Insight7, AI-powered customer intelligence platform, secures pre-seed funding and unveils new product capabilities, automating customer research with AI technology.

Insight7, a US-based customer intelligence company, has closed a pre-seed round. The round was led by Forum Ventures with participation from prominent angels in the B2B SaaS and AI domain.

Led by Co-founder and CEO, Odun Odubanjo, Insight7 is a B2B SaaS customer intelligence platform that unlocks customer insights for product, marketing and research teams using AI.

"Since we launched six months ago, we’ve had customers and prospects knock on our doors to help them make sense of their customer feedback and conversations. We're delighted to have the financial backing to deliver what they want," said Odun Odubanjo. "This funding will fuel our growth and enable us to enhance our platform's capabilities, providing our clients with even more powerful tools to understand their customers and drive product innovation."

According to Odun, “It's incredible that in the age of AI, insights informing key product and business decisions are still stuck in docs, slides, and spreadsheets, making it inaccessible for making great decisions quickly. This is why we started Insight7."

“Founded by a third-time founder and ex-Shopify Product Lead, Odun, and his team are building Insight7 to bring the superpowers of AI to product planning - a giant step forward to making prioritization less hard. We are excited to be part of Insight7’s journey,” says Maia Benson, Managing Director at Forum VC.

In addition to the funding news, Insight7 is unveiling its latest product capabilities designed to empower businesses to build the right things to drive growth. The new features include the ability to analyze customer conversations in seconds to visualize product opportunities, priorities and recommendations. The company is also announcing integrations with Hubspot, Gong, Zendesk, Intercom, and Google Drive, for users to automate the flow of customer insights into their workflow.

Vericast will help brands build customer loyalty and trust through consented data

Vericast continues to strengthen its privacy position to help brands ethically collect consumer-provided data and utilize it to build loyalty and long-lasting customer relationships. As part of its privacy strategy, Vericast has engaged Qonsent, one of the first data experience platforms with consent at its core, to help brands deliver more effective marketing campaigns, seamlessly navigate data privacy regulations, and safely build an audience of known consumers.

Through the engagement, Vericast will provide brands a fully integrated zero-party data capture and consent solution that seamlessly records, stores, and manages a brand's consented data. Zero-party data is that which a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand. It also features real-time identity verification and maintains transparency with the consumer, from notice and disclosure to affirmative consent. Data collection can be implemented across mediums such as brand websites and programmatic advertising and seamlessly integrated into customer data marketing platforms such as Vericast's NXTDRIVE™, among others.

For consumers, the integration provides a transparent means to understand how a brand plans to use their data and for how long. It features encrypted data and integrates client-defined data privacy legal disclosures, allowing consumers to determine if they want to share their personal information at the moment of consent. The technology also enables a value-exchange engagement, where consumers receive value such as a coupon or discount in exchange for data and future engagements.

Collection and use of consumer data is undergoing a major industry shift. By 2024, Gartner predicts that 75% of the global population will have its personal data covered under modern privacy regulations. According to Accenture, nearly half of consumers say they will switch brands if their trust is broken.

"Management of consumer-consented data is an important step in strengthening Vericast's privacy strategy, helping brands protect consumer privacy and navigate changing regulations and requirements," said Hans Fischmann, vice president, Digital Product at Vericast. "Zero-party data is the most accurate and valuable to capture. With opt-in data, brands can leverage information about preferences, purchase history and intent to enable relevant and personalized advertising while building brand loyalty."

The basis of the relationship is Qonsent's Smart Qontract technology, which allows businesses to maintain a record of qualified user consent in a compliant manner across applicable data-privacy laws. The platform combines transparency, compliance and security with Qonsent's real-time ID Validation to provide an industry-first encrypted and auditable ledger-based system. It is designed for a wide range of industries such as retail and consumer packaged goods.

"Consumer trust is integral to loyalty and has a direct impact on the bottom line," said Jesse Redniss, chief executive officer and co-founder of Qonsent. "The crux of our technology is offering consumers transparency and the ability to provide consent. Through this engagement with Vericast, we're helping brands build trust and relationships with consumers and navigate the world of data privacy. In fact, with campaigns that clearly articulate the value exchange, data usage, and offer choice and control in a frictionless way, we are seeing opt-in rates as high as 90%."

Today's announcement builds upon Vericast's privacy focus. The company recently announced a modern contextual advertising solution that helps marketers safely reach and influence the right people at the right time. Vericast's Consumer Graph technology enables brands to use targeting to reach qualified audiences in compliance with applicable privacy laws.

Account Ability 7 Sustainability Trends 2023 Report brings into focus the key sustainability issues and priorities, and the business opportunities they present

• Geopolitics & Governance, Future-Focused Boards, and Nature-Based Asset Valuations are among Trends shaping the fast-changing ESG landscape

• Report offers informed insights, business implications and valuable takeaways for leadership action

AccountAbility, a trusted global ESG Consulting and Standards firm with a three-decade history in guiding leaders to build better companies, today released their AccountAbility 7 Sustainability Trends 2023 Report. Leveraging the firm's global consulting, research, and standards experience, the report provides timely data, comprehensive insights, and action-oriented guidance to help organizations across industries and geographies make informed sustainability decisions towards meeting their business objectives.

"Consumers and society, as a whole, are expecting more (and different) from business – in an atmosphere of low trust and high expectations," comments AccountAbility CEO Sunil (Sunny) A. Misser. "Today, the sustainability agenda is central to business competitiveness. Leaders recognize the financial imperatives of moving to a more sustainable economy and the business potential this presents. With this 7 Sustainability Trends 2023 Report, we enable organizations to navigate the fast-changing ESG landscape and focus on the meaningful trends that are shaping the business agenda."

The AccountAbility 7 Sustainability Trends 2023 Report provides organizations and businesses with timely and valuable insights into the most pressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. In identifying and analyzing these latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in sustainability, the report enables broader strategic planning, informed decision-making, and effective stakeholder engagement. This report helps organizations align their strategies with evolving sustainability priorities, anticipate future developments, and address risks and opportunities proactively.

Furthermore, the report is designed to enhance investor confidence, supporting sustainability reporting, facilitate knowledge sharing, and promote policy and regulation alignment. The AccountAbility 7 Sustainability Trends 2023 Report is an important tool to help organizations stay at the forefront of these important developments, drive positive change, position themselves as leaders in sustainability, and deliver on their business agenda.

The AccountAbility 7 Sustainability Trends 2023 Report was researched and compiled by the firm's Global Leadership, Consulting, Research, and Standards teams and benefits from the firm's extensive work with prominent global organizations across Industries, including Financial Services, Energy & Extractives, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Real Estate, Consumer Packaged Goods, Telecom & Technology, Foundations, Governments, and others, in jurisdictions including the US, UK, EU, Mid-East, and Asia.  

1. Navigating The Net Zero Landscape: Against an unprecedented volume of net zero commitments, what are the risks for those that fail to act, and the opportunities for businesses to lead?
2. Stakeholder Activism Is Getting Louder: As businesses face increasing pressure to take a stance and demonstrate actionable progress on a range of ESG issues, how best can leaders balance this with the imperative to maximize shareholder value?
3. Geopolitics: The New "G" In ESG: In an era of increasingly globalized business operations, how can organizations address the outsized role that the new G (Geopolitics) is playing in the business landscape? 
4. Building an Effective, Future-Focused Board: As demands and expectations shift, how best to equip future-focused Boards to meet the requirements of the evolving business environment?
5. Next Generation ESG Disclosure and Reporting: A shift from voluntary to mandatory ESG Disclosure is set to heighten attention on corporate sustainability disclosure practices. How will these changes impact ESG Reporting?
6. The Road to a Sustainable Value Chain: How can the integration of sustainability criteria into supply chains drive organizational shifts towards a more context-aware and competitive value chain?
7. Nature Based Assets Will Drive Valuations: As nature-based assets are increasingly recognized for their significant impact on valuations, what steps can companies take to achieve nature-based performance goals?

Smart search tool guides customers to the perfect IoT solutions for their needs

Identiv, Inc. (NASDAQ: INVE), a global digital security and identification leader in the Internet of Things (IoT), unveils the IoT Product Advisor. This easy-to-use search tool leads customers straight to the right IoT solution for their specific needs.

Identiv weaves digital IDs into every physical object. The IoT Product Advisor eases this journey for customers, guiding them to the ideal IoT technology for their needs without getting lost in the technical details. The tool covers Identiv’s standard IoT product lineup and features popular solutions like high-frequency/near-field communication (HF/NFC), ultra-high frequency (UHF), and Bluetooth (BLE) via Wiliot IoT Pixels. With this tool, customers get fast, user-friendly access to key product information, a vital step in picking the right IoT solution. They can search the IoT product lineup using filters such as IC, delivery format, pitch, memory, and use case.

"We aim to boost customer awareness of our ever-growing IoT product lineup, a key component of our growth plan," said Amir Khoshniyati, VP and GM of IoT, Identiv. "We're thrilled to roll out our IoT Product Advisor to give customers a handy, effective tool for pairing their project needs with our cutting-edge solutions."

The IoT Product Advisor also features two design enhancements based on NXP's next-gen UCODE 9 IC family. UHF inlays ID-Gendipole A865 and ID-Sawblade A866 pack the UCODE 9xe IC. They are built for high-volume use, including industrial, supply chain, inventory management, and returnable transport items (RTI). The 128 bits of Electronic Product Code (EPC) memory add high performance to a wider range of IoT use cases.

ID-Gendipole A865: Design offers quicker encoding speed and better read-write sensitivity. It is perfect for fast-paced industrial settings and works well with low detuning materials like plastic and cardboard.

ID-Sawblade A866 U9xe: Design comes with boosted performance and a built-in brand identifier. It is perfect for tagging a wide variety of complex materials that might interfere with the reader, like metal or liquid containers.

Customers can choose to equip these UHF inlays with NXP´s UCODE 8, UCODE 9, or UCODE 9xe, giving them the freedom to pick the performance and memory specs to best fit their specific needs.

Groundbreaking AI initiative grants brands 1,000 interactions per day with ElevateAI’s free AI-powered transcription services and CX AI models

NICE, today announced ElevateAI’s “1K Every Day” initiative, extending the reach of its industry-leading on-demand AI services to organizations of all sizes. ElevateAI brings the power of NICE’s purpose-built Enlighten AI to the developer community. With highly accurate AI purpose built for CX, “1K Every Day” is a game-changer for any brand seeking to leverage the power of AI to improve customer satisfaction and agent efficiency. AI is the brain behind extraordinary customer experience (CX), and by eliminating initial upfront costs, organizations of all sizes can benefit from AI and transform their customer experience.

With ElevateAI, contact centers can take their CX to the next level by harnessing the power of AI trained on billions of interactions. Users can easily access NICE’s award-winning Enlighten AI with developer-friendly APIs and instant sign-up capabilities. ElevateAI’s open and flexible architecture allows seamless integration with existing technology stacks, significantly enhancing innovation possibilities.

ElevateAI’s new “1K Every Day” offers a significant upgrade, providing up to 1,000 interactions of transcription services and CX AI per day, free of charge. Brands can power seamless CX with transcriptions. ElevateAI’s plan is unique for its larger number of interactions offered per day.

Barry Cooper, President, CX Division, NICE, said, "At NICE, we believe that data and AI should be at the core of every brand's CX. With the new ‘1K Every Day' initiative, we're making our purpose-built AI for CX even more accessible to businesses of all sizes. We're excited to see how organizations are using the power of ElevateAI to drive innovation and deliver extraordinary experiences for their customers, even with their own custom solutions."

New AvePoint Confidence Platform updates power digital transformation in the workplace, from data migration to cloud adoption

AvePoint (NASDAQ: AVPT), the most advanced platform to optimize SaaS operations and secure collaboration, today announced enhancements across the AvePoint Confidence Platform which power digital workplace enablement at every stage including cloud migration, workforce enablement and cloud adoption. As more organizations seek to improve the digital employee experience, AvePoint’s new capabilities modernize data, upskill workforces and measure transformation efforts.

According to Forrester, 60 percent of businesses and technology professionals believe improving employee experience extends beyond an HR priority and is a key IT objective over the next 12 months. Additionally, Gartner research indicates digital employee experience as critical to digital workplace transformation efforts for infrastructure and operations professionals.

“Digital workplace transformation can be complex, but when done effectively creates alignment and confidence across the organization,” said John Peluso, Chief Product Officer, AvePoint. “Today, organizations should invest in every aspect of the employee experience from migration and training to measuring these efforts to ensure adoption. Our holistic approach to digital workplace enablement empowers digital transformation leaders to modernize their organizations’ data, skills and collaboration in a way that puts their people at the center.”

Today, the AvePoint Confidence Platform supports digital workplace enablement in the following ways:

• Modernize Data: Fly, which expedites data migration from on-premises to cloud platforms like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Salesforce and between cloud platforms, now provides Power Platform migrations for Power Apps and Power Automate, and automatically modernizes on-prem workflows by converting them to Power Automate, to increase efficiency and time to value for organizations. Now, as part of AvePoint’s commitment to providing granular support across SaaS platforms, organizations can specify policies for Teams and Groups migrations, and migrate from Gmail to Exchange Online.
  
  
• Upskill Workforce: Curricula, which now has a dedicated iPhone app for mobile learning, and Microsoft 365 Training Content, equip employees with the training and development they need to thrive and power innovation, with personalized learning searches, goals and achievements. New advanced reporting capabilities for educators and administrators, and the integration of Combined Knowledge into Curricula has expanded AvePoint capabilities, helps to put digital dexterity at the forefront of organizations worldwide. As validation for its efforts, AvePoint won Microsoft Singapore Partner of the Year, Education Industry award and achieved finalist status for the Learning Impact Awards.
  
  
• Measure Transformation: tyGraph, which won the HR Tech awards, adds robust analytics capabilities to unveil employee engagement and collaboration insights so organizations can accelerate their digital agendas and demonstrate ROI post-implementation. With tyGraph Calling, organizations now have access to insights on how their teams optimize meetings and calls and identify potential cost and time optimization.

With AvePoint, organizations like Kingston University, are modernizing their data with a 400 TB full fidelity migration, upskilling their 20,000 staff, students and faculty on Microsoft 365, and measuring the impact of digital transformation.

"The growth of agile working has made clear how many varied places there were to store files, ways to share information, and collaborate digitally," said Steve Britton, Head of IT, Kingston University. "This was confusing to our staff and students initially, but as our trusted partner every step of the way, AvePoint executed our multi-faceted migration plan to Microsoft 365 and empowered our people to adopt new ways of working through comprehensive training and support."