Partnership To Help Enable Companies to Become 'API First' with Kong's Unified Cloud Native Platform for Developing and Managing Fast, Reliable and Secure Digital Experiences

Kong Inc., a leading developer of cloud API technologies, today announced its expansion into the Japanese market with a new Tokyo subsidiary, established through a joint venture with Japan Cloud, a Tokyo-based consultancy that assists global, high-growth cloud companies to succeed in Japan. The partnership will leverage Japan Cloud's local go-to-market expertise and proven track record, to support the growing adoption of Kong's unified cloud API platform, which enables enterprises to manage and accelerate their journeys towards becoming API-first companies. Japan Cloud has helped launch the Japanese operations of some of the most successful enterprise cloud companies, including Marketo, Concur, Coupa, New Relic, PagerDuty and Braze.

"APIs are essential for Japanese enterprises as they turn to agile software development methodologies to speed up the delivery of best-in-class digital experiences," said Aruna Basnayake, CEO of Japan Cloud. "Kong and Japan Cloud together will further accelerate this shift, empowering Japanese companies to create new business opportunities faster with greater security and control."

"Japan is one of the world's largest enterprise software markets and the third largest global economy. If you factor in the demand we're seeing from companies shifting to an API-first approach, it's very clear that Japan represents an extraordinary opportunity for both firms," said Augusto Marietti, CEO & Co-Founder of Kong Inc. "Moreover, Japan Cloud's extensive understanding of the market, as well as their proven track record with some of the top, global enterprise cloud players, made them the perfect choice to partner with."

Kong's unified cloud API platform aims to enable fast, reliable and secure digital experiences. More than just an API management tool, Kong's technologies foster enhanced developer productivity, offering an integrated solution that combines API management, service mesh and ingress controller capabilities.

Kong works with over 600 customers globally, including worldwide leaders such as GSK plc, Nasdaq, PayPal, and Verifone. And while Kong has previously established a notable customer presence in Japan with significant partnerships such as LY Corporation, which operates Yahoo! Japan, this new joint venture emphasizes the company's commitment to scaling rapidly in the region.

The COVAP cooperative (Comptoir Vendéen des Artisans Plombiers) opts for Infor CloudSuite Distribution Enterprise ERP solution

The aim: To use best practices in the trade via a fully integrated, attractive, and efficient tool for its 181 employees and 530 members.

Infor^®, the industry cloud company, today announced that COVAP, a plumbers' purchasing cooperative based in the Vendée region of France, has opted for Infor CloudSuite Distribution Enterprise, a multi-tenant cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform that includes functionalities specifically designed for the distribution sector — in particular for managing over-the-counter sales, mobility in branches for managing receipts, deliveries and all internal logistics activities via portable terminals and barcode scanning, etc.

Launched in 2022, this strategic project aims to provide COVAP (Comptoir Vendéen des Artisans Plombiers) members with better service and greater responsiveness. At the same time, the aim is to improve the autonomy, productivity, and satisfaction of COVAP's teams on a day-to-day basis and to support its development. As the solution is based on a public cloud, COVAP will benefit from automatic updates (eliminating the need for major migration projects that can be costly, time-consuming, and risky), enabling it to focus on its core business, with processes standardized on best practices in the trading industry.

Founded in 1982, COVAP is a purchasing cooperative created by around 60 plumbing artisans who shared a common need: to have a comprehensive range of products and services to support their development while respecting their free will. With its head office in the Vendée, COVAP now has 530 craftspeople (all shareholders in the cooperative) in nine regions: Vendée, Charente, Charente-Maritime, Corrèze, Deux-Sèvres, Dordogne, Gironde, Haute-Vienne, and Loire-Atlantique. It has six agencies (still known as counters), which call on 500 suppliers, and also has a 14,000-square-meter storage platform, 20 lorries, and an automatic warehouse (TK Miniload). It offers its members and their end customers four showrooms, where they can view products (15,000 items in stock and 150,000 listed in total), take advantage of a demonstration, and get advice on carrying out a renovation or construction project.

Stéphane Droulin, IT manager at COVAP, comments: "We wanted to replace our business management system which was becoming obsolete and hampering our development, by a true ERP trading system. We, therefore, consulted several software vendors on the market, including Infor, which had an excellent knowledge of our business and a reputation in functional terms. The duo of Infor and its partner Authentic (led by Charles Fanton and Olivier Fournaud) was quickly put in place, and, once again, they demonstrated their experience in our business, particularly in their ability to support us in this strategic project to overhaul our processes to bring them into line with market best practices. The functional aspect and the scalability of the solution through regular updates were also part of the decisive factors in our choice."

Infor's solution will replace several interconnected software packages to standardize and simplify systems to provide a single source of truth. It will cover virtually all operations, including reporting and enterprise data management (EDM), and will interface with other third-party solutions, such as the web portal dedicated to members.

Fabrice Caumette, delivery director at Authentic, comments: "Distribution is at the heart of our expertise. We will work closely with COVAP's functional teams to ensure they take ownership of the solution and make this project successful. To do this, we organized several scoping workshops, which gave us a clear picture of their business expectations, particularly regarding warehouse mobility and omnichannel capabilities."

Jérôme Ternois, Infor senior sales director for France, concludes: "We are delighted to count among our customers a company like COVAP, a cooperative founded on principles and values that resonate with us. Deployed in a multi-tenant public cloud environment hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS), our CloudSuite should enable them to accelerate their development while getting their teams involved in a new management dynamic that will benefit everyone, particularly in terms of speed of order processing, traceability, support and efficiency in after-sales service, flexibility of financial transactions and monitoring of supplier performance."

Veritonic, the industry’s comprehensive audio analytics and research platform, has unveiled a series of groundbreaking innovations for their audio attribution solution, introducing unparalleled flexibility and granularity for advertisers and brands. With an intensified focus on investing in cutting-edge big data technology, combined with its conversion event logs and intuitive, robust user interface, Veritonic is addressing the escalating demands of the industry and reshaping the audio attribution landscape.

By increasing its investment in robust data tech stacks, Veritonic facilitates campaigns of all scales, effortlessly expanding measurement capabilities while upholding optimal performance, support, and adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Furthermore, Veritonic's premium conversion event logs provide clients with unparalleled flexibility and granularity, enabling them to comprehend conversion events and associated impressions throughout. Veritonic’s comprehensive conversion event logs enable their clients to model and analyze various attribution methodologies, assess the impact on conversion rates, identify actionable impressions, uncover geotargeting opportunities, evaluate IP distribution, analyze listener overlap among different campaigns, and more.

“As data providers, we take great pride and responsibility in ensuring that our audio measurement methodology is sound, understood, and designed in a way that enables us to continuously adapt to the needs of our clients and the demands of the advertising industry at large,” said Scott Simonelli, CEO of Veritonic. “We remain committed to innovating our audio-first solutions to make measuring and optimizing audio campaigns as streamlined, efficient, and flexible as possible.”

An Interoperable Advertising Clean Room Solution Now Available through the AWS Partner Network

Optable, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) data collaboration platform and clean room solution designed for the advertising industry, announced today that it has joined the software partner path of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN). The APN is a global community of AWS Partners that leverage programs, expertise, and resources to build, market, and sell customer offerings.

Optable empowers publishers with a comprehensive suite of innovative capabilities, including privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) and data clean room solutions, that permit publishers to collaborate with advertisers and other partners without sharing personally identifiable information (PII) and other proprietary data. With Optable, publishers can enhance and better monetize their advertising offerings through data-driven approaches, and advertisers have a flexible way to leverage and compare first-party data in a privacy-safe manner.

"Optable is honored to join the AWS Partner Network," said Vlad Stesin, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder, Optable. "Joining this network is a testament to the rigorous standards Optable meets every day for its clients and partners. Becoming an APN partner reinforces our commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions within the advertising industry."

"From a data standpoint, AWS is a major player in the media and advertising space, and we now have the ability, directly through Optable, to execute on our full suite of insight-led, data-informed strategies with a truly interoperable solution. I think this is a huge step forward in the future of supporting data collaboration across the digital advertising landscape," said Mike Nuzzo, SVP, Head of Data Solutions, Hearst Magazines.

As an APN member, Optable joins a global network of 100,000 partners from more than 150 countries working with AWS to provide innovative solutions, solve technical challenges, win deals, and deliver value to mutual customers.

• IBM launches new European study of 1600+ senior leaders and C-level executives to explore how leadership is changing in the age of AI

• 82% of leaders surveyed have already deployed generative AI or intend to deploy generative AI in the next year, driven primarily by pressure from employees, management, and investors

• 96% are prioritizing governance and ethics as they engage in shaping internal and industry frameworks

• Data security and privacy is seen as the key challenge in terms of leadership accountability

IBM has launched its new report 'Leadership in the Age of AI.' Based on a survey of 1,600+ senior leaders and C-Suite executives across the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Sweden, the report explores how leadership is transforming as the region's businesses embrace generative AI.

The rise of generative AI in 2023 has been nothing short of remarkable. As the technology went mainstream in the consumer market, progressive senior leaders were quick to respond, seeking to secure their place in the emerging transformation.

It's a safe bet that 2024 will be the year businesses follow en masse, and pressure to make the right calls and lead appropriately is being felt across the C-suite. The report found that 96% of respondents who have or plan to deploy generative AI are actively engaged in shaping new ethical and governance frameworks.

As executives across Europe seek to untap the potential of AI while navigating growing security threats and an evolving regulatory and ethics landscape, the report explores what leadership in the age of AI truly entails.

Ana Paula Assis, Chair and General Manager EMEA, IBM commented:

"AI is the definitive gamechanger. A powerful catalyst with the potential to drive transformative global progress. And its rapid ascent is giving Europe, home to 7 of the world's 10 most innovative countries, the chance to play a leading role. But this doesn't make business leaders blind to the challenges. Concerns around governance, ethics and security are top of mind as executives strive to adopt AI safely and responsibly. It's a responsibility which touches every fibre of a business – from its data to its people, to society at large. And success requires the kind of organizational shift few are prepared for."

"While no organization wants to be left behind, in the eyes of their customers, investors, employees, and peers there is a license required to operate this exciting new technology. And that license is trust. This moment calls for trusted leadership, instilling good governance into every action taken. All successful AI strategies will be dependent on effective, responsible AI governance – and getting this right will ensure companies are prepared and ready to reap the benefits of the AI revolution."

Key findings include:

Responding to mounting pressure

• Business leaders surveyed say that the three greatest sources of pressure to embrace generative AI are coming not only from competitors or consumers, but from employees, board members and investors.
• This stems primarily from a desire to modernize and improve operational efficiency (45%), using AI to automate routine processes and free up employees to take on higher value work while helping foster innovation. This is followed by the technology's potential to enhance the customer experience (43%) and boost sales results (38%).
• Answering the AI boardroom agenda in particular, respondents were virtually unanimous (95%)[1] on the potential of generative AI to power better leadership decisions.

Taking the lead on transparency and ethics

• When it came to the challenges of deploying generative AI, respondents identified the importance of employing it within an ethical and inclusive framework as the main challenge, followed by the pressure to hire specialist talent and cost implications.
• And, while regulators across Europe work to rapidly develop AI policy frameworks, business leaders themselves are being required to take ownership and responsibility on key issues, citing concerns over security implications (including privacy and surveillance) as the most fundamental to responsible AI.

Maintaining focus on continuous skills development

• Across the board, improving AI skills proved to be a key priority, with 95% of leaders surveyed saying they were taking steps to ensure they have the right AI skills in their organizations. Here, respondents rank upskilling their existing workforce just ahead of recruiting new specialists and outsourcing to technology providers.
• On a personal level, leaders are actively engaged in growing their own knowledge of generative AI technology (44%), the regulatory and compliance landscape (41%) and the ethical implications (41%).
• Beyond doing their homework, they are also assuming proactive, personal accountability for helping establish the guardrails: 74% of leaders are planning to join active discussions with peers or collaborate actively with policymakers on AI regulation.
• Despite these promising conversations, however, we still have a way to go. Even though 91% of respondents claim to have a good understanding of the regulatory context, a far smaller proportion (54%) felt clear about what it means for their business.

"European policymakers need active, long-term engagement from business leaders to deliver a regulatory framework that's effective and fit for purpose," commented Bola Rotibi, Chief of Enterprise Research, CCS Insight. She added that, "Improving skills by investing in accessible AI and gen AI training and education programs and seeking experienced support will ensure that both technologies will be used effectively across the organization."

Watsonx is IBM's pioneering AI and data platform based on three components: a studio to build and train foundation models, a data store designed specifically for the needs of AI, and a governance toolkit to ensure safe use. The platform takes a holistic approach, embedding ethical principles and governance at every level to enable companies to deploy trusted, responsible, and accountable AI.

IBM recommends four key principles for an AI strategy:

1. Prioritize value creation: Any enterprise that wants to get the most out of AI should be participating in the full value creation opportunity of foundation models rather than outsourcing their capacity, strategy, and data to third parties.  
2. Bet on community: Wherever AI goes in the future, one closed model will not rule them all. By integrating a mix of the best open-source, private, and proprietary models, businesses can make the most of the open community behind the revolution.  
3. Ensure your AI can run everywhere, efficiently: By building with open, hybrid cloud technologies, businesses can optimize for cost, performance, and latency. The future of these technologies depends on agile, cost, and energy-efficient options, and the enterprises that succeed will be those that set themselves up to thrive in any environment.  
4. Be accountable: Good AI is governed AI, and for those who hope to lead the charge, instilling this principle into everything that they do will go a long way toward cementing their position at the front of the pack.

By giving agents the tools to understand their customers better, Thesis delivers more personalized experiences and sees gains in customer satisfaction and survey response rates

Medallia, Inc., the global leader in customer and employee experience, today announced Thesis, one of the pioneers of cognitive enhancers, has seen an immediate impact after deploying Medallia. In just the first 30 days with Medallia, Thesis’ survey response rate has increased from 4.4% to 13.3% and its customer satisfaction from 90% to 93.2%.

Thesis Nootropics are nutrient compounds to enhance mental performance, and the company makes personalized recommendations based on each customer’s goals and unique brain chemistry. The company selected Medallia Agent Connect to help its contact center agents better understand customers and deliver more individualized service. The solution also enables Thesis to give “virtual high-fives” and rewards to agents in real time based on positive feedback. These efforts play a large part in how Thesis has increased engagement and put agents in the driver’s seat with real-time transparency.

“One of our core values at Thesis is to find your formula, which for us means to create an environment for success for both our employees and customers,” said Ben Segal, Vice President of Customer Experience at Thesis. “Medallia has empowered our agents to not only understand when customers are satisfied, but also be rewarded based on the feedback they receive. We can financially reward our amazing agents for the high level of service they provide our customers, and the impact on morale has been unmatched. By engaging our agents and improving their experience, we have seen improvements in customer satisfaction. Medallia’s platform and a seamless implementation that took just days enabled us to see these rapid results.”

As part of Medallia's native capabilities, Thesis has been able to include personalized avatars crafted by an artist for each agent when sending requests for feedback. This not only drives agent engagement, but the personal touch with customers helps increase survey response rates.

“Personalizing every experience is at the core of what we do at Medallia, so to see how Thesis has already taken this to the next level has been incredible,” said Simon Gough, VP of Product, Customer Experience, at Medallia. “Providing employees real-time insights and impactful rewards has helped drive not only agent engagement, but also significant gains in customer satisfaction — showing the value of a connected customer and employee experience. We are excited to see Thesis’ continued innovation as the program expands.”

Medallia Contact Center Suite enables organizations to make every step of the service experience personal, whether it’s providing the option for a callback or ensuring customers are routed to the right agent for the support they need, utilizing conversation analytics to understand when and where self-service is failing customers in their journey, or driving improved coaching and performance management for agents.

Dana Barrett joins the Tremendous leadership team amid record growth as the company doubles sales and expands customer base by 59% since January

Tremendous, the simplest way for businesses to send rewards and payouts, today announced the appointment of Dana Barrett as Vice President of Marketing to guide strategy for untapped markets. Barrett brings more than a decade of experience in Big Tech, having previously served as Head of Global Inbound Growth Marketing and Head of Global Product Marketing at Asana, Chief of Staff for the President of Global SMB Sales at Google, and Global Product Marketing Lead for Video and Publishers at Facebook. At Tremendous, Barrett will lead the marketing team and further accelerate customer growth across multiple verticals.

“I’m thrilled to join Tremendous, a truly unique company with an incredible culture and hands-down the most engaged and authentic employees I’ve ever encountered,” said Barrett. “Unlike many tech companies right now, Tremendous is upholding its commitment to being remote-first and conducting fewer meetings. Their impressive traction is a testament to how effective this kind of culture can be for both employees and customers, and I’m eager to contribute to their continued success by leading Tremendous’ marketing efforts.”

Barrett joins Tremendous during a period of momentous growth. To date, more than 10,000 organizations – including Amazon, Google, United Way and MIT – use Tremendous to show appreciation and compensate research participants, sales prospects, employees and existing customers. Since January, the company has achieved:

• 59% customer growth and 98% sales growth
• The highest ranking in G2’s Rewards and Incentives category, as well as a leadership position in Europe and the US and on the Momentum Grid Report
• An employee net promoter score (eNPS) of more than 80
• 60% employee growth over the last 12 months

“We pride ourselves on being a fully bootstrapped and profitable startup that cares deeply about its employees, so it’s an honor to see Dana value these characteristics so highly by joining our growing team,” said Nick Baum, co-founder and CEO of Tremendous. “With extensive experience in the world of Big Tech and corporate leadership, Dana brings important perspective and hard-won learnings to Tremendous that will significantly contribute to our next phase of growth.”

In addition to its Vice President of Marketing appointment, Tremendous recently promoted Angie Peng to Vice President of Strategy and Sales

Clickatell AI to transform customer support and engagement in mobile messaging

Clickatell​, a pioneer in mobile messaging and Chat Commerce innovation, today announced the launch of Clickatell AI, an innovative addition to its Chat Commerce Platform. This conversational AI solution uses artificial intelligence and messaging to create personalized conversations, improving customer engagement and building stronger relationships.

Clickatell AI utilizes natural language processing (NLP) to grasp the purpose of customer inquiries, along with generative AI to provide meaningful and valuable conversational interactions that enhance over time. Integrated within the Chat Commerce Platform, individuals can engage in live chats with Clickatell AI, while businesses can equip their agents with AI-generated responses through a user-friendly agent desk interface.

Clickatell’s conversational AI solution empowers businesses across diverse sectors, including Retail, Travel, Airlines, Hospitality, Telecommunications, Financial Services, Automotive, and Education to leverage AI to automate conversational brand experiences on mobile messaging channels. Clickatell AI delivers significant benefits:

Brand Benefits:

• Scale Customer Experience – Clickatell AI learns in real-time, naturally improving the quality of the customer engagement while reducing the time and effort required for manual bot programming.
• Reduce Business Costs – Clickatell AI eliminates expensive developer hours traditionally required for manual bot programming, translating directly into cost savings.
• Increase Conversions and Revenue – Serve more customers at scale with personalized, automated responses.
• Improve Insights and Analytics – Clickatell AI enables businesses to anticipate customer needs and predict issues, offer personalized support and improve CSAT / NPS scores.

Consumer Benefits:

• Deliver Results – Consumers can receive accurate, rapid, personalized responses faster and with less human error.
• Improve the Shopping Experience – By harnessing AI in ecommerce, businesses enhance the shopping experience for consumers, offering personalized product recommendations, and streamlined processes, ultimately leading to more convenience and satisfaction.

Customer Service Benefits:

• Customer Satisfaction – Provide Fast 24 x 7 Self-Service Customer Service.
• Conversation ROI – Empowers the customer service agents with suggested responses to customer queries, improving accuracy and speed to resolution.
• Agent Productivity – Boost Agent Productivity, Training and Onboarding.

With time, and the revolutionary self-learning mechanism, Clickatell AI will have the ability to anticipate customer needs and predict issues, and businesses will see significant uplifts in CSAT and NPS scores through personalized support based on actionable insights.

"Our vision is to revolutionize service delivery and customer experience in the realm of mobile messaging," said Jeppe Dorff, Clickatell's Chief Product and Technology Officer. "Clickatell AI leverages a diverse array of AI technologies to understand customer intent and deliver automated yet conversational responses, all while considering context. Additionally, Clickatell AI equips support agents with real-time, context-aware suggested responses for more efficient customer interactions."

The value proposition of Clickatell AI extends beyond just streamlining operational efficiency and reducing resolution time. It also places a strong emphasis on enhancing customer satisfaction through personalized, natural, and flexible interactions, ensuring that customers receive the right information in a conversational manner, promptly and at scale. Businesses can now adeptly manage customer inquiries and frequently asked questions intelligently and efficiently, while also having the ability to scale their customer service without compromising on quality or efficiency.