DK Sharma leverages expertise in core modernization and digital transformation for large-scale initiatives to the conversational AI leader

Kore.ai, the world's leading enterprise conversational and generative AI platform and solutions provider, today announced the appointment of Devendra Kumar (DK) Sharma as president and chief operating officer (COO). As COO, he is leading Kore.ai's Go-to-Market functions, revenue growth, client success, strategy and cross-functional collaboration while driving overall operational excellence.

DK brings 30 years of experience and an outstanding reputation as a pioneer in the technology and financial services space to the Kore.ai executive leadership team. Throughout his career, he has held diverse executive leadership roles within various global organizations and startups, including Citigroup International, and was on Kore.ai's board of directors for several years.

"Enterprise AI will increasingly shape the future of global organizations," said Raj Koneru, CEO and founder of Kore.ai. "DK Sharma brings a wealth of experience in spearheading large-scale transformation through modernization and digitization. We believe his operational expertise will advance our product development efforts while scaling our global growth."

Kore.ai has seen a record 130% increase in revenues and the addition of large marquee customers across key verticals in North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. To ensure deeper market penetration, the company is actively enlisting additional channel partners across North America, EMEA, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

"Kore.ai's powerful and unique combination of undisputed product leadership and strategic relevance in an emerging technology space positions it for market success," said DK Sharma. "I could not be more excited to join Kore.ai's great team, which fosters a culture of innovation, collaboration, diversity, and respect. With such a strong foundation, I am eager to contribute to the company's continued growth and achievements."

With its "better together" strategy, Kore.ai is pioneering the new approach of leveraging generative AI and large language models (LLMs) to help enterprises adopt this disruptive technology safely and securely. Last month, Kore.ai announced a new partner program to bolster the support it provides to its indirect sales channel by creating a new tiered structure for partners and solution providers. The company also committed significant investments for each partner covering go-to-market, enablement and marketing support while providing additional resources.

Kore.ai has over 400 customers, and automates at least a billion interactions every year through its enterprise AI platform and solutions. To date, the company has successfully delivered more than $1 billion in cost savings to global enterprise customers. Around 200 million consumers and 2 million enterprise users currently leverage Kore.ai's solutions to improve customer, employee and contact center agent experiences for optimized business outcomes.

Triton Digital’s New Integration Provides Expanded View on Podcast Performance

Triton Digital, the global technology and services leader to the digital audio, podcast, and broadcast radio industries, today announced its data integration with YouTube. Triton Digital has integrated YouTube views of podcast episodes into Triton Podcast Metrics, one of the first IAB-certified podcast measurement services in the industry, so publishers can now view how their content is consumed on YouTube in conjunction with their overall podcast downloads.

Publishers who are using Podcast Metrics will be able to effortlessly compare podcast downloads and views of their programming on YouTube within the interface. Additionally, the integration empowers publishers to seamlessly consolidate video metrics from a variety of programs, allowing you to choose any range of metrics including date range and country.

“YouTube’s influence on video podcasting is undeniably transformative and this integration marks a significant step forward for Triton Digital,” said Sharon Taylor, SVP Podcast Strategy & Product Operations, Triton Digital. “We’re confident that this will revolutionize the way podcasters engage with their audience, opening up a world of possibilities for content monetization and audience growth.”

A Podcast Metrics Demos+ study conducted by Triton Digital and Signal Hill Insights found that 28% of monthly podcast listeners surveyed name YouTube as the platform they use most often to consume podcasts. This integration serves as part of Triton Digital’s overall commitment to moving the podcast industry forward.

“Video has added another dimension connecting podcast creators with their audiences,” said Kai Chuk of YouTube. “The measurement and reporting of views provides critical insights to podcasters as they continue to produce the high quality content audiences want and deserve, giving publishers a more holistic view of podcast performance data.”

This initiative comes off the heels of Triton Digital’s recent partnership with Basis Technologies for over-the-air programmatic advertising and its acquisition of Manadge, a leading advertising analytics platform.

Tarsal, the security data fabric platform, today announced that it has joined the Snowflake Partner Network. As part of the Snowflake Partner Network, Tarsal will help security teams run their operations on Snowflake with one-click, zero-maintenance connectors that ingest, normalize, and transform security data at scale.

"Tarsal's petabyte scale data pipeline helps security teams easily create a security data lake in the destination and schema of their choice. We provide robust data infrastructure for security teams so they can focus on what they do best: protecting their organizations," said Sunny Rekhi, CEO and co-founder of Tarsal. "We're excited to deepen our partnership with Snowflake and help power the security data lake movement."

Tarsal empowers security teams to get their data into Snowflake in minutes, not weeks. With Tarsal, teams can easily normalize logs to the schema of their choice, filter out low-value data, and automatically enrich their logs with important contextual information like threat intelligence feeds.

"By connecting Tarsal with our Snowflake security data lake, we're able to ingest security data rapidly and with zero maintenance, leading to more efficient use of our resources and greater ROI of our tech stack," said Gaurav Begwani, Director of Detection and Response at Navan. "Tarsal empowers our security teams to own their data, instead of requiring assistance from our data and SRE teams that are working on other key business initiatives. We're excited to see the Snowflake / Tarsal  partnership develop."

"Partners like Tarsal democratize the security data lake by making it achievable for organizations of all sizes," said Omer Singer, Head of Cybersecurity Strategy at Snowflake. "We look forward to continued collaboration with Tarsal and to seeing what security teams can achieve when they've cost-effectively and reliably unified their security data."

Udemy and Wayfair leaders join as company doubles down on growth in home services

Thumbtack, the technology company helping millions of people confidently care for their homes, today announced the addition of two executive hires – Llibert Argerich as the company’s first Chief Marketing Officer, and Mark Poston as its first Chief Commercial Officer. They join Thumbtack as the marketplace business doubles down on strong, sustainable growth in the home services industry.

Thumbtack has the opportunity to change the status quo for millions of homeowners through technology — taking the guesswork out of home repairs, maintenance, and improvements. Together, Llibert and Mark have the leadership and expertise to help us go further faster,” said Marco Zappacosta, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Thumbtack, “Llibert is a growth architect who has helped some of the largest marketplace businesses in the world scale. And, Mark has a track record of building new, successful business lines in the home services space. There’s never been a better time to join Thumbtack and make an impact.”

Argerich joins Thumbtack from Udemy, where he was most recently Senior Vice President of Marketing. During his five-year tenure, he was responsible for driving a 2x increase in consumer revenue and overseeing the entirety of the consumer strategy and business. He directly managed a global team across paid acquisition, SEO, CRM, pricing, promotions, brand, creative, and communications. At Thumbtack, Argerich will lead the company’s marketing, brand, and communications teams. He brings nearly 20 years of experience at high-growth marketplace businesses, with prior experience in leadership roles at eBay and Expedia Group.

“My goal as I look toward the future is to make sure homeowners all across the country know Thumbtack and turn to us time and time again to make their lives easier,” said Argerich, “I’m excited to jump in and help our talented team build a multi-disciplinary marketing organization that helps us deliver for our business, our consumers and our pros.”

Poston joins Thumbtack from Wayfair, where he spent eight years in a variety of GM and functional leadership roles, most recently as Vice President of Sales and Home Services responsible for a diverse team of 1,000. During his tenure he launched and scaled a number of home-focused businesses, with responsibility for strategy, category management, merchandising, pricing, operations, marketing and R&D to achieve outsized growth and results. At Thumbtack, Poston will lead the company’s sales, revenue operations, support, partnerships, and business development teams.

“Marco and the team at Thumbtack have brought an enormous, yet fragmented market online, making it easy to find and hire great pros in an instant across 500 categories,” said Poston. “My goal is to keep building momentum, by continuously improving our pro and consumer offering and by launching new solutions that solidify Thumbtack as the go-to partner for great pros.”

In their new roles, Argerich and Poston will report directly to Zappacosta. Thumbtack is one of the fastest-growing companies in the untapped $600B+ home services industry. In the last 12 months, more than 6.5 million projects were started on Thumbtack, and home service professionals earned billions through the platform.

Real-Time Managed Service Provides Identity Monitoring and Threat Detection

BeyondID, a leading managed identity services provider, today announced the BeyondID Security Operations Center (SOC). This 24/7/365 security monitoring and threat detection service is designed to help organizations maintain the security of their systems in real-time.

The BeyondID SOC offers a comprehensive range of benefits that help organizations maintain the highest level of security to protect their enterprise: data, customers, and workforce. This service secures identity and user-driven endpoints such as Okta, end-user applications, and identity solutions integrated into customer environments. With dual global operations centers, the BeyondID SOC offers a one-stop-shop for security monitoring and incident response.

"The volume of security threats and breaches has reached a level that is nearly impossible for even the most competent IT teams to manage around the clock," said Arun Shrestha, CEO and co-founder of BeyondID. "Our team understands the challenges with securing proprietary data and felt it was essential to provide a service offering that helps our customers consistently manage these vulnerabilities."

The BeyondID SOC actively monitors customer environments 24/7, globally, ensuring real-time threat detection and response. The BeyondID SOC also watches for known threats while monitoring intelligence channels to advise and protect against the latest intrusion tactics. This approach helps organizations stay ahead of emerging threats and prevent costly security breaches.

Additionally, the BeyondID SOC stands guard at every endpoint associated with customer environments. A logging agent sends live data to be collected, detected, triaged, investigated, and responded to if necessary. This ensures that all endpoints are secure and protected from potential threats.

Current service offerings include Identity-First Zero Trust Security with XDR, End-Point, Network, Workload and Data Threat Detection and Response capabilities.

Study showcases the potential security threats posed by browser extensions, calls for proactive risk management in the digital age

The digital landscape has evolved rapidly over the past decade, with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications becoming the cornerstone of modern business operations. However, as businesses embrace this digital transformation, a new report by Spin.AI sheds light on the often-overlooked security risks associated with browser extensions in the ever-expanding SaaS ecosystem.

Spin.AI, a leading innovator in cybersecurity and risk assessment for SaaS applications, has unveiled the "Browser Extension Risk Report: High Risks for SaaS Data," a comprehensive analysis of the threats posed by browser extensions to mission-critical SaaS applications. The report's findings underscore the pressing need for organizations to adopt proactive measures to manage and mitigate these hidden risks.

"In an era marked by the rapid proliferation of SaaS applications, businesses are navigating uncharted digital terrain,” said Dmitry Dontov, CEO of Spin.AI. “This report shines a light on a critical yet often underestimated facet of this landscape – browser extensions. These seemingly innocuous tools can harbor significant security risks to SaaS data, demanding a closer look. Our findings reveal an urgent call to action for organizations to take a proactive stance in safeguarding their digital assets."

Uncovering Hidden Dangers

The report reveals concerning statistics: nearly 51% of browser extensions pose a high risk to data stored in Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, and 44% pose a medium risk. This revelation serves as a reminder that SaaS data protection is the enterprise’s responsibility, not the SaaS vendor’s responsibility.

Furthermore, the report delves into the vast and intricate world of browser extensions. With over 300,000 extensions and third-party OAuth applications analyzed by Spin.AI, a startling 42,938 extensions have unknown authors and are registered to a personal email account – a potential gateway for malicious intent. These anonymous extensions, combined with the sheer volume of extensions being used by organizations, create an expanding threat landscape.

Assessing the Risk

Spin.AI categorizes extensions into high, medium, and low-risk tiers based on operational, security, privacy, and compliance factors. Among the key findings, developer tool extensions pose the highest risk at 56%. Even the seemingly indispensable productivity extensions, which are the most installed type of extension, don't escape scrutiny, with more than 53% classified as high risk.

A Comprehensive Approach to Mitigation

The Browser Extension Risk Report highlights the importance of a comprehensive approach to risk mitigation. Spin.AI recommends the following steps for organizations looking to safeguard their digital environments:

1. Inventory: Maintain a real-time inventory of extensions and SaaS applications to assess their operational, security, privacy, and compliance risks.
2. Risk Assessments: Continuously assess and secure extensions and applications, identifying potential security risks.
3. Policies: Establish and enforce policies based on third-party risk management frameworks, tailored to the dynamic nature of extensions and applications.
4. Incident Response: Implement automated controls aligned with organizational policies to manage the diverse array of SaaS applications in use.

The SaaS marketing platform's CRM gives growing e-commerce brands precise targeting and critical insights previously only available to elite marketers at high costs.

Mosaic Digital Systems, Inc. the premier CRM for analyzing, managing, and scaling performance marketing channels, announced today it has emerged from stealth and already helped 800 e-commerce companies generate $150 million in sales through the industry's first do-it-yourself, SaaS partnership marketing platform.

The self-funded company was launched by adtech innovator Kyle Mitnick, who led affiliate advertising agency Advertise Purple to become the leader in affiliate program management, with more than 4,000 brands in 23 business verticals generating $4 billion in affiliate revenue.

"Mosaic will change what it means to be an expert affiliate marketer by giving brands the power to achieve scalable success on their own for the first time," Mr. Mitnick said. "Using Mosaic will help brands of any size leverage precise targeting by identifying niche publishers that cater directly to their target audience, providing an unparalleled level of relevance and engagement compared to traditional marketing."

The global value of the affiliate marketing industry has grown to $12 billion, with 80% of brands using affiliate marketing to acquire new customers. But the ecosystem remains fragmented, with discovery and scheduling still a major drain on time and resources. Additionally, smaller businesses have struggled to index and analyze conversions to gauge the effectiveness of their programs. This means that campaign directives and other important insights have only been accessible to companies with large advertising budgets.

With the Mosaic CRM, microbrands and SMBs have agency over their affiliate program growth for the first time, gaining access to cutting-edge industry insights and automation. 

Users simply enter affiliate program credentials and business information, and then data are automatically pulled into the platform. Through an integrated dashboard, customers get immediate access to all components of management and growth. Users can track the performance of campaigns at affiliate- and vertical-wide levels, with optimization opportunities created and stored in a centralized dashboard visible to all relevant users. All campaigns are created and stored in Mosaic, where their performance can be tracked and compared against other campaigns to provide the full picture of affiliate performance.

"Mosaic's data-driven approach is a complete game-changer in today's market," Mr. Mitnick said. "With real-time analytics and performance metrics you can make informed decisions to optimize your partnerships to have the maximum impact. Mosaic empowers brands to stay agile, adjust strategies, and respond effectively to changing market dynamics."

Burt Intelligence, the pioneering provider of Decision Intelligence for digital ad sales, operations and finance, is pleased to announce the appointment of Shay Brog as CEO to drive the company's growth and bolster its position in the media industry. Additionally, Burt will be relocating its headquarters from Stockholm, Sweden to New York City, USA, to further support its growth strategy in the global market.

Brog joined Burt Intelligence as SVP of Revenue in late 2022, bringing with him a remarkable 15-year career in revenue management and business development, marked by successful growth initiatives and strategic partnerships across both start-up and corporate environments. Brog has a unique organizational point of view after having served in key roles at internationally distributed companies and teams, as well as having an extensive familiarity with being in the publisher seat, Brog's proven leadership, strategic vision, and deep understanding of the digital advertising industry have already made a significant impact on the company's success during his tenure. As CEO, Brog will continue to drive Burt Intelligence forward, focusing on expanding its customer base, enhancing product offerings, and solidifying its position as a market leader.

"I am honored to assume the role of CEO," said Brog. "I am grateful for the trust and confidence that the board and our investors have placed in me. I truly believe that armed with a strong managed service approach as we are, Burt is ahead of the curve compared to our competitors. Our philosophy and attitude is that it does not suffice to simply hand customers a powerful Decision Intelligence platform like ours - instead, we strive to be an extension of their team, and provide them with white-glove service at every touchpoint. With our talented team and the only data intelligence platform tailored specifically for the business of digital advertising, we're well-positioned to accelerate our growth and deliver exceptional value to our customers worldwide."

Christer Hellström, Chairman of the Board at Burt Intelligence, also expressed his enthusiasm for the appointment of Brog as CEO. "Shay has demonstrated outstanding leadership, strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of the industry during his time as the SVP of Revenue. His appointment as CEO is a testament to both his exceptional abilities and the significant contributions he has made to the company's success, including overseeing the best performing quarter in the company's history in Q1 2023. We have full confidence in his ability to lead Burt Intelligence to new heights, and we're excited for the road ahead."

In addition to the CEO transition, Burt Intelligence will be moving its headquarters from Stockholm, Sweden to New York City, USA. The relocation reflects the company's commitment to expanding its presence in the global market by taking advantage of the vibrant business ecosystem and talent pool in New York City.

"Burt Intelligence's relocation to New York City is a strategic decision aimed at further immersing ourselves in the world's most vibrant business environment," added Brog. "New York's rich ecosystem of advertising and tech companies, its vast talent pool, and proximity to key clients and industry influencers, provide an ideal setting for our growth and innovation ambitions. Being able to interface more personally and on an ongoing basis with our publishers and prospective partners is integral to both our approach as well as to how we will shape our product offering moving forward."

Brog assumes his new role immediately, while former CEO Carl Leskinen will continue to actively support the company as an advisor.