eGain Corporation, the leading knowledge management platform provider for customer engagement automation, launched eGain AssistGPT™ at its Solve™ 23 conference, being held on September 25, at the Brewery, London.

An integral part of the eGain Knowledge Hub and powered by Generative AI out of the box, AssistGPT is a comprehensive zero-code solution for Knowledge Automation. For example, knowledge content draft creation, which used to take weeks, can now be completed in just a few minutes. The solution also helps customers in their omnichannel journeys with quick answers and contact center agents and business analysts in the flow of their work. An AI Console allows administrators to define guard rails for the use of generative AI, manage prompts, and orchestrate it with other AI technologies in the enterprise.

AssistGPT comes with a best practice prompt library, which enables organizations to add business-specific prompts. Based on a BYO architecture, the solution allows the business to plug in their own AI engines to answer the prompts. Sample out-of-the-box use-cases include:

• AX (Agent Experience)
  • Provides answer needle to customer queries from content haystacks
  • Summarizes customer conversations
  • Improves responses
• KX (Knowledge Author Experience)
  • Generate summary and keywords
  • Create and set up prompts
  • Write, condense, expand, translate, brand-align, or improve knowledge articles
• BX (Business managers and analysts)
  • Extract insights from customer feedback and reports
  • Get executive summary of insights and actions
  • Create knowledge content suggestions

"Generative AI takes effort out of knowledge management. KM offers reliable content, business controls, and analytics for generative AI," said Ashu Roy, eGain CEO. "Together, they deliver transformational value in customer engagement."

Hopping joins as Chief Marketing Officer and Wilczak as Chief Strategy & Development Officer

Demandbase, the Smarter GTM™ company that uses AI to help B2B organizations hit their revenue goals, today announces the strategic hire of seasoned business leaders Kelly Hopping as chief marketing officer (CMO) and Michael Wilczak as the chief strategy and development officer.

"As a go-to-market company, we understand the immense difference that the right marketing and company strategy can make in a B2B organization," says Gabe Rogol, chief executive officer of Demandbase. "As such, finding the right leadership for our next stage of growth was essential. We won the lottery when we found both Kelly and Mike. Each brings a depth of experience and proven skill sets. Kelly brings her background in growing several well-respected tech companies and leading a portfolio of brands at Gartner. Mike has spent the past 20 years driving successful growth strategies on a global level and I couldn't be more excited about the expertise and vision he brings to the table. To say we're thrilled to be welcoming them is an understatement and we're looking forward to doing important, innovative work together to transform the industry."

Hopping holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University. Toward the start of her career, she spent time at Kraft Foods, Dell, and AMD and from there, she led Rackspace in senior roles for several years before becoming the global vice president & chief marketing officer of Gartner Digital Markets. Hopping's most recent position was as chief marketing officer of HYCU, where she helped guide the company to pipeline growth of +40% year-over-year (YoY), marketing contribution to pipeline +25% YoY, a 4X increase in hot lead conversion rates, a reduction in cost per opportunity of 36%, and much more.

"After helping to grow my former company to a mature data protection company, and moving into an advisory role, I was looking for the right opportunity where I could lend my skills and accelerate success," says Hopping. "I've always admired the work Demandbase is doing to transform the way B2B companies go to market and now it's my privilege to take the reins as CMO to help accelerate the company to the next level of growth. Driven by opportunity and impact, I can't wait to help build, lead, and serve a new marketing team that is going to continue to put customer needs, innovation, and a people-centric culture front and center in all we do."

Wilczak has spent 20 years building market-leading technology companies. Prior to joining Demandbase he held several executive roles at iCIMS where he led product, acquisitions, ecosystem and strategy. Under his leadership the company grew 10x and valuation grew more than 25x through a combination of organic growth, new product development, acquisitions and strategic partnerships. Prior to iCIMS, Wilczak was chief strategy officer at Wipro where he led the global growth of the company's IT and business processes. He joined Wipro through the acquisition of Infocrossing, where he spent seven years driving strategy, acquisitions, partnerships and investor relations, and led the company's software business.

"I've spent the majority of my career working with some of the most innovative and high growth companies and Demandbase is no exception," says Wilczak. "Demandbase has been on the cutting edge of B2B go-to-market and has had an impressive journey so far. There is massive opportunity to expand into even more markets to help companies hit their revenue goals. I can't wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work."

Jon Miller, previously chief marketing officer for Demandbase, is now the company's chief evangelist. In this role, he will continue to share his wealth of industry expertise and thought leadership.

New Informa Tech Trust in Marketing Index reveals overall score of 61 out of 100 in assessing the state of trust between marketers and B2B technology decision-makers

Informa Tech, the leading provider of market insight and market access to the global business technology community, today launched its first Trust in Marketing Index, measuring the state of the relationship between marketers and senior B2B technology buying decision-makers.

The Index, which reveals an overall score of 61 on a scale of 1 to 100, uncovers the disparity between existing content marketing practices and the preferences of senior business technology decision makers, giving marketers essential insights into how to elevate trust with this key audience.

Key findings include:

• Quality is key. Although 85% of business technology decision makers believe that high quality thought leadership B2B content improves their perception of a brand, 71% are often or sometimes disappointed in the value of B2B gated content
• Spammers beware. 41% of respondents who were incorrectly targeted or spammed said they wouldn't buy a product from the offending brand, and 24% said they weren't sure they would do business with that brand in future
• Senior appetite for content is high. 41% of combined C-level and executive-level B2B technology buyer respondents exchange their data for gated B2B insights an average of once a month or more
• Tech budgets are increasing in 2024. 88% of respondents declared their technology budgets will increase in the next 12 months

"The Informa Tech Trust in Marketing Index suggests there is more work to be done when it comes to maximising the value of marketing content," said Emma Moorman, Informa Tech's Marketing Services Product Director. "It's really interesting to see how valuable content is to senior decision makers but how easily wrongly-timed, wrongly-targeted, or badly-executed content can undermine trust. Trust is key to building long-term relationships, and we know from multiple studies that senior decision makers are more likely to make decisions based on trust and relationships than less senior roles in an organisation. With tech buying budgets expected to go up next year, it is crucial to understand the factors that will build or break trust in 2024 to create a fertile ground for sales."

The 2023 Informa Tech Trust in Marketing Index was created from interviews with 150 senior executives, leaders and the C-suite across the business technology community in the US and UK. The survey analyses how trust is fostered through accuracy, clarity, expertise, personalisation and timeliness. It included five baseline questions with assigned point values for each answer to create the Index score.

Moorman will present the findings to a global audience of content marketers at Content Marketing World on Wednesday 27^th September in Washington DC, USA.

The full survey is available to download here.

Trained on Getty Images’ world-class creative content, Generative AI by Getty Images allows customers to explore the power of generative AI with full protection and usage rights

Getty Images, a preeminent global visual content creator and marketplace, today announced the launch of Generative AI by Getty Images, a new tool that pairs the company’s best-in-class creative content with the latest AI technology for a commercially safe generative AI tool.

Generative AI by Getty Images is trained on the state-of-the-art Edify model architecture, which is part of NVIDIA Picasso, a foundry for generative AI models for visual design. The tool is trained solely from Getty Images’ vast creative library, including exclusive premium content, with full indemnification for commercial use. Sitting alongside the company’s broader, industry-leading services, Generative AI by Getty Images works seamlessly with the company’s expansive library of authentic and compelling visuals and Custom Content solutions, allowing customers to elevate their entire end-to-end creative process to find the right visual content for any need.

“We’re excited to launch a tool that harnesses the power of generative AI to address our customers’ commercial needs while respecting the intellectual property of creators,” said Craig Peters, CEO at Getty Images. “We’ve worked hard to develop a responsible tool that gives customers confidence in visuals produced by generative AI for commercial purposes.”

Customers creating and downloading visuals through the tool will receive Getty Images’ standard royalty-free license, which includes representations and warranties, uncapped indemnification, and the right to perpetual, worldwide, nonexclusive use in all media. Content generated through the tool will not be added into existing Getty Images and iStock content libraries for others to license. Further, contributors will be compensated for any inclusion of their content in the training set.

“We’ve listened to customers about the swift growth of generative AI – and have heard both excitement and hesitation – and tried to be intentional around how we developed our own tool,” said Grant Farhall, Chief Product Officer at Getty Images. “We’ve created a service that allows brands and marketers to safely embrace AI and stretch their creative possibilities, while compensating creators for inclusion of their visuals in the underlying training sets.”

Generative AI by Getty Images can now be enabled on GettyImages.com. Customers can also choose to integrate the service into their existing workflows and applications through an available API.

Flowfinity, a trailblazer in no-code software solutions, has unveiled fresh insights into how process improvers can address common IT solution implementation challenges by using advanced no-code tools.

Key obstacles to solution delivery success include:

• Resistance to change and lack of adoption
• Data silos and reliable system integration
• Overtaxed resources and structural limitations
• Functional capability shortfalls and data overload
• Getting started and service support levels

"Today, the strain on scarce IT resources has led to a boom in no-code application development. Unfortunately, the use of basic form-based no-code tools can limit your ability to deliver solutions with user experiences that exceed expectations to ensure adoption," notes Alex Puttonen, Director of Marketing at Flowfinity.

"Process improvers are the linchpins driving the digital transformation that dictates a modern organization's competitive advantage. Flowfinity's advanced functionality empowers them to deliver intuitive solutions that users love quickly and confidently."

Flowfinity experts can help you eliminate traditional development bottlenecks to ensure scalable growth while delivering more user-friendly solutions. Learn how no-code tools can provide a highly capable foundation for your company to thrive in the digital era with the flexibility to ensure optimal performance even as business needs evolve.

Domo enables mutual customers to build impactful marketing solutions on Snowflake’s Data Cloud, making data visible and actionable to help multiply business impact

Today Domo, announced it has been recognized as One to Watch in the 2023 Modern Marketing Data Stack Report from Snowflake, the Data Cloud company.

The report identifies the best-of-breed solutions that Snowflake customers use, demonstrating how marketers can leverage solutions such as Domo alongside the Snowflake Data Cloud to best identify, serve, and convert valuable prospects into loyal customers. By analyzing usage patterns from a pool of approximately 8,100 customers as of April 2023, Snowflake identified the most impressive companies across ten technology categories. Domo, a data experience platform company that puts data to work for everyone, was recognized in the business intelligence category.

“Modern marketers turn to Snowflake to model and enrich their data directly in the Data Cloud, and to access our premier partner network,” said Denise Persson, chief marketing officer at Snowflake. “Domo’s native integration with Snowflake Data Cloud helps customers get exponential value from their Snowflake data by putting it to work to drive better strategy and daily decision-making across organizations, while maintaining visibility and control of data assets. Their inclusion as One to Watch in the Business Intelligence category of our report demonstrates their strong performance and commitment to customer success.”

Snowflake’s report provides a concrete overview of the partner solution providers and data providers marketers choose to help create their data stacks. Focusing on active members of the Snowflake Partner Network and Snowflake Marketplace providers, the report highlights Domo as a technology partner that enables data-driven marketing strategies and drives informed business decisions.

“As a cloud-native data platform, Domo makes data accessible, consumable and actionable, wherever it may live,” said Josh James, founder and CEO, Domo. “Our strong partnership with Snowflake ensures that joint customers have the most seamless experience possible as they unlock the potential of their organization's data. We’re looking forward to seeing how all users continue to extend the value of their Snowflake data with Domo.”

Retailers launch more holiday deals and lean on AI amid a projected rise in returns, according to Capterra’s Holiday Retail Preparations Report.

Retailers are kicking off the holiday season earlier and with more competition than ever before. Capterra's Holiday Retail Preparations Report indicates that a significant 70% of small to midsize (SMB) retailers intend to offer more holiday deals this year compared to just 45% last year—and almost half of them will occur before Halloween, a stark contrast from Black Friday’s pre-pandemic heyday.

Despite steep competition, 75% of retail SMBs expect more holiday profits than last year. However, 57% also expect more returns, which could be detrimental to any potential gains made during the season. To help mitigate return rates, retailers will offer more final-sale items (41%), shorten the window for returns (26%), and charge more for shipping (24%). They’re also exploring AI strategies to promote products and lower the likelihood of returns.

“Facing the challenges of cash-strapped shoppers this holiday season, small retailers are innovating with urgency to avoid lost sales and a surplus of returns,” says Molly Burke, senior retail analyst at Capterra. “Embracing AI as a tool for growth is the natural next step to level the playing field against big box retailers.”

Generative AI is a valuable asset in cutting down returns because it can guide online customers to products that are better suited for their immediate needs. SMB retailers plan to use generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, in their holiday strategy for creating marketing content (44%), personalized customer experiences (43%), and improving data analytics (39%). This could include anything from generating a holiday sale strategy to analyzing shopper behavior online to improve user experience.

Burke suggests, “Other use cases for small businesses include using AI-writing tools to produce richer product descriptions to avoid any unwanted surprises at unboxing to full-blown marketing plans complete with omni-channel ad copy.”

Small retailers aren’t just turning to AI tools for the convenience they offer—they’re also looking to gain a foothold in next-generation web search as generative AI transforms how shoppers browse products online. In fact, 73% are concerned that small businesses will be drowned out by large corporations as online product searches migrate from search engines to AI chatbots and search tools.

In a shift toward AI-driven online experiences, small businesses must become early adopters and implement new technologies to grow. Visit Capterra.com to read the full report and learn more about how retailers are preparing for this holiday season.

New Solution Supports Complex Use Cases and Increased Scale for Leading South African Media Provider

Evergent, the customer management and monetization leader for streaming and digital subscription businesses, and e.tv, South Africa’s largest independent and free-to-air television channel, today announced a new partnership to deploy Evergent’s tools for identity and subscriber management for their eVOD offering. The new partnership will enable e.tv’s continued growth in South Africa through flexible and innovative approaches to subscription and service offerings.

According to a 2023 report from Statista, the global market for OTT video is expected to exceed $450 billion by 2027. For regional OTT media providers, the challenge of increasing scale is compounded by the complexity of managing multiple currencies and languages. Evergent’s identity and subscriber management system allows media operators like e.tv to seamlessly integrate different languages and currencies, removing the barriers to international expansion.

“For the past few years, the media and entertainment landscape has been characterized by fragmentation and competition,” said Vijay Sajja, founder and CEO of Evergent. “Media providers are now looking to consolidate their position and increase market share, but the complications of working across multiple countries or regions can limit a company’s ability to scale. Forward-thinking businesses like e.tv demonstrate what’s possible when organizations look beyond their borders and use technology innovation to become regional leaders.”

The new partnership between Evergent and e.tv replaces the company’s existing solutions for identity and subscriber management, consolidating tools in a single, unified platform. Evergent’s suite of customer relationship management tools make it possible for OTT video providers to experiment with new customer strategies, supporting agile business improvements and rapid expansion.

“Our goal at e.tv is to share amazing stories with the largest possible audience, regardless of race, gender, age, or income,” said Khalik Sherrif, group CEO at eMedia. “This new technology- and data-driven approach to subscriber and identity management makes it significantly easier for our company to reach new audiences and expand our presence in South Africa and beyond.”

“Building and maintaining a leading regional OTT provider is a complicated technical challenge, and it requires a great deal of nuance and flexibility to meet the needs of a diverse and growing customer base,” said Junior Qwabe, group CTO at eMedia. “Our relationship with Evergent gives us the confidence needed to pursue new strategies and opportunities.”