Brands Can Now Increase CX Automation with the Verint Open Platform Integrated with Webex Contact Center

Verint^®, The Customer Engagement Company^®, today announced its expanded partnership with Webex by Cisco through the integration of the Verint Open Platform’s unified data hub into the Webex App Hub for Webex Contact Center. 

Verint Open Platform is built around a unified data hub, which collects all of a brand’s behavioral data in a single repository to maximize the business value hidden in their behavioral data. Behavioral data consists of customer interactions, customer experiences (CX), and workforce data that are created across every touch point of the customer with the brand. For many brands, this behavioral data is typically locked up in numerous data silos, where it is hard to access or use for deriving critical business insights. The unified data hub can connect these disparate data silos so the data can then be easily accessed and leveraged to empower employees, supervisors and managers with insights and turn the organization into a highly efficient, data-driven operation.

"Secure and accurate real-time data is critical for organizations to measure how they are performing against customer expectations," said Jono Luk, vice president of product management, Webex by Cisco. "Verint’s Data Hub is now available as an integration with Webex Contact Center, where customers will be able to enhance customer engagement across every area of the business.”

The openness of the Verint Platform fits a brand’s enterprise ecosystem and enables them to adopt new innovations at their own pace based on business priorities. Verint Open Platform delivers the flexibility that drives ROI and future proofs technology investments.

“We’re excited to bring the power of CX automation to Webex App Hub to help brands unlock rich customer engagement data and drive strategic advantage. Our open platform built with artificial intelligence and data at the core is now interoperable and compatible with Webex,” says Verint’s John Bourne, senior vice president, global channels and alliances.

Leading creator management platform’s first-of-its-kind, data-backed solution will help brands reach their campaign goals and take influencer marketing to the next level

GRIN, the world’s leading creator management platform, today announced the launch of Activations Benchmarking, its data-driven tool that takes the guesswork out of evaluating influencer marketing performance. Powered by billions of data points from over a decade of GRIN’s customer performance history, Activations Benchmarking helps brands better understand which areas of their influencer marketing program to prioritize by surfacing key performance metrics, custom recommendations, and their progress against similar brands. This is not a one-size-fits-all tool. GRIN tailors each benchmark to a brand's unique needs by considering campaign length, desired goals, company size and more. 

Activations Benchmarking arrives as more brands embrace influencer marketing, but still have uncertainty around how to reach their campaign goals. In fact, 47% of social marketers say measuring the effectiveness of campaigns is one of their top influencer marketing challenges. In just the past 5 years alone, GRIN has pulled benchmarking data from over 84,000 activations spanning various industries and brand sizes, which have collectively generated 786 billion impressions, 12 million content assets and $847 million in conversion revenue. With this proprietary data as a roadmap, Activations Benchmarking gives brands real-time insight into how their campaign-specific goals are progressing and shares precisely what they need to focus on to move the needle.

“GRIN’s vision is to democratize influencer marketing expertise and support every customer, regardless of their size and program maturity, on their path to success,” said Brandon Brown, CEO at GRIN, whose customers include Uber, Macy’s and SKIMS. “Benchmarking is the first of many solutions aimed at providing data-backed recommendations to customers to help run their programs more effectively and efficiently.”

Notable features include:

• Recommended key performance indicators (KPIs)
  • Activations Benchmarking automatically provides brands with the most impactful KPIs so the next step toward reaching their overall goal is always crystal clear.
• Real-time performance/progress tracking:
  • Activations Benchmarking tracks campaign metrics in real-time, helping users pinpoint performance gaps and monitor progress toward big-picture goals.
• Brand comparisons:
  • Activations Benchmarking allows brands to monitor the effectiveness of their current strategy by comparing their progress to historical customer data from similar brands — ensuring they’re on the right track to outshine others in their segment.

The vast majority (93%) of consumers report concerns surrounding the security of their personal information online, despite an increase in data privacy regulations globally

Today Cassie, the leading consent and preference management platform serving Fortune 500 companies globally, unveiled Privacy Beyond Borders, a new report that surveyed consumers across the US, UK, EU, and CA about global user expectations and the impact regional privacy laws have on their digital experiences. Alarmingly, 92% of consumers believe that companies often prioritize profits over data protection - despite the rising need to adhere to privacy regulations.

In 2023, 137 out of 194 countries put legislation in place to secure the protection of data and privacy. Yet, according to Cassie's report, 65% of consumers do not believe data privacy regulations in their country adequately protect their personal data. To mitigate these concerns, consumers desire clear expectations of how their data will be used, and for companies to use encryption and secure data storage practices.

However, in today's digital world, the reality is that companies must consider consumer preferences when it comes to data privacy, as there are many regional variances. Notably, US consumers were 24% more likely than EU consumers to value the trustworthiness or reputation of a website. Meanwhile, EU consumers were 17% less likely than average to value the use of encryption and secure data storage practices. UK consumers are reportedly 53% more likely than US consumers to believe that their country's data privacy regulations adequately protect their personal data. They are also 34% more likely than US consumers to feel more comfortable interacting with a website that showcases its compliance with data privacy regulations.

"The regional disparities in consumer attitudes towards online security and data privacy highlight the difficult environment that businesses must steer through in a globalized digital economy," said Nicky Watson, co-founder and chief architect of Cassie. "Understanding and addressing these global variances is crucial to success. Particularly as consumers become increasingly proactive in protecting their online privacy, companies must adopt transparent and secure data practices – lest they risk losing consumer trust and business opportunities."

Additional key findings from Cassie's Privacy Beyond Borders Report include:

Who should be in charge of data privacy
While 94% of consumers agree that companies should adhere to the strictest data privacy regulations globally, regardless of the country in which they operate, opinions on whose job it is to ensure they do so varies by region. US consumers were 55% more likely than EU consumers to believe data privacy should rest in the hands of companies. Meanwhile, European respondents were 83% more likely than US respondents to believe data privacy should rest in the hands of consumers.

Cookie consent and online behavior
Cookie banners are meant to protect and enforce users' data privacy preferences - but consumer reactions to them vary. According to the report, European respondents are 160% more likely than US respondents to never read a cookie consent popup before clicking a response. However, consent fatigue is a universal sentiment as 73% of consumers globally report feeling overwhelmed by the number of consent requests when using online services.

Concerns about data security
An overwhelming majority (93%) of consumers expressed they are concerned about the security of their personal information online. This is no surprise, considering half of consumers that have consented without considering the consequences reported their personal information has been leaked in a data breach. What's more, only 1 in 10 consumers consider themselves to be "very informed" when it comes to data privacy, leading 53% of consumers to abandon an online transaction due to concerns about a company's data security in the past 12 months.

eShare, a trailblazer in redefining how enterprises share and collaborate externally, is delighted to announce the appointment of Niki Sotiropoulou as its new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). With an extensive career of over twenty years in marketing, Niki brings invaluable expertise in B2B and B2C marketing strategies to eShare, marking a significant addition to the leadership team.

Before joining eShare, Niki served as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at viva.com, a pioneering Tech Bank renowned for being the first Greek Unicorn. In this role, Niki was instrumental in laying the foundations and operational frameworks for a pan-European marketing team, spanning across 24 countries. Niki's strategic vision and hands-on approach enabled the marketing team at viva.com to function cohesively, driving unified marketing strategies that resonated across different regions.

Niki’s role at eShare will involve steering the marketing strategy, amplifying brand presence, and boosting customer engagement across various platforms.

Nick Stamos, Founder & CEO of eShare expressed enthusiasm about Niki's joining, stating, "Niki's comprehensive experience and her track record of spearheading successful marketing initiatives make her the ideal candidate to lead our marketing efforts. Her visionary leadership and strategic marketing approach are precisely what eShare needs to reach our ambitious objectives."

Niki shared her excitement about her new role, "I am thrilled to join eShare and collaborate with the talented team here. eShare's commitment to innovation and excellence aligns with my professional values, and I am eager to contribute to its triumph."

Niki's appointment underscores eShare's commitment to accelerating its expansion and consolidating its status as a leader in the SaaS sector, specifically in secure and compliant external data sharing and collaboration. Under her guidance, eShare is set to scale new heights in marketing excellence and customer satisfaction.

Six months after the announced closure of Puny Human in October 2023, its former Chief Executive Officer and Studio Manager has taken a new position. Mike Sanders, the former CEO of Puny Human, which closed its doors after 16 years, has been appointed the Chief Development Officer of Carbonated.

Carbonated is a mobile game developer led by former veterans of Zynga, Electronic Arts, and Blizzard. The studio raised $8.5 million for its mobile squad-based shooter in 2020 and another $11 million in March of this year. The developer is creating MadWorld, a post-apocalyptic third-person multiplayer shooter featuring AI squadmates and territory control.

In October 2023, Puny Human announced that it would close its doors before the end of the year, assisting in new roles for employees at other companies. The studio developed three original titles before 2015, including Blade Symphony, the third-person sword fighter. Later, Puny Human assisted or co-developed titles like The Bard’s Tale IV, Wasteland 3, Trover Saves the Universe, and The Callisto Protocol.

Mike Sanders took his first position in the games industry in 2006, at Epic Games, where he worked on the first Gears of War title, and later, he worked at Ubisoft RedStorm on numerous titles, including Far Cry 2 and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2. Subsequently, Sanders established Puny Human with a team that had been creating game modifications, where he served as both engineer and producer on numerous titles.

"In 2023, I had the fortunate opportunity to meet and work with Mike on the O3DE engine project. It quickly became apparent that Mike is not just deeply knowledgeable about the gaming industry and passionate about the creative process, but crucially, he possesses a rare ability to successfully deliver," said Travis Boatman, CEO of Carbonated. "Mike is an exceptional leader and a seasoned professional in the gaming world. We are thrilled to welcome him to the leadership team here at Carbonated."

Travis Boatman founded Carbonated in 2015 after leaving Zynga, where he was the SVP of Mobile, to build high-fidelity live-service games, starting with MadWorld. Recently, the Linux Foundation announced that Carbonated, as an active member of the Open 3D Foundation, is developing the first mobile title for the Open 3D Engine (O3DE).

“Mike Sanders has helped Carbonated push the boundaries for O3DE, offering advice, suggestions, and valuable improvements along the way,” says Joe Bryant, newly appointed Executive Director of the Open 3D Foundation, “We are grateful to have contributors like Mike and his team working with O3DE.”

After recently increasing its presence on social media channels, Carbonated is expected to release a cinematic story trailer for MadWorld in Q2 of this year.

AutoLeap stands out as an industry leader for the auto repair industry after collecting five new awards in G2’s Spring 2024 Report.

AutoLeap, cloud-based auto repair management software, earned G2 badges across various software leader and relationship categories. Those badges include:

• Momentum Leader
• Best Relationship - Small Business
• Best Relationship
• Leader - Small Business
• Leader

This is far from AutoLeap’s first G2 recognition. The award-winning shop management software earned forty nine badges across several categories in G2’s earlier reports.

G2 scores products and vendors based on reviews gathered from our user community and data aggregated from online sources and social networks.

The first in its series of 360 Data Products, the latest AI innovations power enterprise business initiatives with trusted, real-time, 360-degree views of customers – enabling personalized experiences, agility, and business responsiveness

Reltio®, a leading data unification and management company, today introduced its Reltio Customer 360 Data Product, the first in its series of 360 Data Products. This is a next-generation cloud solution that provides a comprehensive view of customer data – in milliseconds. For users, the new solution provides a significant leap toward future-proofing their enterprises against the evolving data challenges of the digital age.

With the Reltio Customer 360 Data Product, users will now have a complete view of the behavioral data, interactions, derived insights, and segments needed to enhance the customer experience and power business outcomes. Without a trusted, accurate, and comprehensive view of customers across the enterprise, companies lose revenue opportunities and face reputational risks. This is especially problematic for operational use cases that serve multiple teams and organizational functions where different technologies are needed to support various groups, adding to the complexity of enterprise architecture. The result is fragmented data that is not trustworthy nor comprehensive, adversely impacting customer retention, conversion rates, and profitability. The Reltio Customer 360 Data Product uniquely addresses the pain points data teams experience in securing a unified customer view by streamlining how organizations unify, enrich, and mobilize customer information across the enterprise.

When compared with traditional customer data platforms, Reltio Customer 360 Data Product provides a variety of important AI-fueled advancements:

• Enterprise-wide View: Provides a comprehensive view across multiple first-party and third-party sources for domains, including customer, product, supplier, location, among others.
• Groundbreaking Approach to Entity Resolution: Reltio’s Flexible Entity Resolution Networks (FERN) for rule-free matching takes automation in data unification to the next level. Using LLM-powered pre-trained ML models, this approach to entity resolution enables rule-free matching with high match accuracy across industries and with minimal effort. FERN automatically suggests matches out-of-the-box with higher accuracy. The pre-trained models incorporate zero-shot learning, eliminating model training, boosting data team productivity, and shortening implementation time by eliminating the hundreds of person-hours previously required to define, configure, and iterate match rules.
• Real-Time Operations: Mobilizes continuously curated customer profiles in milliseconds and at scale across downstream systems with prebuilt connectors and integrations.
• Streamlined Data Interoperability: Helps accelerate enterprise-wide business initiatives and facilitates collaboration with business stakeholders through secure, reusable, high-quality data assets.

“Our Reltio Customer 360 Data Product is a significant leap forward in data management. By enabling access to trusted data at the speed of business, we are empowering businesses to leverage their data as a strategic asset in unprecedented ways,” said Manish Sood, CEO and Founder of Reltio. “Our AI-powered platform is designed to be the backbone of data-driven strategies, enabling organizations to enhance customer experiences, improve operational efficiencies, manage risk, and drive growth. Reltio Customer 360 speeds up time to value so businesses gain agility and increased responsiveness in today's fast-paced markets.”

The Reltio Customer 360 Data Product sets new industry standards for data reliability, reusability, operational efficiency, and business agility by enabling data product owners to drive consumption of unified customer data across the enterprise. It enables enterprises to speed data enablement with interoperability and rapid reusability across multiple departments and functions, significantly reducing the IT burden of frequently repackaging data for different departmental needs.

Other key benefits and features include:

• Conversational Data Exploration: With Reltio Intelligent Assistant (RIA), using gen AI and natural language technology, it is easier than ever for users to search digital content. This new feature helps speed up time to value by amplifying productivity by placing the answers to complex technical questions at the users’ fingertips.
• Segmentation and Activation: You can identify and create customer segments in Reltio. With Reltio Integration Hub you can activate your segments with pre-built connectors to any consuming application you choose.
• Flexibility, Scalability, Security: Supports individual and organization customer types with flexible data modeling, rapid scalability, security, and data sovereignty.

“We are breaking new ground for companies who rely on data as their lifeblood. Our new and innovative solution delivers rich, high-quality, and real-time 360-degree views of customer data with security, scalability, and interoperability so data leaders can move away from data project silos and treat their data assets as products for faster transformation and innovation,” said Venki Subramanian, Senior Vice President of Product Management of Reltio. “In using our LLM-powered automation and continuously curated 360-degree views, data leaders can stay on top of business needs while increasing efficiency and accelerating business outcomes.”

Pre-seed company and repeat AI founders target B2B SaaS companies with AI-native data analytics platform and empower anyone in the organization to answer complex ad-hoc data questions with no code

Supersimple, the AI-native data analytics platform that enables anyone to explore data and accurately answer complex questions in minutes, today announced $2.2 million in pre-seed funding. The round is led by Tera Ventures with participation from Specialist VC, Tiny VC and a variety of angel investors that include the former CTO of Twilio and the founders of Sixfold and Grünfin. 

With today's Business Intelligence (BI) and data analytics tools being a combination of static dashboards and uninspired ChatGPT-esque chat interfaces, Supersimple is betting big on a future where enterprise software in the age of AI doesn't look like chatbots and people are empowered with highly specific data insights, rather than a few high-level charts.

"What I love about Supersimple is that it lives up to its name. We're trying to help our employees and customers make better decisions, not configure charts and queries," said Tuomo Laine, CEO at Twice Commerce, a Supersimple customer. "Supersimple stands out by making it obvious how it came by the insights it's sharing and making the user experience of double clicking on that as easy as ABC."

The funding will be used to accelerate customer growth and advance the state of the art in explainable AI. The Supersimple team includes software developers, data scientists and product designers with proven track records building deeply adopted technologies and successful startups. Co-founder and CTO Priit Haamer co-founded Sixfold where co-founder and CEO Marko Klopets also worked. The AI-based company merged with Transporeon and later sold for $2 billion. Most of Supersimple's machine learning engineering team hails from Sixfold.

Supersimple's AI-native data analytics platform combines a semantic data modeling layer and state-of-the-art explainable AI to give users reliable, consistent data to power their day-to-day work. Supersimple was designed specifically for teams at B2B SaaS companies to answer their own ad-hoc data questions, letting even non-technical team members go far beyond pre-built dashboards to get to data insights and make better decisions.

"Most of the value in data doesn't come from staring at a dashboard. Instead, it comes from deep, specific questions – testing hypotheses, exploring and iterating. Supersimple was built around this insight to help teams always have the right information to make great decisions," said Marko Klopets, co-founder and CEO at Supersimple. "Making structured data from data warehouses accessible and usable is the first step towards Supersimple becoming the operating system of the fastest growing companies."

Even though modern data stacks are better than ever before, organizations are still only scratching the surface of being able to get the right information to the right people. Thanks to recent advances in data warehouses and machine learning (including but not limited to large language models), it's now possible to build entirely new user experiences to detect and explain valuable data insights, and to let users explore any follow-up questions. Supersimple believes that purpose-built, complete platforms are required to offer the level of versatility and trust that's required among enterprises and for mission-critical workflows. The company is also putting an emphasis on user experience and design in a space that has traditionally made that a footnote.

The Supersimple data analytics platform gives everyone the ability to answer ad-hoc, complex data questions through its no-code and natural language interfaces without having to know or learn technologies like SQL or Python, or think in terms of database concepts. When asking questions in plain English, Supersimple's AI explains every step it takes, eliminating hidden hallucinations, to make sure users can always trust its results. All this frees up the data team from fielding high volumes of data requests, allowing them to instead focus on company-wide strategic data initiatives and empowering the rest of their organization.

"Over the last few years, data warehouses have become ubiquitous and data stacks are better than ever. Yet companies are still struggling to actually make use of their data," said Eamonn Carey, partner at Tera Ventures. "When I heard Marko explain his vision and I saw the platform in action, it became crystal clear that this is what the future would look like."