Uberall, the global trailblazer in location marketing, celebrates a decade of groundbreaking innovation while unveiling the awaited Fall release that ushers in a new era of AI-driven location-based growth.
In this latest release, Uberall introduces a game-changing platform enhancement, featuring cutting-edge AI-powered features set to redefine how local businesses connect with their customers. Here are the key highlights of Uberall’s Fall 2023 Release:
Meet the Message Assistant: Your ultimate solution for supercharging customer engagement through the magic of conversational intelligence. The newly unveiled Message Assistant taps into a vast array of knowledge sources to deliver rich, precise, and captivating responses across various messaging platforms, from Google and Facebook to Instagram and web chat. It harnesses the power of information by expanding the chatbot knowledge base beyond location data to new horizons including website frequently asked questions, inventory, help articles and much more ensuring top-notch customer interactions. Moreover, it boasts expanded language support, enabling to effortlessly converse with customers in over 100 languages, no setup required, making multilingual interactions a breeze.
Meet the Review Assistant: Your new trusty companion for managing online reviews with ease. The new review assistant excels in providing creative, context-sensitive, and linguistically spot-on responses with unmatched speed and efficiency. This AI-driven marvel simplifies response creation, offering suggestions that solve creative fatigue helping brands respond to hundreds of reviews in a unique way. It takes into account the review’s sentiment, rating, business particulars, customer insights, and even the review’s language, enabling the generation of tailor-made responses with a single click.
Florian Huebner, the CEO and co-founder of Uberall, reflects on this significant moment, saying, ” “A decade ago, we embarked on a simple mission: to connect consumers with local businesses and empower them to thrive in their communities. It’s been a journey that leaves me both humbled and excited for what comes next. At Uberall, we’re all dedicated to harnessing the power of AI. We created an intelligent platform layer deeply integrated with our infrastructure and its unique ecosystem position. It already leverages our data expertise and user-friendly interfaces and empowers clients to intuitively supercharge their efficiency and capabilities – and overall boost their performance. Our AI vision focuses on enhancing every customer interaction and unlocking our clients’ full potential. It’s all about scaling authentic customer relationships”
NTT DATA Business Solutions AG publishes its first Sustainability Report, marking the start of regular annual reporting. Taking its cue from the guidelines of the German Sustainability Code (DNK), the report provides insights into the efforts made by the internationally operating SAP® consulting company to foster sustainability within the company and along the supply chain.
“I am proud of the publication of our first Sustainability Report. It is an important step for NTT DATA Business Solutions and illustrates our commitment to sustainability as a core element of our corporate strategy. For us as a company and for me as CEO, sustainability orientation and transparent communication of our actions are fundamental prerequisites. We have a responsibility towards our employees, business partners, and customers as well as towards the environment and society generally,” explains Norbert Rotter, CEO of NTT DATA Business Solutions AG and EVP NTT DATA, Inc. “Technology can be an engine for positive change. As an IT service provider, we support our customers with innovative products and digital solutions that help them become more sustainable. While we recognize that we are still in the early stages of our journey, our first Sustainability Report is a clear statement of our aim to have a positive impact on our planet and on society.”
One of the other crucial influencing resources is the international NTT DATA NET-ZERO Vision 2040, which the company is committed to as part of the NTT DATA Group. This stipulates that the NET ZERO target for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions is to be achieved by 2035 – with an interim deadline of 2030 for the data centers. By 2040, the NET ZERO target is then to be achieved along the entire value chain (Scope 3). The long-term sustainability strategy of NTT DATA Business Solutions has also been crucially informed by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which were adopted by the United Nations. Twelve of these are linked particularly closely to the company’s business activities and are considered directly in the report. The report is divided into three sections, headed Environment, Social, and Governance, for each of which concrete figures, measures and sample projects from the company are provided.
Based on the data for fiscal year 2022/23 (reporting period: April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023), the report focuses on the countries and business units that account for the majority of overall revenues and have a substantial influence on matters relating to sustainability. These also include the data centers in Germany, Denmark, the USA, Poland, and Malaysia. Here, the focus is clearly on energy-efficient operation and use of self-generated solar power, explains Jürgen Pürzer, CFO of NTT DATA Business Solutions. “In Germany, our data centers account for some 80 percent of electricity consumption. Their planning back in 2011 already included aspects of sustainability and they have been operated exclusively using green power since 2021.” In parallel with the increased use of renewable energies, the Travel and Mobility Policy is being revised with the aim of reducing emissions. “To us, ‘Green IT’ does not just mean ‘Green Energy’; we also promote careful use of resources and actively support our customers with their green transformation by providing innovative software solutions.”
Sustainable thanks to innovative IT solutions
Heading towards a climate-neutral circular economy, the SAP Platinum Partner develops IT solutions that will enable its customers to record and reduce emissions, optimize business processes, and lower costs. This involves above all the use of SAP sustainability solutions as well as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and IoT; in every case aiming at facilitating new intelligent business models and more efficient use of business software. The company also promotes the use of software solutions to manage societal challenges; examples include the provision of assistance to people at risk of suicide with the “AI Suicide Helpline”, the transportation of medical goods in inaccessible areas using drones, and the promotion of digital education. All these examples and projects are presented in detail in the report, providing insights into the sustainability work done at NTT DATA Business Solutions.
From fiscal year 2025/26, companies like NTT DATA Business Solutions will be subject to a sustainability reporting requirement. In order to develop a deeper understanding of its customers’ needs and steadily expand its own capabilities in this area, the company made the decision to publish an annual sustainability report even before the above-mentioned requirement comes into force. With this decision, the SAP consulting company intends to create transparency internally and externally so that any improvement potential can be recognized and realized early on. “Transformation into a sustainable enterprise requires perseverance and long-term measures that go beyond short-term achievements. It is therefore necessary for companies to remain self-critical and to keep questioning the course they are on with the aid of sustainability reports and make adjustments if necessary,” Norbert Rotter comments.
Kyle Mitnick, President at Mosaic Digital Systems comments further on how everything within martech and adtech is now being centered around AI while taking us through Mosaic Digital Systems’ core offering:
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Welcome to this MarTech Series chat, Kyle – tell us about yourself and your time in the media industry. We’d like to hear more about Mosaic Digital…what inspired the platform?
I started a tech-enabled affiliate management agency in 2012 named Advertise Purple. We ended up growing it to the largest in the space, serving over 4,000 customers across 14 different countries. During my time as CEO, I became obsessed with our technology platform named Purply™. Its goal was to enable our employees to manage clients with efficiency and effectiveness, which we accomplished.
As we grew the business, I contemplated a performance-marketing ecosystem where similar tools were accessible to all e-commerce brands, not just those with agency representation. In theory, it would put power in the hands of SMBs for growth, which, ultimately, benefits everyone in the space. This is how the Mosaic concept was born. We developed a pilot technology moonlighting under the Advertise Purple brand and served 500 clients in DIY, SaaS fashion. Once the concept was vetted, I made the decision to bring it to life under the Mosaic Digital Systems (MDS) label.
How have you been seeing adtech and martech evolve in the recent years and what top trends do you feel will dominate the market in the next few years?
For those who have been living under a rock, everything is centered around AI right now. In my conversations with top adtech execs, the pros and cons lists seem to be pretty even. Regardless of where you sit on the subject, the underlying current is undeniable: businesses are looking to reduce expense and uncertainty while increasing ROAS and reliable outcomes. In the next few years, automation and data will aid in crafting a more predictable future for marketers, which is what everyone wants.
Tell us about the biggest benefits of partnership marketing today that B2B brands should be leaning more towards on (and they often don’t).?
The biggest benefits are traffic diversity and performance economics. We’ve worked with over 250,000 affiliates over the years, all excelling at brand promotion in different environments and economic climates. For brands, having an army of performance-based promoters to keep your brand relevant is the best solution for fighting a difficult economy, as well as excelling in a thriving one.
Can you talk about how some of the world’s leading B2B tech brands have used affiliate marketing concepts to drive market impact?
Yes, it is very interesting, actually. Their philosophy about their digital channels seems to be evolving. Display and search are now purely transactional methods of customer acquisition, whereas affiliate has transcended from that into a lifestyle medium, but with strong economic upside. It seems to us that affiliate has taken much more of a prominent position among the pack.
When it comes to partnership marketing CRM systems, what differentiates Mosaic Digital?
What we learned during our pilot of the technology was mostly partnership marketing CRMs were simple discovery tools developed by data aggregation companies. Conversely, our technology was built using agency themes, which offers the tailored guidance that major brands need to find success in the space. For example, our MDS Partner Pairing™ feature offers a customized discovery, then closes the gap with automated onboarding, predicted revenue contribution, suggested commission, and much more. It’s an end-to-end solution to drive results with complete transparency and trust.
Can you comment on the growing use of AI in this space and how you think it will change the game for end users in the near future?
I think there is a lot up in the air right now. Fundamentally, AI is beneficial and will play a large part in the advancement of adtech. However, execution can conflict with business interests, consumer rights, and a host of other legal items. It’s a fine needle to thread, and the businesses that get it right will win big, along with their end users.
Mosaic Digital Systems is the premier CRM for analyzing, managing, and scaling your performance marketing channel. Our technology has helped over 1,000 e-commerce companies generate $150M in sales through the industry’s first DIY, SaaS partnership marketing platform. From MDS Parter Pairing™ technology to MDS Campaign Connect™, Mosaic offers a suite of bleeding-edge features for ease of use, removing the need, and cost, of a traditional agency.
The pursuit of ultra-fast WordPress hosting captivates marketing technologists, given the emphasis both Google and consumers place on it.
Shortly after launching one of the most cutting-edge WordPress hosting technologies, equipped with high volume php handlers for superior resource management, Sitetrail made another bold move. Guided by what researchers point to as critical guidelines for ecommerce, the company developed and unveiled an upgrade to its WordPress hosting plans, transforming it into a marketing powerhouse that currently has no rival in the hosting industry.
The primary objective behind this move wasn’t just to provide an unparalleled WordPress experience in terms of speed. Sitetrail aims to offer shop owners and businesses an all-inclusive platform. From pay-per-click (PPC) management to intricate web design, reliable hosting to organic marketing, businesses can now handle everything without ever leaving the Sitetrail ecosystem.
Sitetrail listed 10 key features to turn it’s hosting plan into a marketing engine:
A comprehensive Contact Form & Email List Builder for cultivating potential leads.
Enhanced capabilities to Sell Online using the robust WooCommerce system.
An SEO Dashboard and Rank Tracker to monitor your site’s visibility, backed by a weekly SEO Report to stay updated with the site’s performance.
A professional web design offering with 12 unique page designs.
Setup for Email automation drip feeds to maintain steady engagement with subscribers.
A streamlined E-commerce Storefront Setup for businesses to get started effortlessly.
Facilities to Sell either services or tangible goods, catering to a diverse range of businesses – with recurring revenue and subscriptions.
Unlimited Press Release publication, amplifying reach and presence in the market.
An Affiliate Management System to expand marketing reach through partnerships.
A dedicated Google Ads PPC Management tool to enhance ad performance.
Adriaan Brits, the CEO of Sitetrail, shared his insights on this upgrade, “Core web vitals and Google page speed metrics aren’t just about improving organic rankings. We’re looking at the bigger picture – enhancing conversions, especially on platforms like WooCommerce. We understand that in the digital world, every second can make a difference in conversion rate optimization.”
He explained that Sitetrail has to take a lot of companies through the startup phase and nurture them with pay per click and social media until such time SEO and email marketing become mature channels – and that some of these capabilities were bolted onto the hosting plan of clients to ensure a hands-off solution that will allow people to focus on their core business.
Elaborating on the tangible benefits of a robust hosting system, Brits stated, “Companies that see a high influx of real visitors, aiming to convert them into loyal customers, often realize the hard truth. While they might save around $400 annually with a cheaper hosting solution, they could be losing a staggering $25K due to abandoned carts and high bounce rates resulting from subpar performance.”
The problem with so-called speed comparisons in hosting reviews:
Sitetrail has long argued that more transparent Web hosting reviews and speed comparisons are vital for consumers and businesses looking for the best hosting solutions. However, the presence of affiliate relationships (such as those by Forbes Advisor and PC Mag) along with possible inconsistent server usage in testing can cast a shadow over the legitimacy and accuracy of these reviews. Here are some of the criticisms associated with these practices:
Bias due to Affiliate Relationships:
When reviewers receive compensation through affiliate relationships, it can potentially introduce bias into their assessments. The allure of earning commission might lead reviewers to give overly positive reviews or to underscore the strengths of the affiliated hosting provider while downplaying the drawbacks. Consequently, the rankings of hosting providers could be influenced more by the lure of higher affiliate commissions than by the actual quality of service. This skewed representation can mislead consumers who depend on these reviews to make well-informed decisions.
Non-representative Server Usage:
A significant criticism is the disparity between servers used for testing and those allocated to actual clients. If a hosting provider offers a high-performing dedicated server for testing purposes, but later hosts clients on a shared server, the real-world experience can vary drastically from the test results. Speed and reliability, which are vital for many online ventures, may not match the impressive test outcomes, leading to users feeling misled and dissatisfied.
Lack of Transparency:
The absence of transparency is another major concern. Many reviewers don’t disclose their affiliate relationships, a practice deemed unethical in many digital marketing standards. Users have a right to know about any financial ties the reviewer might have with the companies under assessment. Similarly, not being upfront about the server configurations used for tests can provide a distorted view of the service’s actual capabilities.
Overemphasis on Certain Metrics:
Reviewers may focus excessively on certain metrics that showcase their affiliated partners in a positive light, even if those metrics aren’t paramount for potential users. For instance, if a hosting provider shines in uptime but lags in speed, a reviewer with ties to that provider might magnify the importance of uptime while sidelining speed considerations. This selective representation can lead to users prioritizing the wrong features when choosing a hosting provider.
Excellence in Woocommerce Hosting
For Sitetrail’s clientele, the WooCommerce vs. Wix vs. GoDaddy vs. Shopify debate is firmly settled: they have a marked preference for WooCommerce as the best shopping cart solution. Understanding this clear choice, Sitetrail has intensified its efforts, honing in on creating an optimized environment specifically for WooCommerce. Luigi Wewege, a Fintech School instructor who is the President of the largest international bank in Belize – Caye International Bank, noted that “ecommerce providers understand the importance of a safe but fast technology stack and that is where Sitetrail is making gains.
They’re not just looking at speed, but are also enhancing the suite of marketing tools available, ensuring that shops don’t merely compete but excel. This concentrated approach reflects Sitetrail’s commitment to aligning with their clients’ preferences and setting them up for unparalleled success.
Delivering both simplicity and advanced capabilities is a key requirement from a hosting provider as it’s clients grow. For example, with Sitetrail the most basic plan is equipped with a website builder to make it easy for clients, but also with Cpanel and WPToolkit, along with some advanced features required by web developers when needed.
Tips for speeding up WordPress
Take the Sitetrail page speed test to see what can be improved. Optimizing the speed of WordPress websites is pivotal for enhanced user experience and improved search engine rankings. While there’s a plethora of advice available, a few key strategies stand out. Firstly, Sitetrail says that by switching to a LiteSpeed based hosting environment, as opposed to the commonly used NGinX (used by Kinsta for example), can offer tangible performance benefits, thanks to LiteSpeed’s server-level caching and other optimizations.
Additionally, while WPRocket has gained popularity for its cache solutions, it’s essential to explore beyond it. Innovative tools, similar to what Sitetrail has implemented, offer a more holistic approach to optimization. This includes database cleanup, WebP image optimization, and minimizing external HTTP requests. Remember, every millisecond counts, so consistently monitoring and refining your website’s performance should be an ongoing endeavor.
Fast hosting is indisputably the bedrock of a dependable e-commerce and online business operation. In today’s digital age, consumers expect immediate access and seamless browsing. Any lag or delay can deter potential customers, leading to lost sales and diminished brand trust.
It is also worth noting that even with substantial pay-per-click budgets and robust marketing strategies, slow site speeds can undermine these investments. When users click on an advertisement, they anticipate a swift and responsive landing page. If that expectation isn’t met, the money spent attracting them is essentially wasted. Hence, investing in speedy hosting isn’t just about enhancing user experience—it’s about ensuring the effectiveness and ROI of your entire digital marketing ecosystem.
We’ve seen the rapid rise in artificial intelligence (AI) over the last several months, and it’s quickly changed – and, in many ways, improved – how we approach tasks in our personal lives and at work. Now, though, we’ve started to see a shift in sentiment as people become defensive of their livelihoods, fearing that AI’s growing success may cut jobs in several industries.
Most recently, we’ve seen this come to life in Hollywood, with writers on strike and demanding protection from what is perceived as the “impending takeover” of generative AI. In fact, many people in the broader creative industry – including marketing, advertising, and communications professionals – have become anxious about the possibility of being replaced by machines, which can seemingly produce full and diverse content, visuals, and audio, with only a short descriptive prompt and the touch of a button.
This “Tinderisation” of content creation – or the idea that we can (and have) mechanized and simplified the development of content to the point of removing any emotion or thought – is complicated and not without flaws. We recently saw an example of this when content creators used AI to “give voices” to children who were victims of high-profile, serious criminal cases. While AI offers the opportunity for content creators to flex their creativity, it can also be dangerous – especially when creators churn out content without considering its impact.
Now, more than ever before, human touch is irreplaceable. As we learn and grow to better understand how to use AI responsibly, I believe we’ll find that the tech cannot and should not stand alone – and that humans and AI must work together to create a symbiotic relationship. Here’s how.
Fact check – always
Artificially generated content is compelling – but it’s often prone to mistakes, in both tone and substance. After all, it was only a few weeks ago that a New York lawyer was called out after submitting a brief created by ChatGPT that was riddled with bogus legal citations.
The threat of disinformation and misinformation looms large if we dumb down human oversight, rigour, and contribution requirements. In fact, Sheila Mulligan, Weber Shandwick, stressed the importance of trust at the 2023 Meltwater Summit, explaining that the erosion of trust can threaten organizational survival and be a “material headwind for the brands in which we operate and…lead.” In this regard, content creation is a morally significant act that we should not, and arguably cannot, outsource entirely to machines – not, at least, without the key element of fact checking.
Google’s Genesis product, a new AI tool that can help journalists produce news stories, has the potential to be great example of human/AI partnership. Using AI technology, the product brings with it the promise of aggregating information about current affairs, creating initial first drafts of news stories, and producing related social media posts. At the same time, there is no suggestion that these tools are meant to replace the role of the journalist, who is ultimately responsible for fact-checking articles and ensuring that the news is reported with integrity. The focus here is on creating efficiency rather than attempting to automate veracity.
The use of emotions has long been studied as an effective way to persuade. The very best content – articles, TV commercials, advertisements – often employ emotional persuasion for this very reason. In fact, research shows that creating an emotional connection with a customer is 52% more valuable than a highly satisfied customer.
To date, AI has not been able to replicate these human emotions – at least not to the level of a human being. While the latest chatbot technology, like Microsoft’s Xiaoice in China, for example, has become far more sophisticated, reading and learning from something as simple as a chatter’s tone, AI is no match for the countless nuances of human emotion. At best, it attempts only to imitate it – and at worst, it “hallucinates” to fill in gaps it doesn’t understand. In a world where low-cost, artificial content is common, it has never been more important for human beings to dedicate more time to use their lived experiences, intuition and emotional intelligence to create impact with customers.
Miri Rodriguez, Microsoft, helped put this in to practice with some advice. She encourages the use of AI to synthesize data, then recommends employing empathy to make the ultimate message resonate with the intended audience. This bionic relationship focuses on using generative AI to put together initial drafts of a piece of content – at which point the author would focus more time and attention on using language and imagery that stimulates an authentic emotional connection, thus making the overall piece more impactful.
The Tinderisation of content is real – but it only emphasizes the need for humans to play an active and important role in content creation. While the threshold to produce content has gotten lower and often requires minimal intellectual exertion, the “human touch” has never been more important than it is today. It’s no longer about producing more content; it’s about crafting content that exudes deep connection and genuine insight, with “thoughtfulness” still firmly rooted in human ingenuity, wisdom, and empathy.
Singapore’s Gen AI startup, Addlly AI, launches advanced second-generation AI tools for complete marketing workflows.
Taking the lead in AI-driven marketing innovation, Singapore-based Gen AI start-up Addlly.AI proudly announces the launch of its suite of advanced second-generation AI tools. The complete marketing workflow tools are designed to create blogs and social media posts with real-time data.
Starting October 16, 2023, users can kick start their journey with Addlly AI by creating a free trial account on https://app.addlly.ai/signup/ using their work email. The company is steadfast in its mission to equip all content creators – from enterprises to seasoned professionals – with tools to craft premium marketing content in both English and Bahasa Indonesia. More languages will steadily be added.
Addlly AI’s suite of tools is not just about creating content, but about crafting intelligent, SEO-optimized, and brand-aligned narratives that truly resonate. The tools are designed to bring businesses closer to their audiences, one AI-enhanced piece at a time.
“Creating consistent, high-quality, and impactful content can be daunting,” says Tina Chopra, Co-founder and CEO of Addlly.AI. “With Addlly’s revolutionary AI-powered tools, we’re simplifying the process, ensuring every content creator has the power of AI at their fingertips, leading to content that not only engages but also outperforms,” she adds.
Addlly’s ground-breaking tools empower users to create SEO-optimized blogs and social media posts in just a single click, bringing the power of AI customization to marketing content creation.
Addlly’s Innovative Features:
• The 1-Click Blog Writer: Users can create complete blogs on any topic in just 1 click. Just provide a topic, and a complete blog will be generated in around three minutes.
• No Prompt Required: Other writers require complex prompts and specific keywords to generate the results users are looking for. With Addlly, users can create articles, blogs and social media posts in just one sentence, or by providing a link!
• Complete SEO Content that Outranks Competition: The Smart AI Writer can create blog content that will be SEO-optimized with all relevant keywords. Users can also control the heading structure and tone of voice per their needs.
• All-in-One Marketing Workflow: For every blog article, Addlly AI tool will generate related social media posts for Facebook, Instagram, X & LinkedIn, Google Ads Copy, and FAQs along with Schema.
• Brand Voice Customization: Addlly AI provides tone customization for business users. This feature allows companies to write in their brand’s unique voice for every piece of content generated. Addlly will fine-tune the tone to resonate with the company’s branding guidelines and previously published content.
• Built-in Fact-Checker: The tools ensure full accuracy and credibility of generated blogs and social posts. The tool comes with an automatic fact-checker feature that displays live links. Addlly offers a reliable solution for users seeking to produce high-quality, trustworthy blog posts.
• AI Images and Social Media Integration: Users can create photo-realistic custom AI images for their blogs and social media posts. The social media posts allow dynamic hashtag choices and options to review similar trending posts. Users can also link their social accounts to the platform to publish their content directly.
• Writing Style Customization: Addlly Custom Writer is specifically designed for professionals to generate SEO-optimized blogs in the author’s custom outline and style. It allows the user to design their content pillar around the most popular keywords. It also offers opportunities to tailor based on real-time CPC and keyword volumes.
President Nimesh Davé Named to PRovoke Media’s 2023 Innovator 25 Group in the Americas, GlobeNewswire Ranked as Market Leader in G2’s Fall 2023 Grid® for Press Release Distribution Software
Notified, a globally trusted technology partner for public relations, investor relations, and marketing professionals, today announced that President Nimesh Davé has been named to PRovoke Media’s 2023 Innovator 25 Group in the Americas. Davé is honored for his commitment to ingenuity within the communications industry, pioneering the development and launch of GlobeNewswire’s AI Press Release Generator – the first AI-powered press release generator launched by a newswire service – in March of 2023, as well as filing a patent for its Smart Press Release solution in July of 2023.
“At Notified, we’re passionate about Artificial Intelligence, and how it can empower PR pros to work smarter – not harder – to tell their stories,” said Nimesh Davé, President, Notified. “I’m honored to be recognized by PRovoke Media, on behalf of the entire Notified team, who has shown immense dedication and passion for developing transformative AI solutions. We remain committed to driving innovation that leads to a more efficient, secure and tech-enabled future for all communicators.”
Launching in 2013, PRovoke’s Innovator 25 has established itself as an important barometer of global marketing and communications innovation – identifying 25 individuals each year in the Americas, EMEA and APAC who have elevated and evolved industry engagement and influence.
In tandem with launching groundbreaking AI solutions throughout 2023, Davé’s perspective on AI has been featured throughout key industry publications – encouraging communicators to approach the technology with confidence:
PRovoke Media, Perspectives On The Impact Of AI On Communications And Storytelling, From A Lifelong Technologist
IR Magazine, NIRI 2023: Nimesh Davé of Notified on how AI can elevate IR
O’Dwyers, The Age of Intelligent Engagement
Building upon the momentum of the launch of these cutting-edge AI-powered capabilities, Notified’s GlobeNewswire has been ranked as a market leader in press release distribution by G2 in their Fall 2023 Grid® for Press Release Distribution Software – recognized for its competitive ROI, streamlined social sharing and newsroom tools, and easy-to-use distribution capabilities.
Analysts Explore How Generative AI is Shifting How People and Machines Interact During Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2023, October 16-19
Artificial intelligence (AI) – especially the leap in generative AI (GenAI) – is part of a larger shift in how humans and machines interact, according to Gartner, Inc. This shift provides two key focus areas for CIOs and IT executives as AI becomes an enterprise initiative, not just an IT initiative.
“GenAI is not just a technology or just a business trend. It is a profound shift in how humans and machines interact,” said Mary Mesaglio, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “We are moving from what machines can do for us to what machines can be for us. Machines are evolving from being our tools to becoming our teammates. Gartner predicts that by 2025, GenAI will be a workforce partner for 90% of companies worldwide.”
“CIOs have a major role in how they shape AI and how AI shapes us,” said Don Scheibenreif, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “According to recent Gartner surveys of CEOs, CIOs are their number one choice to unlock the value of GenAI.”
During the opening keynote of Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, which is taking place here through Thursday, Gartner analysts told the audience of over 8,000 CIOs and IT executives to prioritize two areas to unleash the possibility of AI over the next 12-24 months – decide their AI Ambition and become AI-Ready.
Decide Your AI Ambition
There are two flavors of AI:
Everyday AI is focused on productivity. The machine is a productivity partner. It enables workers to do what they already do faster and more efficiently. Currently, 77% of CIOs and technology leaders worldwide are focused on the opportunities of everyday AI. “It is important to note that everyday AI will go from dazzling to ordinary with outrageous speed,” said Mesaglio. “Everyone will have access to the same tools, and it will not provide a sustainable competitive advantage. Everyday AI is the new table stakes.”
Game-changing AI is focused primarily on creativity. “It doesn’t just make us faster or better. Either it creates new results, via AI-enabled products and services; or it creates new ways to create new results, such as with AI-enabled new core capabilities. With game-changing AI, machines will disrupt business models and entire industries,” said Mesaglio.
“More and more AI will be jointly delivered by IT and the wider enterprise,” said Scheibenreif. “To succeed, the whole executive team must be engaged. This provides a tremendous opportunity for CIOs to make a difference.”
CIOs can help their CEO and CxO peers cut through AI complexity and define their organization’s AI ambition by examining the opportunities and risks of using GenAI in four areas: the back office, the front office, new products and services, and new core capabilities.
“As AI continues transforming the relationship between humans and machines, CIOs must actively shape the nature of this change,” said Scheibenreif. “In this new era of human-machine interaction, there will be many unforeseen consequences.”
“A technology decision is not just a technology decision anymore. It is a technology, economic, social and ethical decision all at once,” said Mesaglio. “To navigate decisions about AI in their organization, CIOs and IT leaders need lighthouse principles — a vision for AI that lights the way and says what kind of human-machine relationships they will and will not accept.”
However, few organizations have established lighthouse principles or even a clear vision for AI. A Gartner survey in June 2023 of 606 CIOs and technology leaders found that only 9% of organizations have an AI vision statement in place, and more than one-third of respondents had no plans to create an AI vision statement.
To facilitate swift and safe adoption of generative AI in the next 12 months, organizations must do three things:
Establish AI-ready principles: Lighthouse principles must align with the values of the organization. The organization’s values must be the guiding light for navigating the unknowns of how humans and machines will interact.
Make data AI-ready: For data to be AI-ready, it must meet five criteria. It is secure, enriched, fair, accurate and is governed by the lighthouse principles.
Implement AI-ready security: For every positive use of AI, someone is putting that same technology to negative use. This is the dark side of AI. CIOs should prepare for new attack vectors and work with the executive team to create an acceptable use policy for public generative AI solutions.
“The era of AI-powered business will lead to unintended consequences without advance planning. CIOs need a way to light the way forward, even when everything seems new or murky,” said Scheibenreif. “To safely harness this disruption, CIOs must work with executive leaders to define their ambitions for using everyday AI and game-changing AI, and to establish AI-ready principles, data and security.”
Summary: Optimal Blue has promoted two senior leadership positions from within. Seever Sulaiman has been named chief technology officer, and Jeremy Moreno has been named vice president of sales. Both will join the ranks of Optimal Blue’s senior leadership team to further the company’s position as a leader in secondary marketing technology.
Optimal Blue announced the appointment of two senior leadership positions, both promoted from within. Seever Sulaiman has been named chief technology officer, and Jeremy Moreno has been named vice president of sales. Each leader brings decades of relevant experience, which further positions Optimal Blue to deliver the technology and services the mortgage industry relies on for pricing, hedging, trading, and more.
“One of the things that sets us apart at Optimal Blue is our experienced and talented people, and these internal promotions are a reflection of that,” said Scott Smith, interim CEO, Optimal Blue.
“One of the things that sets us apart at Optimal Blue is our experienced and talented people, and these internal promotions are a reflection of that,” said Scott Smith, interim CEO, Optimal Blue. “Both leaders have impressive credentials, proven success in their fields, and most importantly – a deep understanding of the Optimal Blue business and our clients’ needs.”
As chief technology officer, Sulaiman will lead Optimal Blue’s technology and development strategies, with a focus on engineering solutions that anticipate the future needs of the industry. He is a demonstrated mortgage technology expert with more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and more than 29 years in software development, technology execution, and product management.
Sulaiman previously served as chief information officer and cofounder of Resitrader, a trading platform acquired by Optimal Blue in 2018. He has also served as chief technology officer of multiple companies throughout his career, including Altisource’s Equator and the Applied Analytics division at Lender Processing Services, which was spun off as Black Knight and is now part of ICE.
Moreno, Optimal Blue’s newly appointed vice president of sales, will develop and lead the company’s customer acquisition and relationship growth strategies. Moreno holds more than 20 years of experience in sales leadership, with demonstrated success in year-over-year growth, team development, and customer retention. Prior to joining Optimal Blue in 2012, he served as both a regional account executive and sales manager for CT Corporation, a Wolters Kluwer Business.
As Moreno transitions into his new role, Optimal Blue’s Keith Anderson will also assume an elevated position as senior regional vice president of sales. In this capacity, Anderson will work closely with Moreno to establish direction and strategy for Optimal Blue’s sales force.
Contextual AI support and easier partner integrations can help enhance the learning experience
D2L, a global learning technology company, today highlighted enhanced Brightspace product features — developed over the past six months — that can help global learners and educators simplify the learning experience by bringing learning solutions together in one place.
“I’m thrilled to share that D2L continues to invest in its existing solutions and broaden its portfolio of products, partner solutions and services to assist educators, organizations, and learners in their readiness for the future,” said Rajesh Talpade, Senior Vice President of Product Management at D2L. “D2L’s new and enhanced product features can make it easier than ever to offer effective learning in online and blended environments to help see that learners have the opportunity to succeed.”
New D2L Solution for Businesses
Announced in September 2023, D2L introduced a new, all-in-one solution for businesses: D2L for Business. This integrated, easy-to-use corporate solution combines the benefits of an existing network of world-class education providers, skill development solutions, and expert consulting services as an learning experience platform (LXP).
Empowering Learners, Educators and Administrators
Brightspace functionalities and offerings that can provide customers with tools and resources to help enhance outcomes and save time. Brightspace now offers:
Even more Creator+ tools for educators, including: new accessible layouts, expanded types of interactive elements, and a fully accessible hotspot practice question type. This can help enable educators to continue building beautiful and instructionally sound content using familiar Brightspace workflows.
An AI-driven, first line of contexual help and support embedded within Brightspace Brightspace Virtual Assistant.
More datasets and improved data dashboards to help make it easier for educators and businesses to gain insights and understand metrics in their organizations.
Recent Brightspace updates continue to make workflows more intuitive, efficient, effective and consistent. This includes:
An improved Quiz experience that can offer support for high-stakes exams with strict time limits, support for synchronous quizzing windows, and other improvements.
A familiar and upgraded Discussion experience with workflows to help bring new functionality to educators.
New content authoring functionality to help make it easier to manage both the required and optional course materials. In addition, enhancements to the Media Library are now more user-friendly, with new time-saving indicators to track progress and surface common actions. And, new changes to course merging options that can empower educators and save administrative time.
New self-enrollment enhancements for Brightspace customers that offer professional development opportunities and allow educators to see that learners are enrolling in the right courses.
Uniting a Stronger Ecosystem
D2L has also enhanced its robust learning ecosystem by simplifying access to Brightspace and encouraging new interactions among educators, administrators, and learners. These updates, features and tools include:
An easier, course registration process through Course Merchant, a modern e-commerce experience, whose front-end course catalog and payment and enrollment system is now offered as a D2L product after more than nine years as a key integration partner.
Visualized Brightspace Analytics within Ellucian Experience, help advisors to quickly identify at-risk learners by aggregating Brightspace data with external data to holistically determine appropriate intervention.
Early access to D2L Link, which can connect Brightspace with the systems of record clients use every day. The integrations enabled through D2L Link can help minimize manual tasks and see that data is synchronized between systems.
D2L’s new IntegrationHub, built on LTI 1.3. and launched as a new catalog site that lists partner solutions that are available for integrations with Brightpsace. The IntegrationHub makes it easy for Brightspace users to browse D2L’s extensive list of integrated technologies and solutions, such as accessibility tools, student information systems, secure proctoring assessment platforms, and many other partner solutions.
Digitate, a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise software for IT and business operations, released a study conducted in partnership with ASUG, America’s largest network of SAP customers, partners, and professionals, probing the issues that are top-of-mind for SAP users. The results revealed that 90% of the SAP users experienced SAP application downtime. Furthermore, two-thirds of respondents report that they spent up to 25% of their daily time resolving these unpredictable issues.
SAP dominates the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market and its ability to automate, optimize, and analyze a vast range of business functions makes it the first choice for many organizations. Yet SAP solutions can be complex and challenging to administer, particularly as users are being encouraged to migrate to SAP’s latest cloud-based S/4HANA platform.
“Users across the SAP landscape are looking for technology optimizations to reduce their challenges of scale, speed, and performance – and this is confirmed by the findings of the survey”
The survey, Evaluating Automation and SAP Transformations, polled SAP power users and administrators from more than 150 different organizations in North America spanning industries ranging from manufacturing to retail to utilities. The goal of the study was to better identify how they experience SAP operational transformations, business process redesign, and automation at their organizations.
While internal downtime impacts were said to be experienced much more than external impacts, business user impacts due to SAP downtime were, unsurprisingly, the overriding concern for respondents, with 39% noting a direct impact on customers. Integration challenges were identified as the top contributor to unplanned downtime. In fact, almost all respondents (95%) reported facing integration issues, with data inconsistency representing the most widely experienced challenge.
“Users across the SAP landscape are looking for technology optimizations to reduce their challenges of scale, speed, and performance – and this is confirmed by the findings of the survey,” said Ugo Orsi, Chief Customer Officer at Digitate. “We have applied AI/ML and automation to SAP operations across the IT and business landscape and helped enable digital transformation across many of the major global enterprises.”
For the majority of respondents (66%), up to one quarter of their time is spent on unpredictable issues that affect SAP application downtime.
Overwhelmingly, business user impacts are the top concern/impact due to downtime. Internal downtime impacts are experienced much more than external impacts, though 39% still noted direct impact to customers.
Leveraging SAP automation solutions
Leveraging SAP automation solutions represents uncertainty as almost half of respondents were unable to assess this at their organization.
That said, when they were certain, the largest share (42%) feel their organizations are not leveraging solutions as much as they could. Overall, more openness and efforts to adapt new technology, back-end support, and automation across systems are needed to realize benefits.
Transforming SAP operations
Given the anticipation for automation to reduce the amount of time spent on manual patch upgrades, reducing manual processes is the top-ranked initiative needed to improve SAP operations.
Data analytics/dashboard insights and supply chain optimization are other leading technologies/initiatives needed. More than half also selected automation.
Usage of AI/ML and monitoring tools
Though just 15% are currently using AI/ML, 33% are considering it in the future.
The majority of respondents are using up to 20 tools to monitor different elements of their SAP systems.
Operational KPIs and ticket resolution
The KPI of resolving tickets without human intervention is still a distant goal for many; only 41% said they often met it. The largest share of respondents said 10% or less of tickets are resolved automatically. 29% had no tickets resolved automatically.
It’s clear from the survey that automation and SAP S/4HANA are top-of-mind for customers. While some respondents are eager to move from their legacy systems to S/4 to take advantage of new capabilities/features, quite a few others must migrate their legacy systems to S/4HANA as a mandate.
Analysts Explore Industry Trends at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2023, October 16-19
Gartner, Inc. announced its list of 10 top strategic technology trends that organizations need to explore in 2024. Analysts presented their findings during Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, which is taking place here through Thursday.
“Technology disruptions and socioeconomic uncertainties require willingness to act boldly and strategically enhance resilience over ad hoc responses,” said Bart Willemsen, VP Analyst at Gartner. “IT leaders are in a unique position to strategically lay down a roadmap where technology investments help their business’s sustenance of success amidst these uncertainties and pressures.”
“They and other executives must evaluate the impacts and benefits of strategic technology trends, but this is no small task given the increasing rate of technological innovation”
“They and other executives must evaluate the impacts and benefits of strategic technology trends, but this is no small task given the increasing rate of technological innovation,” said Chris Howard, Distinguished VP Analyst and Chief of Research at Gartner. “For example, generative and other types of AI offer new opportunities and drive several trends. But deriving business value from the durable use of AI requires a disciplined approach to widespread adoption along with attention to the risks.”
The top strategic technology trends for 2024 are:
Democratized Generative AI
Generative AI (GenAI) is becoming democratized by the confluence of massively pretrained models, cloud computing and open source, making these models accessible to workers worldwide. By 2026, Gartner predicts that over 80% of enterprises will have used GenAI APIs and models and/or deployed GenAI-enabled applications in production environments, up from less than 5% early 2023.
GenAI applications can make vast sources of information — internal and external — accessible and available to business users. This means the rapid adoption of GenAI will significantly democratize knowledge and skills in the enterprise. Large language models enable enterprises to connect their workers with knowledge in a conversational style with rich semantic understanding.
AI Trust, Risk and Security Management
The democratization of access to AI has made the need for AI Trust, Risk and Security Management (TRiSM) even more urgent and clear. Without guardrails, AI models can rapidly generate compounding negative effects that spin out of control, overshadowing any positive performance and societal gains that AI enables. AI TRiSM provides tooling for ModelOps, proactive data protection, AI-specific security, model monitoring (including monitoring for data drift, model drift, and/or unintended outcomes) and risk controls for inputs and outputs to third-party models and applications.
Gartner predicts that by 2026, enterprises that apply AI TRiSM controls will increase the accuracy of their decision making by eliminating up to 80% of faulty and illegitimate information.
AI-Augmented Development
AI-augmented development is the use of AI technologies, such as GenAI and machine learning, to aid software engineers in designing, coding and testing applications. AI-assisted software engineering improves developer productivity and enables development teams to address the increasing demand for software to run the business. These AI-infused development tools allow software engineers to spend less time writing code, so they can spend more time on more strategic activities such as the design and composition of compelling business applications.
Intelligent applications include intelligence — which Gartner defines as learned adaptation to respond appropriately and autonomously — as a capability. This intelligence can be utilized in many use cases to better augment or automate work. As a foundational capability, intelligence in applications comprises various AI-based services, such as machine learning, vector stores and connected data. Consequently, intelligent applications deliver experiences that dynamically adapt to the user.
A clear need and demand for intelligent applications exists. Twenty-six percent of CEOs in the 2023 Gartner CEO and Senior Business Executive Survey cited the talent shortage as the most damaging risk for their organization. Attracting and retaining talent is CEOs’ top workforce priority, while AI was named the technology that will most significantly impact their industries over the next three years.
Augmented-Connected Workforce
The augmented-connected workforce (ACWF) is a strategy for optimizing the value derived from human workers. The need to accelerate and scale talent is driving the ACWF trend. The ACWF uses intelligent applications and workforce analytics to provide everyday context and guidance to support the workforce’s experience, well-being, and ability to develop its own skills. At the same time, the ACWF drives business results and positive impact for key stakeholders.
Through 2027, 25% of CIOs will use augmented-connected workforce initiatives to reduce time to competency by 50% for key roles.
Continuous Threat Exposure Management
Continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) is a pragmatic and systemic approach that allows organizations to evaluate the accessibility, exposure and exploitability of an enterprise’s digital and physical assets continually and consistently. Aligning CTEM assessment and remediation scopes with threat vectors or business projects, rather than an infrastructure component, surfaces not only the vulnerabilities, but also unpatchable threats.
By 2026, Gartner predicts that organizations prioritizing their security investments based on a CTEM program will realize a two-thirds reduction in breaches.
Machine Customers
Machine customers (also called ‘custobots’) are nonhuman economic actors that can autonomously negotiate and purchase goods and services in exchange for payment. By 2028, 15 billion connected products will exist with the potential to behave as customers, with billions more to follow in the coming years. This growth trend will be the source of trillions of dollars in revenues by 2030 and eventually become more significant than the arrival of digital commerce. Strategic considerations should include opportunities to either facilitate these algorithms and devices, or even create new custobots.
Sustainable Technology
Sustainable technology is a framework of digital solutions used to enable environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes that support long-term ecological balance and human rights. The use of technologies such as AI, cryptocurrency, the Internet of Things and cloud computing is driving concern about the related energy consumption and environmental impacts. This makes it more critical to ensure that the use of IT becomes more efficient, circular and sustainable. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2027, 25% of CIOs will see their personal compensation linked to their sustainable technology impact.
Platform Engineering
Platform engineering is the discipline of building and operating self-service internal development platforms. Each platform is a layer, created and maintained by a dedicated product team, designed to support the needs of its users by interfacing with tools and processes. The goal of platform engineering is to optimize productivity, the user experience and accelerate delivery of business value.
Industry Cloud Platforms
By 2027, Gartner predicts more than 70% of enterprises will use industry cloud platforms (ICPs) to accelerate their business initiatives, up from less than 15% in 2023.ICPs address industry-relevant business outcomes by combining underlying SaaS, PaaS and IaaS services into a whole product offering with composable capabilities. These typically include an industry data fabric, a library of packaged business capabilities, composition tools and other platform innovations. ICPs are tailored cloud proposals specific to an industry and can further be tailored to an organization’s needs.
This year’s top strategic technology trends highlight those trends that will drive significant disruption and opportunity for CIOs and other IT leaders within the next 36 months.
Televerde, a global revenue creation partner supporting marketing, sales, and customer success for B2B businesses worldwide, today announced the release of its much-anticipated whitepaper titled “CMOs & Chief DE&I Officers: Joined at the Hip for a DE&I Revolution.” Authored by Televerde’s Head of Global Marketing Kellie Walenciak, the whitepaper critically examines the pivotal role Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) can play in spearheading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives within the corporate sector, especially at a time when many companies are retracting their commitments due to influences in the political and judicial spheres coupled with a lack of understanding on how to implement DE&I strategies effectively.
Drawing from decades of experience spanning marketing, communications, and employee engagement in various industries, Walenciak shares deep insights into the complex landscape of biases and the pressing need for inclusivity in the corporate world. This whitepaper is significantly shaped by her transformative experience at Televerde, a company that stands as an example of genuine commitment to fostering a workplace where diversity is not just welcomed but actively celebrated and leveraged for organizational growth.
“The depth of understanding and the convictions I now hold about DE&I have been profoundly influenced by my time at Televerde,” explained Walenciak. “This experience has not only deepened my comprehension of the critical importance of DE&I but has also allowed me to witness firsthand the harsh realities of societal judgments that restrict opportunities based on a myriad of factors, extending beyond gender to include criminal records, ethnicity, sexual orientation, educational background, and employment history. To see companies begin to pull back from DE&I at this juncture is both ethically disconcerting and strategically misguided.”
In this whitepaper, Walenciak invites readers to explore the transformative potential of genuine inclusivity, offering a fresh perspective on DE&I, informed by success stories and lessons learned from businesses across industries. She underscores the belief that for DE&I initiatives to flourish genuinely, they must be seamlessly integrated into the fabric of a company, becoming a vital part of its public persona and operational ethos.
The Present State of DE&I in Corporate America: An analysis of the current landscape, highlighting the initial momentum and the subsequent slowdown in DE&I initiatives.
The Repercussions of the Supreme Court’s Stance on Affirmative Action: A look at the historical context of DE&I and its evolution.
Building the Business Case for DE&I: Making a compelling case for integrating DE&I into the business strategy, transcending mere compliance to incorporate DE&I as a core part of the brand.
The Pivotal Role of CMOs in Advocating DE&I: Unveiling the potential of CMOs in being the torchbearers for DE&I initiatives, aligning them with the brand’s core values and messaging.
Successful DE&I Strategies Led by Marketing: Showcasing examples of successful marketing-led DE&I initiatives and the lessons to be learned from them.
Insights Gleaned from These Case Studies: A deeper analysis of real-world case studies to derive actionable insights and strategies.
Bridging the Divide: Making a case for a more potent synergy between marketing leadership and DE&I initiatives.
Looking Forward: The Future of DE&I in 2024 and Beyond: Projecting the future trajectory of DE&I and the role of CMOs in helping to shape it.
The whitepaper serves as a blueprint for organizations seeking to revitalize their DE&I strategies, offering a fresh perspective and a roadmap to creating a lasting and meaningful impact. It advocates for a shift from treating DE&I as a superficial requirement to embodying it as an essential part of the brand story and a genuine reflection of a company’s core values and philosophy.
“We find ourselves at a critical stage where the need for authentic and sustainable DE&I strategies is more pressing than ever,” added Walenciak. “Through this whitepaper, we aim to start a conversation that sparks actionable change, with CMOs at the forefront, helping to guide organizations towards a more inclusive future.”
Heretto is thrilled to announce the beta launch of highly anticipated generative artificial intelligence (AI) features, new branding, and a refreshed website. This landmark event introduces two powerful AI functionalities, Etto, the Heretto Copilot to assist technical writers, and HelpAI to support content consumers. Etto and HelpAI will initially be available to Beta testers and then to all Heretto customers in 2024.
With these new capabilities, enterprise customers will save countless hours by letting the AI handle mundane tasks or gain an in-house DITA expert to make structured content more approachable. Authors can now create content faster while focusing on the creative and strategic process of technical writing rather than mundane tasks.
HelpAI adds a generative search function to the Heretto portal, making it easier for users to surface answers and information. Equipped with a confidence score and supported by citations, HelpAI is designed to provide hallucination-free results and will only surface accurate, secure, and helpful information from the portal.
These two features set the stage for further product advancements and ensure Heretto users will have state-of-the-art tools for managing content effectively and securely.
In concurrence with the AI Beta launch, Heretto is also proud to unveil a refreshed brand identity, signaling a new era. The rebrand includes a polished color palette, a user-centric website redesign, and a modernized logo.
“We are excited to share these generative AI features, representing a major leap forward in our ongoing mission to empower our customers to build their most ambitious and impactful knowledge experiences. Combined with our fresh new look, this launch marks the beginning of a transformative chapter for Heretto, and we look forward to helping our users build tomorrow’s content strategy today.” Patrick Bosek, Heretto CEO
Spike, the trailblazing team chat and email service, is thrilled to unveil Magic AI, a groundbreaking AI-driven communications assistant that is redefining business messaging. By merging human creativity and artificial intelligence, Magic AI by Spike promises to help people work more efficiently and complete daily workflows faster while saving valuable time.
Dvir Ben Aroya, CEO of Spike, shares his enthusiasm about the launch: “Magic AI is more than just a step forward; it’s a giant leap toward realizing our vision of streamlining communication and productivity. This technology seamlessly blends human creativity with AI, empowering everyone to communicate and get more done with remarkable efficiency.”
New capabilities available in Spike’s Magic AI
Magic Compose: Allow Magic AI to be your wordsmith. Create impeccable emails and messages in any tone, length, and format. All you need is a short prompt and Magic Compose will do the rest.
Magic Reply: We’ve all been there: staring at our screen, crafting and recrafting a response to ensure it’s just right. Magic Reply seeks to simplify this process, ensuring that every reply is on-point and contextually attuned.
Magic Summaries: See complete summaries without downloading, opening, or reading the file. Save valuable time and extract content from PDF files. Whether it’s long documents, research papers, reports, or meeting notes, Magic AI can quickly analyze the content and provide you with concise and relevant summaries.
Magic AI Bot: Spike’s AI bot is your versatile all-in-one AI assistant, providing quick answers, assisting in diverse research tasks, crafting comprehensive articles, offering code solutions, and efficiently organizing data into tables. Spike’s AI bot was created to let teams work smarter – not harder.
AI Notes: Elevate your work process with AI Notes, a game-changing tool that revolutionizes writing, note taking, project planning, and management. Whether starting a fresh project or fine-tuning an existing one, AI Notes is your indispensable ally. Harness its capabilities to generate captivating blog topic ideas, effortlessly condense or enrich your notes, and even craft comprehensive articles with remarkable ease. It’s like having an experienced writing partner by your side.
Translations: With Magic AI’s you can converse seamlessly by instantly translating your messages while preserving cultural nuances. This not only fosters better understanding but also strengthens global collaboration.
Spike is available on iOS, Android, Mac, PC, and web browsers. It has been featured as Apple’s App of the Day. Francesco D’Alessio, host and creator of KeepProductive, also called Spike “epic” for its cutting-edge technology that simplifies communication processes.
Gale Force Digital Technologies has announced the development of a patent-pending AI technology for its media buying and planning platform.
Gale Force Digital Technologies has announced the development of a patent-pending AI technology for its media buying and planning platform, GaleForceMedia. “We are thrilled to launch this new technology,” said Jen Williams, Vice President of Product Development at Gale Force. “This significant step forward represents our unwavering commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions that empower our clients to achieve unprecedented success in the ever-evolving landscape of media advertising.”
The new AI technology assists advertisers and agencies in determining effective media mixes by providing real-time recommendations based on a multitude of data points. The AI analyzes patterns, trends, and insights in local and national markets using internal and external databases to generate the most ideal options for media placements. Once the AI presents the results, GaleForceMedia users have the flexibility to modify or accept the proposed media buy.
Furthermore, the new technology will be able to parse much larger datasets than its human counterparts, allowing pattern recognition and planning on a scale previously unattainable. It is also capable of suggesting budget allocations, ad content type, content duration, and target KPIs per media channel. GaleForce’s AI is built to continuously learn and improve based on data-driven assessments of its recommendations.
New features bring social in-platform, consolidating multi-channel campaign transactions and providing connected journey advertising intelligence alongside Open Web (video, native, display, audio, CTV), and DOOH.
illumin Holdings Inc. , a Journey Advertising technology company that empowers marketers and lets them make smarter decisions about communicating with online consumers, today introduced new functionality for its journey advertising platform by establishing a fully integrated connection with Meta to provide new Facebook and Instagram capabilities allowing end-to-end Social Advertising.
With this latest product update, illumin expands connected journeys with its first social capabilities. The new feature brings Facebook and Instagram advertisements directly onto the intuitive journey advertising platform, offering consumers an enhanced experience while providing marketers with connected journey advertising intelligence. Marketers can now create, launch, manage, and report on their Facebook and Instagram campaigns within illumin and seamlessly pass their Open Web audiences into social campaigns through an intuitive, connected interface.
“This integration makes illumin’s platform a true one-stop shop by letting advertisers manage their Open Web and Social campaigns from a singular, connected interface,” said Rachel Kapcan, Chief Product Officer at illumin. “This social integration is the first step of many in creating a platform made for how marketers always wished they could work – and further solidifies illumin as the number one journey advertising provider.”
illumin is a journey advertising platform that lets marketers reach consumers at every stage of their journey through advanced machine learning algorithms and real-time data analytics. The company’s mission: illuminate the path for brands to connect with their customers through the power of data-driven journey advertising. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, illumin serves clients across North America, Latin America, and Europe.
Real-time viewership linked directly to consumer purchase data unlocks unparalleled advertising performance
Samba TV, the leading provider of TV technology for audience data and omniscreen measurement, today announced the integration of Affinity Solutions’ Purchase Media Metrics (PMM™) data to exclusively empower brands and advertisers with cross-platform measurement of return on ad spend (ROAS) and actionable targeting solutions.
The partnership will leverage Samba TV’s first-party data from tens of millions of opted-in televisions, across more than 20 TV brands sold in over 100 countries, to provide advertisers and media companies a unified view of the entire consumer journey, from TV to digital to commerce – online or offline. By combining Samba TV’s robust viewership data with Affinity Solutions’ PMM™ data set, derived from comprehensive deterministic purchase data capturing over 140 million credit and debit cards, the joint solution bridges the gap between TV viewership and actual buying habits.
This unique partnership enables advertisers to target with unmatched precision, engaging not just with TV audiences exposed to specific ads or programs, but validated buyers to maximize campaign ROAS.
“Historically, advertisers had limited visibility into their ad investments’ true value,” said Samba TV Chief Commercial Officer Aden Zaman. “Combining Samba TV data with Affinity Solutions data is game-changing. By aligning media strategies with actual purchase and viewing behaviors, we’re ensuring every ad dollar creates impact and drives measurable results.”
This exclusive integration leverages Samba TV’s Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology, giving advertisers access to real-time viewership data to aid brands and agencies with a seamless dataset to segment audiences by a unique combination of viewership and purchase behavior. The collaboration signifies a transformative shift in advertising, underscoring the power of business-based outcomes like purchase-informed targeting to elevate TV campaign impact.
“The ever-evolving landscape of consumer behavior, compounded by the surge in cross-screen viewership, necessitates an evolution beyond traditional demographics,” said Affinity Solutions Chief Business and Marketing Officer Damani Garbaccio. “Today’s advertisers need insight into comprehensive audience viewing patterns, spending tendencies, and passions across diverse channels. By integrating what people watch with what they buy, Affinity and Samba are answering this call, redefining how advertisers connect and captivate audiences, guaranteeing unmatched returns and reach.”
Through the partnership with Affinity Solutions, Samba TV’s advertising partners are now able to plan and optimize omniscreen media across all leading programmatic platforms with precision linked directly to tangible business outcomes. Brands and advertisers will next be able to leverage Samba TV conversion and lift measurement alongside Affinity Solutions’ purchase data to assess the performance of linear, streaming, and digital media investments in driving actual purchases.
“In today’s fast-paced retail environment, it’s imperative for brands to rely on precise and actionable data. Affinity Solutions’ purchase data offers an unprecedented understanding of consumer behavior,” said National Retail Federation (NRF) Executive Director of Research Mark Matthews. “This collaboration with Samba TV sets a new industry standard, providing retailers with a robust, integrated view that translates directly into enhanced advertising efficacy and value.”
Nashville’s AI startup, Writerly, a pioneering force in AI-driven productivity software and e-commerce SEO, is making headlines. The platform has not only amassed over 750,000 users but is also on track to break the 1 million user mark by the end of its inaugural year. With a daily influx of more than 2,500 new users, Writerly is setting a new standard in the industry.
Jon Ricketts, CEO and Co-Founder of Writerly, articulates the company’s meteoric rise: “The user growth we have experienced the past 9 months is a result of the global market getting more comfortable with generative AI applications as a means to achieve more productivity. It is also a testament to the efforts of our product and engineering teams who have delivered a platform that our users see a lot of value from. We are constantly listening to our users in order to better meet their needs and will continue to do so as we scale.”
The platform has clocked in over 443 million tokens of usage in 2023 alone. These aren’t just numbers; they’re a reflection of how Writerly is becoming an indispensable tool for content creators and marketers alike.
Understanding the evolving needs of its user base, Writerly introduced EKOM this past August. This specialized tool for e-commerce SEO is a game-changer. EKOM automates the intricate process of creating brand-specific, SEO-optimized product assets, all while offering dynamic updates to keep businesses at the forefront of the ever-changing online search landscape. EKOM is where data science meets retail search.
Increased desire for biometrics and awareness of passkeys increases imperative on service providers to enable stronger, more user-friendly sign-ins
Password usage without two-factor authentication (2FA) is still dominant across use cases – consumers enter a password manually nearly 4 times a day, or 1,280 times a year
But when given the option, users want other authentication methods – biometrics is both the preferred method for consumers to log-in and what they believe is most secure, while awareness of passkeys continues to grow
Online scams are becoming more frequent and more sophisticated, likely fuelled by AI – over half (54%) have seen an increase in suspicious messages and scams, while 52% believe they have become more sophisticated
The impact of legacy sign-in methods is getting worse – the majority of people are abandoning purchases and giving up accessing services online – this is 15% more likely than last year at nearly four times per month per person
The FIDO Alliance today publishes its third annual Online Authentication Barometer, which gathers insights into the state of online authentication in ten countries across the globe. New to the Barometer this year, FIDO Alliance has also begun tracking consumer perception of threats and scams online in a bid to understand anticipated threat levels globally.
The 2023 Online Authentication Barometer found that despite widespread usage of passwords lingering on, consumers want to use stronger, more user-friendly alternatives. Entering a password manually without any form of additional authentication was the most commonly used authentication method across the use cases tracked – including accessing work computers and accounts (37%), streaming services (25%), social media (26%), and smart home devices (17%). Consumers enter a password manually nearly four times a day on average, or around 1,280 times a year. The only exceptional scenario to this trend was financial services, where biometrics (33%) narrowly beat passwords (31%)* as the most used sign-in method.
This is especially interesting considering biometrics’ rising popularity as an authentication method. When asked what authentication method people consider most secure and the method they most prefer using, biometrics ranked as favourite in both categories, rising around 5% in popularity since last year. This suggests that consumers want to use biometrics more but don’t currently have the opportunity.
“This year’s Barometer data showed promising signs of shifting consumer attitudes and desire to use stronger authentication methods, with biometrics especially proving popular. That said, high password usage without 2FA worryingly reflects how little consumers are still being offered alternatives like biometrics, resulting in lingering usage,” commented Andrew Shikiar, Executive Director and CMO of the FIDO Alliance.
Scams are getting more frequent and more sophisticated – likely fuelled by AI
This year’s Barometer also unearthed consumer perception of threats and scams online. 54% of people have noticed an increase in suspicious messages and scams online, while 52% believe these have become more sophisticated.
Threats are seen to be active across several channels, but primarily email, SMS messages, social media, and fake phone or voicemails. The increased accessibility of generative AI tools is a likely driver of this rise in scams and phishing threats. Tools like FraudGPT and WormGPT, which have been created and shared on the dark web explicitly for use in cybercrime, have made crafting compelling social engineering attacks far simpler, more sophisticated, and easier to do at scale. Deepfake voice and video are also being used to bolster social engineering attacks, tricking people into thinking they are talking to a known trusted person.
Shikiar added: “Phishing is still by far the most used and effective cyberattack technique, which means passwords are vulnerable regardless of their complexity. With highly accessible generative AI tools now offering bad actors the means to make more convincing and scalable attacks, it’s imperative consumers and service providers listen to consumers and start to look at non-phishable and frictionless solutions like passkeys and on-device biometrics more readily available, rather than iterating on ultimately flawed legacy authentication like passwords and OTPs.”
Passkeys, which provide secure and convenient passwordless sign-ins to online services, have grown in consumer awareness despite still being live just over a year, rising from 39% in 2022 to 52% awareness today. The non-phishable authentication method has been publicly backed by many big players in the industry – Google recently announced that passkeys are now available for all its users to move away from passwords and two-step verification, as has Apple, with other brands like PayPal also making these available to consumers in the last twelve months.
The impact of legacy sign-ins worsens for businesses and consumers
The negative impact caused by legacy user authentication was also revealed to be getting worse. 59% of people have given up accessing an online service and 43% have abandoned a purchase in the last 60 days, with the frequency of these instances rising year on year to nearly four times per month, per person, up by around 15% on last year. Poor online experiences are ultimately hitting businesses’ bottom lines and causing frustration among consumers.
70% of people have had to reset and recover passwords in the last two months because they’d forgotten them, further highlighting how inconvenient passwords are and their role as a primary barrier to a seamless online user experience.
