Companies team with Microsoft to reinvent and extend its leadership reporting and intelligence capability with Microsoft Fabric

Accenture and Avanade have launched new offerings applying Microsoft Fabric to help organizations accelerate data readiness, make insights more accessible, and create a foundation for AI—all powered by a practice of 4,000 Fabric-certified professionals. Building on their recently announced collaboration around generative AI, the companies are also delivering new capabilities to help clients customize and extend Microsoft Copilot solutions to reimagine work with generative AI.

“Data, as part of a strong digital core on cloud, has become a critical driver of total enterprise reinvention and is the precursor to achieving exponential value through AI,” said Chris Howarth, senior managing director and Accenture Microsoft Business Group lead. “Together with Avanade, we are helping our clients harness the transformative power of data and AI—from enhancing data readiness with Microsoft Fabric, to accelerating generative AI adoption with Microsoft Copilots.”

In 2024, 75% of C-level leaders plan to increase their spending on data and AI, compared to 50% that increased spending in 2023, according to new research from Accenture.

“Our clients are accelerating data transformation to meet the AI moment,” said Craig Gorsline, Avanade’s Chief Growth Officer and Global Technology Business Group Lead. “Having worked with Microsoft Fabric for a long time, Avanade is uniquely positioned to deliver the value from data, analytics and AI that our clients need. Alongside Accenture, we have a cohesive suite of Microsoft Fabric offerings, experience, and commitments, helping our clients build the data foundations that power AI innovation.”

Enhancing Data Readiness with Microsoft Fabric

As part of Accenture’s $3B investment in data and AI, Accenture and Avanade are building a practice of certified professionals to help organizations plan, architect, develop, pilot, and deploy Microsoft Fabric, which can bring together data from thousands of sources across the enterprise.

New Microsoft Fabric accelerators and assets include a security readiness assessment; a migration approach to help companies speed the modernization of their data platforms; and industry and functional accelerators for finance, customer sales and service, supply chain, manufacturing, retail and consumer packaged goods. The companies have also launched a specialized Microsoft Fabric training program, as part of Accenture's AI academy, to help cultivate future-ready talent and accelerate transformation with Fabric.

Accenture and Avanade are collaborating with Microsoft to help its people access, manage, and act on data and insights across its product organization. The companies are helping Microsoft use Microsoft Fabric to provide self-service analytics capabilities that unlock the power of its data and help its people innovate faster. With a simplified, integrated platform, Microsoft has the data foundation needed to accelerate the adoption of AI.

The companies are also working with a global food business to help transform how its employees access information and gain better insights across its operations. As an early adopter of Microsoft Fabric, the company has a flexible, modern data platform that supports AI-driven analytics, unleashing its data to help improve employee productivity and satisfaction.

Accenture is using Microsoft Fabric to help transform the digital user experience for its 733,000 people by providing new insights about the employee experience. For Avanade, Fabric is simplifying last-mile data provisioning, widening access to enterprise data for more employees, and accelerating time-to-insights. The companies are applying their experience and learnings to client projects.

Accelerating Generative AI with Microsoft

Accenture and Avanade will support organizations with the development of custom generative AI applications leveraging Microsoft Copilots—including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot for Sales and Copilot Studio—Azure OpenAI, Azure Machine Learning, and the Microsoft platform. Tapping into the Accenture Center for Advanced AI, the companies can help clients select and fine tune large language models (LLMs) and build new generative AI capabilities.

Accenture and Avanade are working with Repsol, a global multi-energy company based in Madrid with operations in 24 countries and a commercial presence in more than 90 countries, on the adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Through Repsol’s Generative AI Competence Center, the companies have assessed its readiness for generative AI, established a governance model, and are training its people to make the most of the technology. For another client, Ferrovial, a large global infrastructure company, the companies are helping to maximize the value of its Copilot program by sharing learnings and best practices across use cases, training trial participants, and helping them build the business case for broader adoption.

New Copilot assets help to accelerate adoption with functional, industry and role-specific capabilities, across areas including supply chain, finance, HR, IT, retail, banking, insurance and oil and gas. The assets and accelerators leverage Accenture and Avanade security best practices to help organizations address their security and compliance requirements.

Together, Accenture and Avanade have thousands of dedicated Microsoft generative AI professionals, equipped with skills via a comprehensive training initiative. Combined, Avanade and Accenture now have more than 240,000 Microsoft-skilled people, including 65,000 professionals dedicated to delivering Microsoft technologies.

Advertisers can drive even more conversions while keeping daily costs under control

NewsBreak, the nation's leading local news and information platform with 50M MAU, launched Maximize Conversions, a new bidding strategy within its industry-leading ad platform. Maximize Conversions is designed to help performance advertisers predictably spend daily budgets while maximizing the number of conversions they drive.

Using Advanced AI, historical performance data, and contextual signals, Maximize Conversions sets dynamic bids designed to intelligently reach as many of NewsBreak's high-potential users as possible, maximizing the number of conversions an advertiser gets while staying within their daily budget.

Maximize Conversions leverages various placements and formats, including native, display, immersive video, pre-roll and app open, and is able to dynamically allocate budgets and bids across placements to maximize outcomes.

NewsBreak's ad platform is powered by a proprietary machine learning engine called Nova, which leverages exclusive first-party user data from in-app and in-newsletter behavior along with unique local data points designed to predict a user's ad conversion behavior and drive conversions at scale.

NewsBreak has been refining the Nova engine for six years, accumulating and incorporating learnings to drive today's product offering. The launch of Maximize Conversions comes as NewsBreak Ad Manager celebrates its first anniversary of self-service solutions, becoming a new go-to traffic source for Performance Advertisers.

"Our NewsBreak Ad Manager platform and the Nova engine work so well for performance advertisers because our data-driven model is able to very accurately predict conversion behavior. Since Maximize Conversions is tied to a consistent daily spend goal, it will bring in even more conversion data points, enabling our model to make smarter predictions over time." -Chenyu Wang, Head of Advertising Product, NewsBreak 

"The NewsBreak Ad Manager platform has become highly regarded within the industry, consistently exceeding our performance advertisers' expectations. Customers have been asking us for new opportunities to expand performance and scale with a bidding option tied to a daily budget, so we built Maximize Conversions with these goals in mind. Maximize Conversions is just one of many tools we'll be launching as we look to expand our performance suite." -Scott Kelliher, Head of Revenue, NewsBreak

Horizon Media's report uncovers new Gen Z subcultures and outlines how brands can build their own "cheat code" to Gen Z relevance.

If Gen Zers, those born between 1997 and 2012, are defined by a single attribute, it's that their fluid sense of individuality makes them harder to pin down than their older counterparts.

The Gen Z Field Guide: A Marketer's Manual for Following the Niche Over the Norm, published by Horizon Media, provides a comprehensive yet simple approach to connect with Gen Z's seemingly contradictory nature. Spurred by prolonged periods of social isolation and widening societal division, this increasingly influential generation has a growing hunger for niche interests and like-minded communities. This can be understood in three key findings:

• 89% of Gen Zers rely on social media to help them discover new content related to their unique passions
• 65% consider themselves a "really big fan of something"
• 2in 3 put little-to-no importance on the size of an influencer's following when determining that creator's value to them

Further, Gen Z are 30% more likely than older generations to feel that having multiple "small interests" is better than limiting themselves to fewer, in-depth subjects.  This generation is driving the "era of mass-niche."

"Our report found that Gen Zers are transforming into active participants, not just passive observers within their communities. They're actively co-creating, deeply engaging in storytelling, and forging strong bonds as they continuously shape and redefine their individuality across multiple subcultures every day," said Maxine Gurevich, SVP, Cultural Intelligence of Horizon Media's WHY Group, the agency's intelligence center of excellence.  "The study also showed the full embrace of individuality without the pressure to conform to their peers and that there is actually an opposite and equally strong pressure to stand out."

"New Social platforms like YouTube Shorts and TikTok led to major shifts in how we consume and how we search, increased the potency of these subcultures, and made social less social, and more of an entertainment channel," said Matt Higgins, Head of Strategy at Blue Hour Studios.  "Brands that see social as the driver of culture and consumption, connect by going niche, and take a social-first approach regardless of channel will win with Gen Z and the audiences they influence."

This year's report, by Horizon Media's WHY Group and Blue Hour Studios, uncovered 10 new subcultures across five categories: Identity, Entertainment, Sports, Retail, and Music.

Here are a few highlights from the 10 Subcultures Horizon Media identified:

• Nu Third-Culture Kids: Forging safe havens, fostering community, and embracing their multi-cultural and mixed-race identities.
• Comfort Creators: These self-care enthusiasts are granting permission to unwind in our hustle culture without disconnecting entirely.
• TALE-gaters: Enter the world of sports by crafting narratives that extend beyond the scoreboard, inviting broader audiences to engage in sports fandom.
• Copyconomists: Crowdsourcing cost-savvy workarounds that keep them on top of the latest trends without breaking the bank.
• Country Revivers: Embracing country music's lighthearted folk sensibility, they're remixing styles for a broader, more diverse audience.

The 10 subcultures, while diverse, share intersecting passions. No single subculture lives in isolation, they cross-pollinate. In fact, on average Gen Zers participate in 20 different interest-based communities. This is promising for marketers, as embracing a "Mass Niche" approach doesn't require isolating marketing strategies.

Data productivity provider announces AI Vision democratising unstructured data

Data productivity provider Matillion today announced its AI vision, with a range of GenAI functionality to put AI in the hands of every data practitioner, coders and non-coders alike.

The addition of a low-code/no-code graphical AI Prompt component will enable every data engineer to harness prompt engineering within LLM-enabled pipelines and materially boost productivity, whilst unlocking the infinite opportunities of unstructured data.

The model-agnostic design will allow users to choose their preferred LLM, set the right context, and drive prompts at speed and scale. Seamlessly integrating with existing systems, the technology will enable information extraction, summarization, text classification, NLP, sentiment analysis and judgment calls on any source that Matillion connects to.

With a strong emphasis on security and explainability, the solution safeguards data sovereignty, transparently articulates results and actively eliminates bias.

LLM-enabled pipeline functionality within Matillion is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2024.

Ciaran Dynes, Chief of Product at Matillion, said: "The role of the data engineer is evolving at pace. With the advent of GenAI, data engineering is about to get much more interesting.

"Matillion's core ethos is to make data more productive, and enabling users to seamlessly integrate AI into their data stack and leverage that functionality without the need for a data scientist, is doing just that.

"Whilst all eyes are on AI, BI isn't going anywhere. We believe that through the Data Productivity Cloud, we have the opportunity to democratise access to AI in the context of data pipelines to augment BI projects, and to train and consume AI models."

Addressing the data security concerns around GenAI uptake, Matillion is set to create a stack-ready AI-enabled solution that pushes down processing into cloud platforms such as Snowflake's Snowpark, allowing Python to run inside Snowflake at scale while maintaining business data sovereignty.

Matillion's GenAI feature list, to be added to its Data Productivity Cloud platform throughout the coming year, simplifies the complexities of AI adoption for data engineers. Matillion is excited to announce a planned co-pilot feature alongside highly sought-after auto-documentation capabilities.

Matillion plans to launch further AI innovation throughout 2024, including Pipeline RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation). Matillion will allow integration with vector databases to supercharge LLMs with external customer knowledge and go beyond their built-in training data. This enables users to bring their business data to LLMs to achieve more personalised, accurate responses from AI with better governance.

Also, in 2024, Matillion plans to roll out graphical components that will empower data teams to build fine-tuning data pipelines, in order to adjust LLMs with specific task data. Leveraging the connectivity and transformation capabilities of Matillion, teams can prepare AI-ready data and fine-tune models to excel on specific tasks like never before.

Matillion's AI vision announcement follows the launch of the Data Productivity Cloud earlier in 2023, a unified platform to build pipelines and deliver data at unlimited scale. Matillion was minted a unicorn in 2021 with a valuation of $1.5bn, and recently opened new HQs in both Manchester, UK, and Denver, CO.

Planoly, the first social media management tool built for creators, by creators, is announcing a transformative brand relaunch. This relaunch marks a milestone in the company's mission to empower creators and streamline the social media management process.

Planoly has evolved its brand to address the most pressing needs of creators. Turning a passion into a paycheck isn't always easy. To do so, creators have to juggle a million things, from building a strategy and filming content to writing engaging captions and keeping a consistent post schedule. With the newest iteration of Planoly, creators can say goodbye to the hassle of using multiple tools, and say hello to more time for creating, ideating, and engaging with their audiences.

"The power of the creator economy is undeniable, with Goldman Sachs estimating the creator economy TAM at $250 billion, and 29% of Gen-Z saying they want to become content creators," says Katelyn Sorensen, CEO of Planoly. "Because half of our team is made up of passionate content creators, we have a front-row seat to the challenges of consistently growing a brand on social media. Trends and platforms are constantly changing, so our brand and product need to evolve as well. With this launch, we are ushering in a new era for Planoly, and doubling down on creators - providing innovative tools to simplify the creator workflow and empower them to build a profitable business"

Planoly launched in 2016 as the first visual Instagram planner, helping creators curate the perfect grid. As social media and the creator economy have progressed, so has the brand. Today, Planoly is a robust, multi-channel tool that seeks to simplify every piece of the creator workflow - from inspiration to planning, scheduling, and monetization. Auto-posting capabilities exist across seven social media channels (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and Pinterest), and users have access to essential content creation tools like Canva integration and hashtag manager. All of these elements come together in one simplified workspace, making it easier than ever for creators to grow their businesses on social media.

Planoly's new branding was developed and inspired by their in-house team, many of whom are creators themselves, representing a variety of different niches (including beauty, design, fitness, and small business). The Planoly team knows the hardships of making a legit business out of social media better than anyone.

The star in the new Planoly logo represents a creator's passion and drive and is a symbol that's been a part of the brand since the very beginning. The new brand colors foster a friendly, familiar, yet unique feel, while the product experience continues to be a space that allows creators' content and ideas to be the star.

"Planoly is inspired by the people who use and build our product. As the brand is evolving into a bolder version of all of us, updating the visual brand felt like the right next step into our new era," says Carra Sykes, design director at Planoly. "We want our visual brand to continue to grow and feel fresh, just like our product which is regularly improving to keep up with the social landscape."

Following the relaunch, Planoly will also be introducing its AI Caption Writer. This auto-magic AI tool will help creators level up their content while still maintaining their authentic voices. The AI Caption Generator, run by GPT 3.5, will also include different writing styles to choose from, so AI will write captions in the tone of, 'Your in-the-know bestie', 'Corporate slay', 'Everyone's favorite teacher', or 'The eclectic artist'.

As the brand reveals its relaunch, Planoly extends an invitation to creators to embark on their own, transformative, social media journey. This renewed focus centers on empowering and serving as the ultimate social media-savvy sidekick to creators.

Specright's research reveals consumer preferences for product and packaging sustainability; finds most believe companies today are not accurately reporting on sustainability goals and metrics

More than three-quarters (80%) of consumers surveyed said they are more likely to trust companies that back up their sustainability claims with publicly shared data, and 25% actively track government regulations around sustainability to better understand how it impacts their favorite brands and products.

That's according to a new survey by Specright, the leader in Specification Management software, with findings indicating that consumers today have a heightened awareness when it comes to sustainability and transparency from companies on their products and progress around sustainability goals.

However, 69% of consumers don't believe companies today are accurately and honestly reporting on sustainability goals and metrics, and 40% are not comfortable purchasing products from companies that are not actively tracking toward sustainability goals.

Amid this increased awareness, consumers are switching up their purchasing behaviors, with primary purchasers often putting their money toward more sustainable products. More than half (58%) of consumers indicated they are willing to spend more money on products that are deemed sustainable or environmentally friendly. Further, 74% of consumers indicated they are more likely to purchase from a company that is transparent about its sustainability practices (i.e., claiming carbon-neutrality, phasing out single-use plastics, using terms such as 'eco' or 'biodegradable,' etc.) and shares updates on progress toward sustainability goals frequently.

Outside of making more sustainable purchasing decisions, consumers also have a desire to recycle and properly dispose of the products they buy but are putting the onus on companies and brands to tell them how to do so correctly. In fact, 82% of consumers say they are more likely to recycle products if companies and brands include the appropriate steps for how to recycle correctly directly on the product or packaging.

This sentiment around sustainability can be expected to translate into 2024 purchasing decisions, as 71% of consumers revealed they plan to make more sustainable purchasing decisions next year.

"These results show consumers care about the sustainability of the products and packaging they purchase and the companies and brands they purchase from, and clearly companies have more work to do on this front," said Matthew Wright, founder and CEO of Specright. "The results emphasize the importance of data and how it can influence a consumer's decision to purchase products, and many organizations today lack the data to back up their claims or even correctly track and report on sustainability goals, which can negatively impact business. As we move into 2024, it's imperative that companies organize and digitize critical product and packaging data to make reporting on sustainability as accurate as possible and even spark more sustainable product innovation."

Additional survey findings revealed:

• Approximately 71% of consumers are more likely to believe a company's sustainability claims if they are printed directly on the product or packaging (i.e. similar to a nutritional label).
• More than half (53%) of consumers are willing to pay more money for a product with sustainable packaging versus a product with cheaper, non sustainable materials.
• While consumers are backing up their sustainability beliefs with their wallets, this can depend on certain factors like product or packaging material with consumers confirming they would pay more for: recycled cardboard (50%), cornstarch foam / water soluble packaging (48%), reusable plastic totes (62%), products with the terms like 'eco,' 'biodegradable' or 'recyclable' on packaging (55%), to name a few.
• More than two-thirds of consumers (67%) claim they don't know what the term greenwashing means.
• When it comes to holiday shopping this year, nearly two-thirds (62%) of consumers prefer to bundle items purchased from online retailers together and receive them at a later date as they believe it's more sustainable.

PubMatic,, an independent technology company delivering digital advertising’s supply chain of the future, is excited to announce the appointment of Franck Lewkowicz as Country Manager, France. In this pivotal role, Franck takes the helm as the primary commercial leader overseeing both seller and buyer teams as PubMatic advances its business in the region.

“We are investing resources to further support publishers and buyers in France and Franck is a leader with deep experience on both sides of the industry to consolidate our position in this market,” said Cristian Coccia RVP Southern Europe at PubMatic. “Franck's expertise in leading strategic initiatives that drive omnichannel performance across multiple platforms and screens makes him an excellent candidate to achieve PubMatic's growth goals in these areas.”

Franck comes to PubMatic with over 20 years’ experience in media and advertising in various leadership roles in sales and client services. Before joining PubMatic, he held various management positions, including Managing Director at Quantcast France, Sales Director at Orange Advertising, and was a distinguished member of the IAB France board (Alliance Digitale).

“Having experienced the evolution of media and advertising throughout my career, I am thrilled to help PubMatic expand our omnichannel offerings to a wider audience of media owners and advertisers,” said Franck Lewkowicz as Country Manager, France at PubMatic. “PubMatic’s best-in-class technology, spanning CTV, online video, display, mobile, and new commerce media offering, combined with our dedicated team of experts in France will help drive programmatic success. PubMatic has long been one of the biggest players in our industry, and following the success of recent launches such as Activate - which puts buyers in control of their media buying strategy, while simultaneously driving more revenue to publishers - I'm very much looking forward to growing the team and delivering the best for our clients.”

Commenting on the appointment, Emma Newman, CRO EMEA said, “Franck’s appointment is a significant milestone in PubMatic’s ongoing expansion in the region. We are delighted to welcome Franck to our EMEA team. His impressive breadth of experience and industry relationships will be vital in accelerating our continuous growth.”

Based in the Paris office, Franck will report directly to PubMatic's RVP of Southern Europe, Cristian Coccia.

New gen AI tools spur product innovation to improve the world's most popular audio streaming subscription service

Google Cloud and Spotify today announced an expanded strategic partnership to amplify their expertise in infrastructure, data and analytics, and AI/ML technologies. Google Cloud has been Spotify's preferred cloud provider since 2016, and today the platform serves more than 574 million monthly active users. This new chapter will see Spotify exploring using Google Cloud's AI tools to improve critical aspects of the Spotify platform, including:

• Content discovery: Spotify is exploring large language models (LLMs) to better understand the breadth of its content library and augment the metadata used to present this content to users every day.
• Personalized recommendations: Spotify is also looking into ways to enhance the listening experience by using LLMs to understand the patterns behind users' favorite spoken content, such as podcasts and audiobooks, to present new and interesting recommendations.
• Safe listening: Spotify is also exploring the use of LLMs to provide a safer listening experience  and identify potentially harmful content.

Spotify has long understood the potential of AI and has been investing in the technology for years, including its homegrown ML Platform on Google Cloud. Machine learning is the foundation for its ability to deliver personalized recommendations through bespoke playlists for listeners.

"We're excited to continue building on the strong and trusted foundation we have established with Google Cloud," said Gustav Söderström - Co-President, CPO & CTO, Spotify. "The evolution of our technology has been matched by Google Cloud's commitment to building the best possible platform for our products to run on and driving further innovation with the emerging capabilities of generative AI."

"Through this expanded partnership, Google Cloud's AI tools are helping Spotify to elevate the listening experience for its customers," said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. "Spotify also recognizes the potential AI can have across their business, and together, we will continue to deliver innovative technologies that benefit their business."

In addition to the potential of AI/LLMs, Spotify and Google Cloud are continuing to deepen their strong engineering to engineering collaboration to scale and grow Spotify's core features and backend platform. Spotify is also continuing to leverage Google Cloud's data capabilities that have driven a wide array of successful campaigns and provide creators with valuable insights and analytics to help them succeed on the platform.

"The collaboration and co-innovation between Spotify and Google Cloud pushes the boundaries of what both platforms can do," said Tyson Singer, Vice President, Technology and Platform, Spotify.  "The sheer scale at which we are able to run backend services and process data, in addition to the cost savings we have been able to achieve are crucial to the success of our business."

Beyond being an audio streaming company, Spotify is well known in the developer community as the author of Backstage, an open source framework for building developer portals used by over 2,000 companies worldwide.  Backstage removes everyday complexities developers face and Spotify is exploring using Google Cloud's AI capabilities to further simplify actions that slow developers down, allowing them to focus on more important tasks like building great code.