’s why you’re seeing the rise of personalized, visual marketing today. Without it, you blend into the noise.

Who is your ‘Ideal Customer’? What platforms are best suited to leverage Stick.ai as a primary engagement tool?

We built Stick for marketers who need to build better sales content quickly, and for sales teams who need to customize that content to their prospects.

We see the ideal teams are being those who are between 5 and 50, when design resources are tight, but the need to earn prospect attention is at its highest. We want to level the playing field so these smaller innovative companies can break through, and we can grow together.

In terms of platform, Stick fits in wherever you’re talking to your customers. Lots of tech companies rely on demos to close the sale, but buying is becoming more and more complex with 6+ people involved in each deal these days, on average. That means you need content at every step of the way, so that your champion can turn around and sell into their boss, or drive adoption in their team.

We’re expanding integrations to solve this, so you can use Stick as a presentation tool for your Zoom call, or as a visual embed into your email, or as a dynamic follow-up link, or even as an image to make your LinkedIn status update more shareable.

Our goal is to build a product that fits seamlessly into workflows so we can visualize content anywhere to get your message out there.

Would AI become the ubiquitous element of most business operations by 2020?

Absolutely, but that doesn’t mean robots are taking our jobs. Stick’s founding DNA comes from my experience teaching art, so we deeply value human creativity, continuous learning, and the role technology can play to accelerate that.

Our strategy, then, is augmentation, rather than automation. We are working to build a tool to help business people do their jobs better by giving them access to design, not to replace designers. It’s not about automating it away, but rather, automating the mindless part to freeing us up to think about what actually matters.

If anything, the rise of AI-powered products forces us to double down on the human skills: communication, relationship building, storytelling. It enables us up to be more creative, as a whole, and I think that’s the ultimate goal.

What is the current state of AI-based marketing engagement in 2018? How much of that state is influenced by the maturity of data science and customer experience platforms?

The trend that most excites me is the real-time personalization. In this market, buyers are more than halfway through the process before contacting sales at all, so they’ve already read your stock content. The next wave we see will be delivering buying experiences more personalized than your Facebook feed. Content will continue to be the core of that.

We’ve got a ways to go, but that’s where we’re headed.

Which startups in martech and adtech industries are you keenly following?

We’re closely following startups who aren’t just building products, but are building a movement around their mission in the Attention Economy:

For example, Drift has launched this conversational marketing movement that has gained serious momentum quickly. The deeper message – that people want to be treated like people, not leads – is an indicator of where the industry is going. Their company’s “Everything is Marketing” approach is genius, as well. In this new world, every single person in your company is a marketer. Make sure your strategy reflects that.

Another example is Nudge.ai, whose #HoldtheHustle movement shows how AI can help us focus on the more human elements of sales and marketing, rather than playing the pure numbers game.

There are so many others, and I find I learn something new from every single company we meet.

What marketing and sales automation tools do you use?

We rely heavily on Hubspot, Salesforce, and Drift. At this point, our strategy focused on inbound driven by content marketing, so these tools work wonders for us.

We’re also big fans of Chorus.ai and Zoom to help us have better, more visual conversations with our customers along the way.

How do you prepare for an AI-centric ecosystem as a business leader?

First, I read to keep learning, always. This landscape is changing so rapidly that you can’t stop even for a second. It’s energizing to see the pace of change.

Second, double down on the softer skills – especially communication – and then use data to get even better. Aside from the hype, I view this “rise of AI” as an opportunity for us to do more meaningful, creative work in our day to day. Thrilled to have Stick be a part of that.

What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?

Slack, MixMax, and Stick. Without these communication tools, we’d be all over the place.

What’s your smartest work related shortcut or productivity hack?

Creating Linkedin content daily has been a game changer for our business – from recruiting, to selling, to fundraising. It has been incredible the doors it has opened. And yet, it all comes down to a daily 15-minute calendar hold, where I create a short piece of content daily. By building in the habit, it has become a regular part of my day rather than a drain of time or energy.

What are you currently reading?

I spend Saturdays reading the books I ordered on Amazon that week. This Saturday, I finished up Never Split the Difference and Extreme Ownership and started on Designing the Obvious.

I like balancing leadership, sales, and design in my reading list. The combination forces me to think about actually implementing the ideas rather than simply exploring.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Persist.

Things worth doing are hard. That’s kind of the point. Persistence is more than half the battle.

Tag the one person in the industry whose answers to these questions you would love to read:

David Cancel of Drift. We want to hear more about how you’ve made marketing core to everyone in your company and sparked a movement along the way.

Thank you Alli! That was fun and hope to see you back on MarTech Series soon.

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Alli McKee is the CEO and Founder of Stick.ai, a content visualization tool for B2B Marketing teams to build better sales presentations in 95% less time.

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Today, Design is a service. In the future, it will be embedded into everything you write, show, and say. We’re building tools that take us there faster, and we’re starting with a visual presentation generator for B2B sales and marketing teams.

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The MTS Martech Interview Series is a fun Q&A style chat which we really enjoy doing with martech leaders. With inspiration from Lifehacker’s How I work interviews, the MarTech Series Interviews follows a two part format On Marketing Technology, and This Is How I Work. The format was chosen because when we decided to start an interview series with the biggest and brightest minds in martech – we wanted to get insight into two areas … one – their ideas on marketing tech and two – insights into the philosophy and methods that make these leaders tick.

Proof Analytics Accelerates Marketing’s Business Alignment With Proof+ for SiriusDecisions

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April 10, 2018

Proof Analytics Accelerates Marketing’s Business Alignment With Proof+ for SiriusDecisions

Proof+ Templates Help Marketing Teams Rapidly Instrument and Compute Results From the Most Popular SiriusDecisions Marketing Value Frameworks

Thousands of marketers around the world use marketing value frameworks developed by SiriusDecisions to better understand what they need to do to effectively support their businesses. Proof Analytics is launching Proof+ for SiriusDecisions, a library of customizable templates that help business and marketing leaders use SiriusDecisions frameworks to achieve, instrument and compute their alignment, impact and ROI.

Proof has focused initially on five of the most popular SiriusDecisions frameworks:

SiriusDecisions Aligned Measurement Framework
SiriusDecisions Aligned Measurement Framework for ABM
SiriusDecisions Aligned Measurement Framework for Emerging Company Leaders
SiriusDecisions Aligned Accountability Framework
SiriusDecisions Demand Unit Waterfall

Also Read: SiriusDecisions Details B-to-B Leaders’ Priorities in New Global Study on CMO Growth Objectives

Kyle Brantley

Proof templates are designed to help teams quickly maximize value from whatever SiriusDecisions framework they are using. “SiriusDecisions has created a large roster of value frameworks to help marketers, sales teams and business leaders improve their alignment and impact,” said Kyle Brantley, co-founder and product management chief at Proof. “SiriusDecisions frameworks are deservedly very popular, but they are logic frameworks, not calculators. Many companies need help making them actionable, particularly in terms of how to assign KPIs to the framework and compute impact and ROI. Proof+ for SiriusDecisions templates make getting those answers much easier and faster.”

Delivering business analytics that everyone can use, Proof enables anyone to quickly and easily compute and display fully attributed audience impact, time to impact, financial return, time to return, risk, and points of saturation and diminishing returns. Proof is an agnostic business analytics platform serving functions such as marketing, HR and recruiting, corporate social responsibility, change management, and communications and PR.

Also Read: Interview with Mark Stouse, CEO, Proof Analytics

Bob Beauchamp

Bob Beauchamp, chairman of BMC Software and Fortune 100 board member, recently wrote about the importance of rock-solid alignment on ROI between marketing and the business: “Boards, CEOs and CFOs often see a budget request as an investment deal: in return for X dollars, the business unit or functional team usually promises to deliver more revenue, better margins, accelerating cash flows, and brand accretion. We can’t fund everything, so it’s a big part of our job to rank every one of these investments. But here’s the problem: Determining that stack rank is very tough if we can’t connect investment to incremental value. There are several areas in most companies that routinely struggle to connect the dots and provide real value metrics, and one of the biggest culprits is always marketing. It’s hard to determine or trust the right marketing spend request for next year when marketing can’t say what the return was on the money they spent this year.”

Also Read: SiriusDecisions 2017 B-to-B Buying Study Reveals Buyer Behavior and Preferences in Decision-Making Process

Proof also recently announced that it was the first business analytics SaaS solution to implement fully encrypted, blockchain-based data assurance. Proof Chain Data Rights Management uses blockchain to enable customers to quickly and easily network an unlimited number of distributed data sources and ensure the ongoing security, integrity, reliability, and traceability of that data.

A global B2B research and advisory firm, SiriusDecisions specialize in delivering insights, frameworks and expert guidance to help executives modernize and elevate sales, marketing and product performance.

Recommended Read: TechBytes with Monica Behncke, VP, SiriusDecisions

Kaltura Partners With Massive to Launch Targeted TV Solution

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April 10, 2018

Kaltura Partners with Massive to Launch Targeted TV Solution

The Joint Kaltura-Massive Targeted TV Solution Helps TV Operators Find Cost-Effective Ways to Improve Customer Loyalty and Increase Conversion

Massive, the specialist UX vendor for the OTT industry, and Kaltura, the leading video technology provider serving over 27 million cloud TV users monthly, have announced a partnership that will help video service providers to quickly and seamlessly deliver tailored video experiences based on the attributes, interests, and habits of each individual viewer.

The joint Kaltura-Massive targeted TV solution helps TV operators find cost-effective ways to improve customer loyalty, increase conversion, reduce churn rates, and differentiate their service in a crowded OTT marketplace. This solution brings together the targeted UI capabilities available through Massive’s AXIS platform, and advanced consumer segmentation based on the holistic profile-building capabilities inherent in the Kaltura TV platform.

Also Read: Akamai Survey Shows Increase in Confidence in Live OTT Streaming for Quality Online Video Delivery

With this partnership, video service providers have the ability to leverage ongoing user behavior analysis to create tailored video experiences that include targeted and personalized content recommendations, real-time UI updates, and tailored commercial offerings for each user.

Additionally, the joint solution will reduce the complexity and operational costs typically associated with implementing real-time UI changes. TV operators will be able to empower their content schedulers and editorial teams to centrally manage schedule, and update the UI across any device in real-time through a drag-and-drop interface, without the engineering input required for post-integration.

Also Read: Verimatrix Demonstrates How the Cloud is Fundamentally Changing the Video Delivery Business at NAB Show 2018

Max Ramsay

“The primary concern for many operators that we work with today is: ‘how can I deliver an app that turns my viewers into fans?’ We believe the answer lies in personalization,” said Max Ramsay, CTO at Massive. “Teaming up with Kaltura will give our customers high-end, tailored video products that put their data at the heart of their own decision making. We’re excited to be opening this new chapter on our long-standing partnership, and spearhead the next revolution in cloud TV.”

Shay David

“Targeted TV is about taking cloud TV capabilities to the next level, turning it into a true learning TV service. Together with Massive, we are launching the most advanced targeted cloud TV solution available on the market today – one that leverages AI capabilities to analyze and segment raw data from multiple sources for more informed decision making. With this solution, TV operators can offer truly individualized promotional offers and user experiences to each consumer in real time,” added Dr. Shay David, Media and Telecom President and GM, Kaltura.

The Massive and Kaltura solution will be demonstrated at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 9-12 on both the Massive booth (SU9005CM) and the Kaltura booth (SU6105).

Recommended Read: OTT Explosion Provides Safe Platform For Marketers

Operative and Mediaocean Announce Integration Partnership To Bring Convergence to Buyers and Sellers

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April 10, 2018

Operative and Mediaocean Announce Integration Partnership To Bring Convergence to Buyers and Sellers

New Partnership Connects the World’s Leading Media Sales and Media Buying Platforms

Operative, the preferred advertising management technology partner for media companies, announced a partnership with Mediaocean, the leading software provider for the advertising world. This partnership integrates Operative’s media sales platform with Mediaocean’s buying platform Prisma – used by all major holding companies and independent agencies today. Media buyers and sellers will now be able to transact electronically and seamlessly between these platforms.

Buyers and sellers alike demand automation, auditability and actionable integrations for faster execution of direct-sold IOs and audience-based campaigns. This partnership enables each company’s clients to operate more efficiently and smartly. The initial phase of the partnership will:

Streamline negotiation processes between buyers and sellers through electronic delivery of RFPs, proposals, and orders
Remove double entry and potential errors from using disconnected systems
Increase accountability with paperless audit trail tracking

Also Read: Mexican Startup Flyr Raised US $6 Million to Democratize Social-TV Advertisement

“The marketing landscape has become increasingly fragmented at a time where interoperability is critical in creating an efficient and open market,” said Bill Wise, CEO, Mediaocean. “While there are parts of our respective businesses that compete with each other, I am proud of Mediaocean, and applaud Operative for putting those aside to create an integrated solution for the industry. We look forward to this partnership providing solutions to help buyers and sellers work together to achieve larger scale execution, uninhibited by technological barriers.”

Lorne Brown

“Media companies win when they offer the same buying simplicity and scale of Facebook or Google, combined with premium content and audiences. Our partnership with Mediaocean delivers simplicity and scale for our publishers while providing an automated platform tailored to their business,” said Lorne Brown, CEO at Operative. “With Mediaocean, we set the stage for premium media companies and media buyers to transact in a marketplace that is fluid across channels such as digital, Advanced TV and more.”

In the future, the partnership will include the ability to send plan details directly through to trafficking and delivery, connect billing modules, and streamline reporting and insights.

BirdEye Hires Former Eventbrite Executive, Chris Aker as Chief Revenue Officer

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prweb

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April 10, 2018

BirdEye Hires Former Eventbrite Executive, Chris Aker as Chief Revenue Officer

A Sales and Marketing Veteran, Chris Aker has More Than 13 Years of Experience in Scaling and Managing Complex Sales and Marketing Programs

Leading customer experience platform BirdEye recently announced that Chris Aker has joined the company as Chief Revenue Officer. Effective immediately, Aker will be responsible for all aspects of BirdEye’s sales, marketing, business development and customer success teams.

A sales and marketing veteran, Aker’s experience includes more than 13 years of scaling and managing complex sales and marketing programs. He most recently served as Vice President of Global Sales at Eventbrite, where he grew the sales organization from a single office to a global team in 8 countries across all disciplines supporting SMB, MM, and Enterprise clients, contributing to a $1B+ company valuation. Before that, he held various sales and marketing leadership roles at Revana for 5 years.

“I’m honored to have the opportunity to lead the next evolution of BirdEye as a pioneer in customer experience,” said Aker. “I’m impressed by the profitable growth BirdEye has experienced already, and by uniting BirdEye’s sales, marketing and customer success efforts, I’m excited to drive the company even further.”

Also Read: Here’s What Was on Everyone’s Take-Away List at Revenue Summit 2018

Naveen Gupta

“We’re thrilled to have Chris lead BirdEye’s revenue expansion,” said Naveen Gupta, CEO at BirdEye. “He shares our passion for innovation and customer obsession, and brings tremendous experience in scaling revenue, moving upmarket and leading a world-class go-to-market operation.”

BirdEye continues to expand the penetration of its “all-in-one” customer experience platform — reviews, listings, social, surveys, insights and benchmarking. The BirdEye platform allows businesses to manage customer feedback for 1, 10 or 10,000 locations, in one place so they can focus on what matters most: happy customers. The company has been growing rapidly over the last few years, with 25,000+ customers, 5 global offices and 250+ employees. The plan for next few years includes scaling upmarket and expanding internationally.

BirdEye is hiring top talent in sales, marketing and customer success.

James Tallman Joins Zift Solutions Board of Directors

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prweb

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April 10, 2018

James Tallman Joins Zift Solutions Board of Directors

James Tallman, an Experienced CEO and Strategic Business Advisor, Will Assist with Global Expansion

Zift Solutions, the Enterprise Channel Management leader, announced recently that James Tallman has joined its Board of Directors as an independent director.

Gordon Rapkin

“Zift is pleased to welcome Jim to our Board,” said Gordon Rapkin, CEO for Zift Solutions. “We look forward to leveraging his experience with hyper-growth, business scale and worldwide expansion as Zift continues to define and dominate the Enterprise Channel Management market segment.”

Also Read: Zift Solutions Launches Content Certification Training

Tallman has a strong industry background in enterprise software, legal, eCommerce and technology consulting. He currently serves as CEO and Board of Directors member for Innovative Interfaces, a California-based software company specializing in integrated systems for library management. Tallman also serves as a strategic advisor to several private companies and private equity firms.

“I am truly excited to contribute to the growth, vision and continued momentum of Zift Solutions as its newest Board Member,” said Tallman.

Tallman joins Zift during a strong period of growth and innovation. The company scaled impressively in 2017, doubling revenue, expanding its customer base by nearly 50 percent, and increasing the number of users on the Zift Channel as a Service platform by more than 85 percent, creating the largest channel partner ecosystem worldwide.

Also Read: DocuSign IPO: Stronghold of SaaS in the US Tech Market Continues

Tallman’s professional background spans the globe, as Tallman has lived and worked in North America, Latin America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. He has a demonstrated track record with multiple next-stage growth companies.

Prior to Innovative Interfaces, Tallman served as CEO and Board of Directors member for DataCert Inc., the industry-recognized global software leader of Enterprise Legal Management (ELM) Solutions. He led the sale of DataCert to Wolters Kluwer and managed ELM Solutions, a combined entity of DataCert and TyMetrix. Tallman also provided industry thought leadership for the Passport Technology Platform, which was awarded multiple patents and is the industry-leading legal applications software development platform for hosted, behind the firewall, and SaaS-based legal applications.

ON24 Webinar World 2018 Comes To Hyde Park, Sydney

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Shalaka Nalawade

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April 10, 2018

On24 Webinar World 2018 Comes To Hyde Park, Sydney

Experts Will Help Attendees Learn About Host of Topics, From How to Engage B2B Buyers to How to Turn Engagement Into Revenue

On 31 May, head to Doltone House in Hyde Park, Sydney for the ON24 Webinar World 2018, a celebration of putting the personal back in marketing. The event will focus on how to build campaigns and deliver webinars that put the customer first and foster authentic engagement between the audience and the brand.

The day begins with an opening session titled ‘Marketing’s Holy Grail – Forming Human Connections at Digital Scale’ by Joe Hyland, CMO, ON24 and Mark Bornstein, VP, Content Marketing & Chief Webinar Officer, ON24. The two will discuss how webinar marketing can help you put the personal back into digital.

Mark Bornstein

Both Hyland and Bornstein will return to give a closing session titled ‘Marketings Future – Realising the Engagement Manifesto’ which will highlight the innovative companies showcased at Webinar World and how they are are redefining engagement through webinar marketing.

Also Read: Dreamforce Techbytes with Joe Hyland, Chief Marketing Officer, ON24

Some of the keynote speakers at the event include Paul Dolan, Nick Hadjipourou, Sabeh Hassan, Christine Jacobs Pribilski, etc. among others.

Here’s what is on agenda:

Engaging Modern B-to-B Buyers: Creating a Marketing Mix that Resonates by Paul Dolan, Research Director, APAC, SiriusDecisions
The Keys to a Successful Webinar Strategy by Sara Gonzalez, Chief Marketing Officer, Simple
How to Create, Optimise and Measure Content to Drive More Traffic by Nick Hadjipourou, Head of Enterprise Growth, HubSpot
How to Build an Engaging and Scalable Webinar Program by Sabeh Hassan, Product Marketing Manager, Cloud + Enterprise, Microsoft
How to WOW your audience with your next Webinar Presentation by Aimee Foster, Presentation Coach, Slidemaster
Unveiling of the 2018 Webinar Benchmark Report (APAC) by Mark Bornstein
Creating Must-See Webinars: How to Attract, Engage, and Retain Your Audience by Kylie Tabrett, APAC Director, BrightEdge
Turning Content Engagement Into Revenue by Jon Panker, Managing Director, APAC, TechTarget
Taming the Webinar Beast: an IBM Journey by Christine Jacobs Pribilski, VP of Marketing, IBM Cloud
ON24 Vision: What the future beholds by Mark Szelenyi, Vice President, Product, ON24

Also Read: Webinar World TechBytes with Christine Jacobs Pribilski, Vice President, Marketing, IBM

ON24 is the global leader in webinar-based marketing solutions that drive demand generation and customer engagement. Its patented cloud-based platform features an interactive and immersive user interface and industry-leading webinar analytics for events, campaigns and benchmarking.

SundaySky Releases Next-Generation Advertising System that Strengthens Brand Safety, Increases Viewability and Combats Ad Fraud

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April 9, 2018

New Updates Help Ensure Brand Safety and Increased Customer Engagement at Scale

SundaySky, the company that combines the power of personalization with the emotion of video, announced a series of enhancements for ad viewability, fraud and brand safety within its advertising suite. The company has strengthened its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and added more safeguards to its verification processes to avoid questionable or fraudulent ad placements online, ensuring maximum customer engagement and the delivery of personally relevant and value-rich video ad experiences in brand safe environments.

Samantha Merlivat

“Fraud, viewability, and the limited supply of premium inventory were recurring answers when we asked marketers what keeps them up at night,” according to the September 2017 Forrester report, “Marketers Clear The Path To Omnichannel Buying” by Samantha Merlivat.

The damage to brand equity and consumer confidence can be catastrophic if brands neglect to address advertising quality – via anti-fraud, viewability and brand-safety efforts. While SundaySky has been proactively addressing advertising quality for years, these new SmartVideo enhancements are designed to maximize quality consumer interaction and eliminate waste. SundaySky is one of the earliest adopter of ads.txt, working within the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) guidelines and its publisher partners to help shape industry standards across the entire media supply chain for personalized video advertising.

SundaySky technology renders data-driven personalized video in real-time on behalf of the largest marketers in the US. The company has created and delivered more than 2 billion personalized and unique video ads, resulting in more than 4 million hours of qualified video engagement. Its AI algorithms continuously self-learn and improve upon themselves to precisely buy the highest quality video inventory and bid for the right to serve ads to people most likely to take the next best action.

Also Read: Five Video Marketing Blogs You Should Read

Key AI enhancements to the SmartVideo algorithm include:

Ad viewability measurement to understand the impact on performance with partner integrations such as DoubleVerify, Moat and Integral Ad Science;
Combating fraud with anonymous user profile scoring, URL blacklisting and IP blocking, and ads.txt integration to enable direct purchases from authorized media partners; and
Enhancing brand safety with URL whitelisting, blacklisting and keyword blocking.
“Fraud threatens the true intent of a brand’s ad, which is to connect, retain and engage consumers. SundaySky’s advanced AI capabilities help ensure that nothing gets in the way of delivering a high-quality, relevant video for every moment that matters,” said Mark Flaharty, Chief Operating Officer at SundaySky. “Trust and transparency are more critical than ever in our industry and we’re committed to ensuring both with our customers every day.”

Also Read: Interview with Eric Porres, CMO, SundaySky

Adobe Draws the Curtains on Adobe Muse: Now What?

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Abhinandan Ghosh

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April 9, 2018

Tech Support for Users Available Until 19 May 2019 After Which No Further Features Will Be Developed for Adobe Muse

At the Adobe Summit 2018, we witnessed a flurry of new announcements in marketing and sales technologies. With the dawn of a new era, there was one particular announcement that brought tears to many eyes. The end of Adobe Muse…

Adobe disclosed that it discontinuing its premier website builder. Tech support will be available to the customers of Creative Cloud until 19 May 2019, while the shutdown process has already been initiated. Post the mentioned date, no further updates would be available.

Debuting in 2012, Adobe Muse enabled users to create websites without coding. Adobe Muse themes did not require any system configuration or setup to get running. Generating HTML files, Adobe Muse files could be viewed on the browser, without needing to connect to a server or web host.

Adobe has affirmed that while it had extended its full commitment towards its vision for Muse, trends in the past few years have been a directive for the company to overhaul its strategies around website creation software.

One among those trends is that designers who are engaged in developing complex apps and websites are also investing in prototyping skills and UX/UI. For that, they are working in tandem with developers to breathe life into their ideas. Secondly, in the case of creating simple websites, there has been a surge in DIY site creators which are based on customized templates, which are responsive in nature and easy to modify for novice users as well.

In an official announcement, Adobe tried to ensure that a seamless switch can be made by Muse users to other Adobe programs and apps that are going to be around.

The company said, “If you are building complex websites and applications, you can now use Adobe XD. Although XD does not generate web-ready code as Adobe Muse did, XD is an all-in-one solution that allows users to design, prototype and collaborate with stakeholders and developers to bring their websites to life. If you are building a website to showcase your creative work, you can use Adobe Portfolio to create beautiful portfolio websites that can also be connected to the Behance platform. If you are building one-page websites, such as photo stories, newsletters, or landing pages, you can use Adobe Spark Page to create beautiful responsive web pages with your own unique brand.”

Users will be able to open Muse on their Windows or Mac systems and can edit/create new websites through the app. However, post-20 May 2019, no bug fixes or compatibility-related updates will be available to websites, which were created using Muse.

Storyblocks Continues To Disrupt Stock Media Industry With Its API Offering

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April 9, 2018

Storyblocks Continues to Disrupt Stock Media Industry with its API Offering

Storyblocks also Announces New Corporate Partnerships with NBCUniversal, VOX Media, and Universal Music Group

Storyblocks, the first subscription-based stock media company, continues to disrupt the digital media ecosystem, announcing that it has achieved over 4.4 million asset downloads through its API offering and surpassed 697 percent growth rate over the last year. As a one-stop-shop for digital storytelling, users accessing content through its API integrations are up 1,486 percent when compared to last year.

Building on the evolution of its brand, the Storyblocks enterprise channel has taken its unique subscription-based model a step further by also offering a corporate option, which consists of multi-seat licenses to various Fortune 500 companies, TV and film production studios, publishers, and more. Most recently, Storyblocks welcomed new corporate partners including NBCUniversal, Vox Media and Universal Music Group, as well as expanded on their existing partnerships with Vice and HBO.

TJ Leonard

“Our enterprise offering is just one way that Storyblocks is extending our disruptive stock media business model. Through direct integration with our API, dozens of leading technology companies’ end-users now have a streamlined creative workflow,” said Storyblocks CEO, TJ Leonard. “In addition, our corporate offering adds another layer to our business model by providing leading companies with access to features such as unlimited downloads, à la carte video and image Marketplaces, and unwatermarked comps.”

Also Read: Episerver Announces a New Visitor Intelligence Product and Releases a Headless API

Alex Collmer

“The emergence of video as the dominant communication medium has dramatically expanded the need for video content and advertisements,” said Alex Collmer, Founder and CEO of VidMob. “Timeliness is more of the essence than ever. Our clients need content in the now, and our relationship with Storyblocks helps us create emotionally resonant video at the speed they need.”

The rapidly growing digital media platform currently consists of over 14 million studio-quality creative assets, including Member Libraries and Marketplaces of HD clips, vectors, sound effects, and more. All media licensed through the enterprise channel carries the most comprehensive and user-friendly license in the industry, including a $1 million indemnification clause, giving customers confidence that they will be protected in the unlikely event of a legal claim.

comScore to Partner with Transform Inc on Local News Intelligence Service

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April 9, 2018

comScore to Partner with Transform Inc on Local News Intelligence Service

Local News Intelligence Helps Local Stations Understand Which Elements of a Broadcast Drive Engagement and Increase Audiences Across Platforms

comScore announced that it has partnered with Transform Inc to launch Local News Intelligence, a data-driven analysis service which allows local TV stations to understand the factors that drive local news audiences and create viewer engagement across platforms. By leveraging comScore’s local TV information against Transform’s proprietary platform, the Local News Intelligence service combines ratings, video metadata, audience listening, promotional and marketing data to innovate the way local television stations understand, manage and optimize their news content and formatting.

Also Read: comScore Receives Renewed Certifications from TAG for Its Efforts to Eliminate Piracy and Fraud

Using the Local News Intelligence service, local stations are able to tie video elements such as location, story count and segment type to ratings, as well as connect social engagement to specific anchors, reporters, story types and ratings for their own station and competitor stations. Subscribed stations can identify what aspects of their news content – including those tied to their on-air promotional and external marketing effort – resonate across platforms.

Steven Walsh

“In today’s competitive local news landscape, making the right decisions for everything from investing in new sets and brand positioning to talent, story order, cadence and topic, can deliver a significant difference to topline revenue and bottom line profitability,” said Steven Walsh, executive vice president, local markets for comScore. “comScore is excited to partner with Transform on the Local News Intelligence service, to help stations make more informed decisions on their news product.”

Also Read: comScore Grows TV Measurement Footprint to More Than 69 Million TVs in Over 31 Million U.S. Homes

Along with providing television viewership data for the service, comScore will also be the exclusive sales channel for the Local News Intelligence service.

Randa Minkarah

“comScore was our first choice to partner with as a best-in-class data source and as sales representation. Together we will take local news intelligence to the next level by bringing data-driven decision-making to performance and engagement. This is a momentous step to bring AI and machine learning to local news analysis,” said Randa Minkarah, chief operating officer and co-founder of Transform Inc.

comScore and Transform are officially launching their partnership at the NAB Show, taking place between April 8-12 in Las Vegas.

Salesforce-MuleSoft Deal: The Dynamic Shift in Marketing Cloud Equation

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April 9, 2018

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Salesforce-Mulesoft Deal: The Dynamic Shift in Marketing Cloud Equation

Salesforce Signed a Definitive Agreement to Acquire MuleSoft for $6.5 Billion Last Month

Last month, 20 March to be precise, global martech leader Salesforce announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire MuleSoft for $6.5 billion. MuleSoft generates software to associate different types of enterprise data on it. Salesforce is a cloud computing company with a market capitalization above $90 billion. At the time of this news, Salesforce had said that the acquisition “represents a 36% premium over MuleSoft’s closing share price”.

MuleSoft’s technology offers to unify multiple integrations of data, business apps and IT infrastructure to a single system. Their customers leverage this platform for disparate devices and software. The acquisition comes after a year of MuleSoft going public in 2017 after it was unable to increase sales and minimize losses. Before they went public, MuleSoft received funding from Salesforce Ventures. MuleSoft’s customers include corporate giants like Coca-Cola, Barclays, Audi, and Accenture.

Also Read: Salesforce Integration Cloud Arrives to Build Connected Customer Experiences

Salesforce Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff to Speak at The New York Times New Work Summit — Mark Benioff

This business transaction was unanimously approved by the respective boards of both MuleSoft and Salesforce. This venture is apparently known to be the most expensive and largest acquisition known in history.

Mark Benioff, CEO of Salesforce said, “Every digital transformation starts and ends with the customer. Together, Salesforce and MuleSoft will enable customers to connect all the information throughout their enterprise across all public and private clouds and data sources- radically enhancing innovation. I am thrilled to welcome MuleSoft to the Salesforce Ohana.”

On the day his firm went public, MuleSoft CEO Greg Schott had mentioned how he had always admired Salesforce for popularizing sales and customer management software and turning what used to be an obscure tech product into a multi-billion dollar business that’s expanded into other areas.

Figures suggest that Salesforce has been a serial acquirer, with 39 firms acquired since 1998. Salesforce has been trying to widen its reach by enhancing its product suite to take on sales software companies which specialize in other products.

Salesforce will host an exchange program to acquire all of MuleSoft’s outstanding shares. 31 July 2019 is expected to be the closing date of the Salesforce-Mulesoft transaction. Salesforce and MuleSoft expect to invest $4billion each to create a common ‘integration cloud’. This move would pitch forward major computing apps and databases from the web, for their customers. Salesforce’s Platform as A Service (PaaS) portfolio would also be bolstered by the MuleSoft acquisition.

Also Read: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Invests In Mobile Identity Start-up Averon

How Will This Acquisition Change Marketing Cloud Equations?

Salesforce acquiring MuleSoft is beneficial since MuleSoft’s technology could be embedded with Salesforce’s Integration Cloud. This service would let customers easily absorb corporate data wherever it is stored.

MuleSoft will power Salesforce’s Integration cloud. It will represent data to provide intelligent experiences through a 1:1 personalized customer journey.

This deal signals a market shift, but the goal of this acquisition is to accelerate digital transformation and integration of data. This sheds light on growing systems that are connecting, helping tap new revenue streams and expanding into new ecosystems.

Customers will now be able to unlock data across legacy systems, cloud apps and databases to create highly connected information which would be available at every touch point.

MuleSoft complements Salesforce’s enterprise success, by having 1200 customers, 60% of which overlap with Salesforce.

Also Read: Introducing Salesforce Lightning Flow: The Power of CRM Process Automation for Every CX

The numbers of SaaS (Software as a service) applications has grown 30 times to than 150,000 currently, turning the cloud into the ultimate home for data and services. Now, Salesforce will offer convenient sources and easy to implement data integration platforms which will unlock more innovation and give rise to digitally acquired transactions.

This acquisition will lead to more digital transactions on cloud computing software which would drive up prices expensive.

There are many questions to be answered, with respect to how Salesforce would utilize MuleSoft’s customer base and how it could leverage data.

Like most global marketers, are you thinking too? With more muscle in its stable, what’s next for Salesforce after the Mulesoft’s acquisition?

The Great Bot Battle: Chatbots Vs Live Chat

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Asonele Kotu

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April 9, 2018

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Chatbots Are A Contact Center Industry Buzzword. In Fact, If This Was A Bingo Game, Chatbot Would Be The Winning Ball. But Who Would Win In A Fight, Chatbots Or Live Chat?

IBM has identified chatbots as a key trend for enterprise call centers in 2018. They go as far as to call this technology a game changer.

According to a McKinsey Global Institute discussion paper on artificial intelligence, the technology is accelerating digital transformation. Tech giants spent approximately $30 billion on AI in 2016, with machine learning netting the biggest chunk of the change.

It’s clear that the time to invest in tech is now. The number of interactions contact centers have to deal with is only increasing. According to JLL Research’s US contact center outlook report, non-voice channel revenues have nearly doubled since 2011, growing 91%.

But should you be putting all your eggs in the chatbot basket?

Look, let’s be real for a moment. Chatbots meet the demand, they make financial sense and can be pretty much rolled out 24/7 for basic responses and frequently asked questions.

So, all in all, a win right?

Well, kinda. It all comes down to customer experience.

Also Read: How Chatbots Are Changing the Way Research Is Done

The Downside To Chatbots

There’s a limit to the number of questions bots can answer. If the query is too complex, or the customer on the other side of the monitor is becoming increasingly frustrated, it’s inevitable that a human will take over the query.

And since we’re being real here, there’s not really much substance to the interaction is there? The customer might start out thinking they’re chatting to a person, but after a while, the truth is going to dawn. Then they’re really going to regret the five minutes spent describing their recent holiday to Jamaica.

It doesn’t make for a winning experience.

So, what’s the alternative?

Live chat.

Also Read: How AI Chatbots Can Transform the Customer Experience

The Case For Live Chat

Part of a strong customer success strategy is access. Customers want to reach your company without the frustrating journey to get to you. And by ‘reach your company’ we mean they want to talk to a real person who breathes and everything.

With web chat, a pop-up can be deployed within minutes of a customer finding your website to let them know an agent is standing by if they have any questions.

The immediate advantage of going the web chat route is that your customer gets to interact with a real human being – human beings trained to successfully handle that query.

And it’s just as fast. In most cases, a web chat query is answered in under three minutes.*

Imagine you’re a customer for a second. There’s no risk of being put on hold, being cut off (unless the cat jumps on the keyboard) and you’re already talking to the right person. It’s a seamless interaction, which is exactly what customers are looking for. Meanwhile, you get to benefit from reduced costs and increased efficiency by deflecting interactions to a more lightweight channel.

People are welcome to argue this point all they like, but our money’s on live chat. It works, it keeps the customer happy, and the advantages square up.

That’s why we use it.

*According to ZaiLab’s crack support team anyway.

This article first appeared on the ZaiBlog

Also Read: Why Contact Centers Are Critical to Omnichannel Marketing Strategies

Nielsen Powers Rapidly Expanding Audience-Based Buying Marketplace with API Platform

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April 9, 2018

Nielsen Powers Rapidly Expanding Audience Based Buying Marketplace with API Platform

Nielsen Enterprise Audience API Provides Easy Integration with TV Buying, Selling and Inventory Management Solutions

Nielsen announced the commercial availability of its Enterprise Audience API that empowers media clients and their solution providers to accelerate their TV audience targeting initiatives. Through the new API, clients now have the ability to transact on advertiser-defined audiences including but not limited to those based on credit card spending habits, in-store FMCG purchases and extended psychographic profiles. As additional data sets emerge, the platform allows for rapid expansion to include new targeting capabilities. The API also supports standardized segments curated by industry groups such as the Advanced Target Standards Group (ATSG).

Nielsen Launches Audience-Based Forecasting Solution For Linear Television — Kelly Abcarian

“The Nielsen Enterprise Audience API represents our commitment and investment in powering the marketplace’s evolution towards audience-based buying and selling,” said Kelly Abcarian, SVP, Nielsen Product Leadership. “The new platform will serve as a single source of truth for a new advanced audience marketplace, enabling marketers and the publishers who serve them to reach their most important consumer prospects.”

Also Read: Nielsen Launches Nielsen Grabix – Next-Generation Viewership Analytics Platform Covering Top 56 US TV Markets

A key differentiator of the Nielsen Enterprise Audience API is the availability of Nielsen TV Universe Estimates for advertiser defined audiences. In order for agencies to accurately plan and execute media campaigns beyond age and gender—and for media owners to appropriately value these advanced demographics—it’s imperative for everyone to know how many of these people actually exist. A foundational part of any advanced television platform, for example, is the ability to access these precise Nielsen population estimates at every step of the planning and buying process.

Enterprise software platform clypd is integrating the Nielsen Enterprise API into its solutions; while others, including Simulmedia and Videology, will be able to take advantage of this capability to easily connect and integrate with the API to power their advanced audience capabilities. By using Nielsen’s API, such platforms will be extending the availability of Nielsen’s ratings data for custom advertiser-defined audiences, allowing users to create more targeted and optimized media buys, ultimately increasing the return on investment on ad spend for advertisers.

Also Read: Nielsen Launches Audience-Based Forecasting Solution For Linear Television

Dave Morgan

“Nielsen continues to be the gold standard in TV ad measurement. With Nielsen’s Enterprise Audience API, Simulmedia’s VAMOS platform will be able to convert that gold standard data into targetable audience segments across all national TV networks in the U.S. in a matter of seconds,” said Dave Morgan, CEO of Simulmedia.

Joshua Summers

“In a time when advertisers are scrutinizing every dollar and demanding ever higher investment returns, media sellers need accurate, timely and trusted independent data that allows them to offer a broader range of audience segments. With Nielsen Enterprise Audience API, clients will benefit from simpler, faster, on-demand access to consistent data with the scale required to drive this next evolution of television audience targeting imperatives,” said Joshua Summers, CEO, clypd.

Vidgo Chooses Harmonic to Power Next-Generation OTT Services

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April 9, 2018

Vidgo Chooses Harmonic to Power Next-Generation OTT Services

Harmonic’s VOS SW Cluster Solution Enables Best-in-Class Streaming Quality and Business Agility

Recently at the 2018 NAB Show, Harmonic, the worldwide leader in video delivery technology and services, announced that Vidgo will launch its next-generation OTT services powered by the Harmonic VOS media processing platform. With the VOS SW Cluster solution handling every component of media processing in a private cloud, Vidgo can quickly launch a full suite of video streaming services while gaining the agility to scale video streaming services rapidly. Vidgo is set to introduce its OTT services for the United States market later this year with a compelling channel lineup, unique pricing model and high-quality live-streaming experience.

Shane Cannon

“We’ve identified a significant underserved market in the United States, with millions of consumers that are currently not part of the pay-TV ecosystem,” said Shane Cannon, CEO of Vidgo. “Partnering with Harmonic, the market leader in OTT video service deployments, we plan to deliver a full range of streaming features that consumers demand. The VOS solution allows us to provide the best live-streaming experience for our customers and provides us with a strong foundation to manage our network and end-user experience.”

Also Read: Harmonic Announces VOS SW Cluster for Fast Origination and Delivery of OTT and IPTV Services

VOS SW Cluster embeds market-leading micro-services, including ingest, playout, compression, encryption, packaging and origin, that will allow Vidgo to deliver its OTT services at a low cost and to scale seamlessly. Vidgo’s offering will include over 40 channels of live television available for viewing on smartphones, tablets, PCs and other streaming devices. Encoding and transcoding on VOS SW Cluster is performed by the Harmonic PURE Compression Engine, an advanced, software-based media processing technology that will ensure Vidgo provides exceptional video quality on every screen at the lowest possible bitrates.

Also Read: Fuji Television Network Selects Harmonic Cloud Playout Solution for OTT Delivery

Tim Warren

“The VOS SW Cluster solution uniquely positions Vidgo to provide a best-in-class entertainment experience for customers,” said Tim Warren, senior vice president and chief technology officer, video business, at Harmonic. “We are excited to be a part of Vidgo’s innovative OTT service deployment.”

Harmonic will showcase its OTT innovations at the 2018 NAB Show, April 9-12 in Las Vegas at booth SU810.

SenseTime Raises US $600 Million in Series C Funding, led by Alibaba Group

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April 9, 2018

SenseTime Raises US$600 Million in Series C Funding

The Capital Injection Will Provide an Important Impetus to the Buildout of SenseTime’s AI Platform

SenseTime, China’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) company, has successfully raised US$600 million in its Series C round of funding. Alibaba Group is taking the lead role in this round of funding and other participants include Temasek and Suning. As the Company set a record by raising US$410 million in its series B round of funding last July, it once again sets a new record for venture capital funding in the AI sector.

The capital injection will provide an important impetus to the buildout of SenseTime’s AI platform, advancing the company’s technological innovation and opening up new business opportunities.

Li Xu

Li Xu, SenseTime Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, said, “SenseTime has established an AI ecosystem anchored with robust research, deep industry collaboration, and diverse partnerships. Our Round C funding will maximize these advantages by accelerating the development of a global footprint with a larger ecosystem incorporating both domestic and overseas partners. The funding will also help us widen the scope for more industrial application of AI, thus increasing the value of SenseTime’s global ecosystem.”

Also Read: Clickback Says Artificial Intelligence Exploded Into B2B Marketing in 2017

Joe Tsai, Executive Vice Chairman of Alibaba Group, said: “SenseTime is doing pioneering work in artificial intelligence. We are especially impressed by their R&D capabilities in deep learning and visual computing. Our business at Alibaba is already seeing tangible benefits from our investments in AI and we are committed to further investment. Our strategic partnership with SenseTime will spark more innovation and create value for society.”

Currently, SenseTime’s high-performance deep learning supercomputing platform is one of China’s largest, boasting over 8,000 GPUs. It is able to support building models with hundreds of billions of parameters, categorizing hundreds of millions of data and training billions of images. Thanks to its innovative technologies, the company leads the industry in a range of fields such as, autonomous driving, medical imaging and deep learning hardware optimization. As to date, it has become China’s largest AI platform company and AI algorithms supplier.

Also Read: How Chatbots Are Changing the Way Research Is Done

In 2017, SenseTime announced a series of significant strategic partnerships in China and abroad. With Qualcomm, it initiated an “algorithm + chip” collaboration increasing the intelligence of smartphones and other devices. The Company partnered with Honda to provide industry-leading autonomous driving technologies. Working with Suning, the largest consumer electronics retailer in China, the Company has helped to develop the Store of Future, which leverages facial recognition for check-out free shopping as well as customer big data analysis. In February 2018, the prestigious Massachusets Institute of Technology announced that SenseTime was the first company to join its Intelligence Quest project and the two parties created an AI alliance to define the next frontier of human and machine intelligence. In March 2018, the Company formed strategic partnerships with several large Chinese state-owned enterprises based in Shanghai such as the INESA Group and Lingang Group. These developments followed from a strategic agreement that the Company signed with the municipal government of Shanghai in 2017. According to the agreement, SenseTime will leverage its AI technologies to help the city on multiple initiatives including smart city, smart traffic, autonomous driving, and smart finance.

SenseTime has established partnerships with more than 400 leading domestic and overseas enterprises across security, fintech, automobile, retail, smartphone, mobile Internet and robotics. By broadening the possibilities of data technology and its application across industries, the Company has the potential to provide a technological leap for a range of verticals and serve as their close partner in AI transformation.

Fuji Television Network Selects Harmonic Cloud Playout Solution for OTT Delivery

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April 9, 2018

Fuji Television Network Selects Harmonic Cloud Playout Solution for OTT Delivery

VOS Media Processing Software Streamlines Playout Tasks, Increasing Monetization

Harmonic, the worldwide leader in video delivery technology and services, announced that Fuji Television Network (Fuji TV), a leading television station in Japan, has deployed a cloud playout solution from Harmonic for its SMART OTT service. Using Harmonic’s cloud-native VOS media processing software, Fuji TV is performing channel playout directly from a public cloud platform to simplify workflow and increase monetization opportunities. System integrator EVC Inc. provided expertise in large-scale video distribution services and an advanced traffic system, helping to ensure a successful deployment.

“We need streamlined playout for our SMART distribution system used for OTT program delivery by third-party content providers to audiences outside of Japan. Harmonic’s VOS solution is the most comprehensive and adaptive media processing solution that addresses all of our playout needs in terms of workflow efficiency, flexibility and rock-solid reliability,” said Katsuya Seki, senior manager at Fuji TV. “Entrusting Harmonic and EVC with the management of our cloud playout, we are free to focus on other tasks related to content and revenue growth.”

Also Read: Harmonic and Veygo Team Up to Deliver End-to-End OTT Solution, Successfully Deployed by Indonesia’s AMTV

Asia-Pacific OTT revenues from TV episodes and movies will reach $24.41 billion in 2022, tripling the $8.27 billion recorded in 2016, according to a market research company. With playout functionality in the cloud, Fuji TV can explore additional types of monetization for its OTT channels. Being a cloud-based solution, VOS media processing is highly adaptive and responsive to Fuji TV’s needs. With a focus on overall service uptime, Harmonic manages software services for Fuji TV including modern and proactive technical and operational assistance such as monitoring, to ensure smooth and reliable service delivery.

“Thanks to our new playout-as-a-service innovation, Fuji TV has dramatically streamlined its playout operations for OTT content delivery,” said Tony Berthaud, vice president of sales, APAC, at Harmonic. “This new and simple playout approach is based on an open and cloud-native architecture strategy that allows seamless integration with ecosystem partners to ensure the delivery of true end-to-end OTT video services. Fuji TV is the perfect, tangible example of this workflow in action, leveraging benefits of the public cloud in terms of scale, speed and simplicity.”

Harmonic will demonstrate its award-winning VOS family of solutions at the 2018 NAB Show, April 9-12, in Las Vegas at booth SU810.

X2Engine Inc Taps CRM Industry Veteran David Buchanan as CEO

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April 9, 2018

X2Engine Inc Taps CRM Industry Veteran David Buchanan as CEO

Before Joining X2Engine, David Buchanan Was CEO of Bluenile Software, a Salesforce.com Marketing Cloud Implementer

X2Engine Inc, the company that develops X2CRM, announced that 30-year CRM industry veteran David Buchanan has joined the company as CEO. Additionally, the company announced it is a platinum sponsor of CRM Evolution 2018, taking place in Washington, DC April 9-11, 2018. At the conference, X2CRM will be showcased in the Customer Solutions Expo (Booth 105), where attendees can talk to the popular Jibo social robot and also enter to win a Jibo of their own.

X2CRM delivers a seamless enterprise CRM, workflow, and marketing automation platform that’s powerful, customizable, and easy-to-use. Unlike other CRM products, X2CRM is a homogeneous code base built in a modern language and designed to be deployed in multiple environments. X2CRM’s end-to-end workflow automation provides superior productivity and business efficiency by converging and automating all customer-facing efforts.

Also Read: X2CRM Introduces Location Marketing into Its Open-Source CRM Platform

Buchanan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his new position at the helm of X2Engine, Inc. Before joining the company, Buchanan was CEO of Bluenile Software, a Salesforce.com Marketing Cloud implementer. He has more than 30 years of technical and management experience as a founder and leader of many successful CRM organizations including Cybrant Software (acquired by Blue Martini) and Aurum Software (acquired by Baan Software).

Buchanan was impressed with the code and innovation quality within X2CRM and knew that many Salesforce.com customers were unhappy and longing for an alternative. At X2Engine, Inc., he refocused the entire company, product design, trial and on-boarding, and service and support to deliver the highest satisfaction to their customers. This renewed vision and execution is already making a difference in the industry.

“Having extensive experience as a Salesforce.com integration partner, I know firsthand the technical pitfalls companies face trying to implement multiple Salesforce products which often includes an extensive configuration to connect three different databases when it should be just one database. It is a huge effort when trying to connect Salesforce.com Sales Cloud with the Marketing Cloud and Pardot lead tracking,” said Buchanan, adding, “Instead of Salesforce.com’s frustrating technological deficiencies due to incompatible cloud platforms, databases, application languages, different user interfaces, subpar support and premium price tag, our customer-first approach is to provide a seamless X2CRM system with white glove service and support that works harder for companies.”

Also Read: Introducing Salesforce Lightning Flow: The Power of CRM Process Automation for Every CX

To provide assurance that X2CRM avoids the pitfalls and problems of previously deployed CRM solutions, X2Engine, Inc. believes in a true “try before you buy” approach. First, X2Engine, Inc. has made a major investment in tools and utilities to automate migrating Salesforce.com users to X2CRM. To limit the risk of switching CRM solutions, X2Engine is offering an unrestricted 30-day free trial to allow prospective clients to measure the system’s business value before signing a contract or even providing a credit card.

X2Engine Inc offers a “white glove” service where the company performs the necessary work to allow customers to quickly transfer and step into production with X2CRM; even to those requiring extensive previously implemented Salesforce.com customizations. X2Engine, Inc. additionally provides an implementation partner program as an alternative for customers to choose how they want to design, deploy and manage their solution.

Buchanan will be at CRM Evolution and is available to meet regarding replacing existing Salesforce.com deployments with X2CRM without business disruption. Also, visit the X2CRM (booth 105) to enter to win the amazing Jibo social robot.

Mexican Startup Flyr Raised US $6 Million to Democratize Social-TV Advertisement

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April 9, 2018