Celebrates surpassing $1 B revenue milestone in a first-of-its-kind way

Persistent Systems, a global Digital Engineering and Enterprise Modernization leader, recently achieved three GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles for the Largest bicycle logo/image, Most live viewers of a cycling awareness video lesson on YouTube, and the Largest online video album of people riding bicycles to reinforce its commitment toward environment and employee health.

When Persistent crossed the $1 billion annual revenue milestone in FY23, it decided to send a token of its appreciation to its global employees for their contribution to its continued success. Among the choices given to the employees were an electronic audio device, travel accessories, and bicycles. About 9,000 employees opted for the bicycle, which prompted Persistent to initiate the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title attempts and further encourage the fitness journeys of its employees.

On the records front, the Company created its logo with 704 bicycles, showcasing its dedication to employee wellness and symbolizing it by etching it in its brand identity. 7,348 employees and their families viewed the cycling awareness lesson live on YouTube to help them understand more about cycling best practices and safety. Further, to make cycling a movement and motivate employees to adopt environment-friendly transport, the Company built an online video album of people riding bicycles, with 5,098 individuals contributing to it.                                                                                                              

Sandeep Kalra, CEO and Executive Director, Persistent:

"Well-being of our employees is an essential part of Persistent's culture and has always been our priority. We were proud to see that most of our global team members chose bicycles as a billion-dollar gift, and what's better than creating a world record to celebrate this spirit. Achieving three GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles has encouraged our teams even more to focus on their physical and mental health. I want to express my gratitude to all the employees and their family members who contributed to setting this record and demonstrating their dedication to overall well-being #ThePersistentWay."

PRophet is the first to build and market a full suite of AI-driven tools that now span earned media, influencer marketing and news monitoring offerings.

PRophet also partners with EZ Newswire to bring affordable news distribution to trial and PRO customers.

Stagwell Marketing Cloud's PRophet, the first and only generative and predictive AI SaaS platform built by and for PR professionals, today unveiled two new platform capabilities – AI-driven influencer discovery and campaign management and machine learning-based news monitoring.

PRophet Earn, Influence, and Monitor are three offerings that can work together or as standalone solutions that exponentially increase the value and accessibility of the PRophet platform to communicators and marketers alike. The new offerings under the Earn, Influence and Monitor branding will be on display at Public Relations Society of America's (PRSA) ICON 2023 conference on Oct. 15-17 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn., and will be fully available to users by the end of the year.

"These new tools will help agencies and brands now leverage our proprietary AI for influencer discovery and management and advanced news monitoring and analysis," says Aaron Kwittken, founder and CEO of PRophet, and CEO of Stagwell Marketing Cloud, Comms Tech Unit. "PRophet is the only marketing solution that combines this holistic but agile, customer-centric approach in an intuitive, measurable and affordable user experience."

PRophet Influence

PRophet Influence is a critical tool for brands looking to leverage the $21 billion influencer marketing industry more effectively. PRophet Influence combines generative AI, data analytics, and monitoring technology to create personalized influencer marketing programs by identifying, contracting, and collaborating with macro and micro influencers, finally empowering brands to increase awareness in a world where traditional media has been upended. PRophet Influence is powered by Koalifyed, an influencer discovery and campaign management platform currently being used by some of the world's largest CPG brands that merged into Stagwell Marketing Cloud's Comms Tech unit earlier this year.

PRophet Monitor

PRophet Monitor, powered by partner PeakMetrics, the leading machine-learning powered media monitoring and narrative analytics platform, introduces the ability to create personalized alerts across a diversity of media channels from within the PRophet platform. Alerts can be customized based on refined search criteria including a combination of keywords, organizations, and people, and users can then choose to receive regular email notifications to ensure they never miss a mention.

PRophet Earn

PRophet Earn builds on the existing PRophet platform, which uses a combination of AI, language processing and machine learning to generate, analyze and test new content -- from pitches to social posts, blogs and biographies -- to predict earned media interest, reach and sentiment. Users have access to the full suite of existing media relations tools including Taylor, the industry's first generative AI writing tool, the multi-pitch tool which can generate 25 personalized pitches in under three minutes, and biography and blog generators.

PRophet at PRSA ICON

PRophet will take center stage to unveil the new platform as the Titanium sponsor at the conference. Attendees will be able to connect with the executive team directly and receive first-hand demos of the new features and functionality.

• STL launches Estelan, its end-to-end passive enterprise networking solution portfolio, at GITEX 2023

STL, a leading optical and digital solutions company today, announced the expansion of its Enterprise Networking solutions portfolio with the launch of Estelan. Estelan, an end-to-end solution in fibre and copper cable connectivity, enables enterprises to modernise and digitise their large-scale network infrastructure.

Global enterprises will spend $3.4 trillion by 2026 in cloud services, cybersecurity, AI applications, robotics process automation, and Industry 4.0 to create new value sources through digital products and experiences. These digital transformation use cases require an overhaul of enterprise connectivity infrastructure to integrate power and data.

Estelan is an end-to-end enterprise connectivity solution that combines in-office and optical connectivity infrastructure. Its plug-and-play modular system is designed for easy installation and system upgrades and can handle multiple network ports. 

These solutions follow the highest health and safety standards and are certified by leading industry bodies like RoHS, ETL, UL, and CPR. STL's Estelan solution is tailored to suit the needs of multiple industries and offers high flexibility and scalability for their operational environment requirements, be it healthcare, education, retail, banking, oil and gas, and others. With Estelan, enterprises can achieve superior data transmission, upwards of 1000MHz bandwidth and 10Gbps speeds. These solutions have also been designed and developed with sustainable manufacturing practices, high optimisation, and minimal wastage.

This comprehensive solution enables use cases like multi-service premise connectivity, enterprise networking, Wi-Fi, surveillance, Intelligent building management and Power over Ethernet for up to 90W applications. The company has announced that it will go to market with this solution in its target regions of MEA and India.

Launching Estelan, Gavin Faulds, Regional Sales Head, APAC, and MEA, STL, said: "Enterprises are becoming more connected, intelligent, and agile by leveraging various digital technologies. Through Estelan, we offer customised end-to-end enterprise connectivity solutions that are optimised for their specific business needs. From conceptualisation to installation, we want our customers' experience to be seamless. Estelan will help them gain a competitive edge by making connectivity infrastructure competent enough for disruptive technologies and drive business transformation."

The landmark report directed by Wharton Professor Stefano Puntoni takes a closer look at generative AI adoption, perception and investment across industries, as well as emerging applications and barriers

Key Findings At-A-Glance:

• Generative AI investments are expected to surge 25% in the coming year across functional areas.

• 58% of enterprise leaders actively use generative AI – with 37% using it multiple times a week.

• 3 in 4 enterprise leaders are positive about generative AI's future, but reservations persist around accuracy, bias, privacy, cost, and integration challenges.

• Leaders hold mixed views about how generative AI will impact human talent. While 55% agree that it will enhance work quality, 36% expect it to replace employee skills for some tasks.

A new study by GBK Collective, a leading marketing strategy, insights and analytics consultancy, shows that generative AI adoption has reached a tipping point within enterprises. Not only do the majority of enterprise leaders now use generative AI – they are also planning a substantial increase in generative AI investments in the next 12 months.

Conducted with 672 senior leaders from U.S. enterprises, each with annual sales surpassing $50 million, the survey also offers some eye-opening insights on the adoption of generative AI by functional area, emerging applications and use cases by industry, as well as adoption drivers and barriers.

The comprehensive report was directed by AI expert Dr. Stefano Puntoni, Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School and Faculty Co-Director of AI at Wharton, and Jeremy Korst, former technology executive at Microsoft and T-Mobile and now President of GBK. Dan Ives, Managing Director of Equities Research at Wedbush Securities, also collaborated on the report.

“The results of our study show that we’ve passed a critical tipping point with Generative AI,” said Prof. Puntoni. “This isn’t another metaverse. Enterprise decision makers across industries are adopting Generative AI in droves and the wave is only going to grow, with spending set to surge by more than 25% in the next 12 months.”

Summary of Insights:

Generative AI Usage Intensity by Industry and Company Size:

According to GBK’s study, the majority of enterprise leaders today have embraced generative AI, with 37% actively using it weekly and another 21% less frequently. Additionally, 8 out of 10 leaders (81%) confirm having an internal team of 10 or more focused exclusively on generative AI strategy.

Interestingly, small enterprises (revenues between $50M-$200M) lead the pack in frequent generative AI usage (57% at least once per week), while the most untapped potential exists among firms exceeding $2B in revenue—most notably in Retail and Manufacturing.

By industry, Technology dominates with 60% of leaders frequently utilizing generative AI, followed by Industrial/Construction and Finance at 43% and 39%, respectively. Conversely, just 26% of leaders in Retail and 36% in Professional Services and Manufacturing engage with generative AI routinely.

“Our study not only shows rapid adoption of generative AI, but varying levels of maturity,” said Korst. “Some organizations are still in the exploratory phase, while others have seamlessly incorporated Gen AI into their daily workflow. We also see significant differences in usage, overall knowledge, and skills related to generative AI by industry and department.”

Triggers and Barriers to Generative AI Adoption

Three in four enterprise leaders have a generally positive outlook on generative AI, yet caution persists among all respondents, but particularly among those who use the technology less frequently.

The primary motivators for adopting generative AI include boosting employee efficiency, optimizing business operations, enhancing employee creativity, development of new products and services, and reaching new audiences or markets.

Conversely, concerns around inaccurate results, customer privacy, internal pushback, ethical issues and cost are the top barriers to adoption. Companies with $50M-$200M in revenue worry most about data confidentiality, with accuracy being the top concern cited by firms with revenue of $2B+ annually.

“While optimism about generative AI is prevalent, concerns around accuracy, bias, and AI's role in decision-making remain,” shared Prof. Puntoni. “Additionally, there's an underlying psychological concern by leaders around job replacement, especially among those who have yet to use the technology. As generative AI becomes increasingly ingrained across teams, striking the right balance with AI governance and employee education will be pivotal.”

Will Gen AI Replace or Augment Human Talent?

For the moment, the study shows that generative AI is seen as more beneficial to employees than detrimental. Senior leaders currently using the technology are more likely to state that generative AI will enhance employee skills versus replace them (48% vs. 36% strongly agree).

Moreover, most enterprise leaders don’t believe the technology can completely substitute human talent. It can, however, improve work quality (55% strongly agree that AI will enable higher quality with the same employees vs. 43% who strongly agree but with fewer employees).

“Generative AI, while revolutionary, is not immune to errors,” said Korst. “It's crucial for leaders to have strong quality control mechanisms in place to monitor and validate AI-generated output from data analysis to content. This not only ensures accuracy but helps to mitigate risks and maintain the integrity of the brand.”

Investments in Gen AI Poised to Surge

Despite the risks and challenges, investment in generative AI is on track for significant growth with companies across industries planning to increase investments by 25% in the next 12 months led by firms with revenues exceeding $2B (which plan a 28% uptick in spend). Industries currently lagging in generative AI adoption, such as Retail and Professional Services, anticipate the most significant investment increases, with projected growth rates of 27% and 28%, respectively.

Emerging Applications and Use Cases

“Use cases for generative AI continue to explode with enterprises across industries now viewing AI as a major strategic initiative in the coming years,” commented Dan Ives, Managing Director at Wedbush Securities and a collaborator on the report. “We continue to view AI as the most transformational tech trend since the birth of the Internet in 1995.”

When asked what use cases and applications would be most prominent for generative AI, enterprise leaders overwhelmingly point to a future where these AI models become indispensable co-pilots in the workplace. In the next 3-5 years, decision-makers across the board agree that generative AI will be broadly used for generating data analysis (89%), marketing content and creation (text, images, video) (87%), as well as researching customer & competitive insights (84%).

Other top applications include document editing and summarization (84%), customer support or internal help desk functions (82%), and automated email generation (82%). The least popular uses for generative AI are expected to be legal contracts (57%), recruitment (67%) and supply chain management (71%).

“The results of our survey show a dynamic future for generative AI, with investment and applications expanding rapidly,” notes Prof. Puntoni. “And yet not all approaches are created equal. While AI can analyze mountains of data in seconds, human oversight and asking the right questions is vital to ensure accurate and responsible use of AI-generated outputs.”

In some cases, generative AI investments will be prioritized differently depending on the size of the firm. Smaller firms ($50M-$200M) are heavily investing in generative AI for sales content (91%), while mid-sized companies ($250M-$2B) focus more on email generation and internal support (86%). This reflects not just varied priorities, but also the unique strategic challenges faced by companies of different sizes.

Writesonic, a Y-Combinator-backed Generative AI platform, today unveils Botsonic, a revolutionary AI chatbot set to reshape the landscape of customer communications. Enriched with cutting-edge generative AI and large language models – including OpenAI's GPT-4 – Botsonic offers an unprecedented level of autonomous decision-making and personalized user experiences that will revolutionize the way businesses and organizations use chatbots across retail, travel, real estate, education and many other industries.

"We're thrilled to introduce Botsonic, a milestone for Writesonic and a new era in AI-powered customer interaction. Botsonic redefines how businesses engage with customers, offering unprecedented autonomy and personalization," said Samanyou Garg, CEO and Co-Founder of Writesonic. "Powered by cutting-edge AI, Botsonic reflects our commitment to efficiency and customer satisfaction. With this launch we will be able to help businesses seamlessly transform customer communications across industries."

A Leap in Chatbot Intelligence and Intelligent Brand-Consistent Interactions
Botsonic marks a significant advancement in chatbot technology, transcending the limitations of traditional rule-based systems. Utilizing generative AI, it delivers intelligent, autonomous interactions in over ten languages, ensuring personalized and contextually accurate experiences for a global user base. For example, when customers encounter issues with online checkout processes, they can immediately interact with Botsonic using detailed questions and specifications to provide a tailored solutions in real-time.

For complex queries that require a human interaction, Botsonic can provide seamless transitions to human agents and facilitate automatic calendar integrations for meetings while ensuring interaction aligns with a company's unique brand voice, guidelines, and communication style.

Enhancing Operational Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction
The tool's ability to create a personalized and seamless experience for users is a true embodiment of Writesonic's commitment to boosting operational efficiency and fostering customer satisfaction. With the capability to reduce support volume by up to 80%, it enables support teams to concentrate on high-value interactions, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

User-Friendly Training and Widespread Adoption
From the start of implementation, training Botsonic is a breeze for users with options to upload files like PDFs, Docs, Excel, and more, as well as the ability to integrate website links and connect to various tools like Salesforce and Google Docs. The bot is designed to learn and adapt swiftly, showcasing its effectiveness across diverse industries. Its rapid adoption by numerous companies is a testament to its versatility and ability to meet varied communication needs. Botsonic is set to offer private hosted models for enterprise customers, further expanding its suite of customizable solutions.

The investment enables expansion of Scope3’s emissions measurement and collaborative sustainability platform to accelerate the decarbonization of the digital media ecosystem

Scope3, the collaborative sustainability platform decarbonizing media and advertising, today announced a $20 million Series B funding round led by GV. The investment will be used to accelerate the development of Scope3’s collaborative sustainability platform (CSP), a first-of-its-kind platform that visualizes the massively interconnected ad ecosystem while powering meaningful carbon reduction. Scope3 will also use the funding to grow its global team of advertising, tech, and sustainability experts and further expand its data and measurement capabilities.

As global brands and advertisers continue to make carbon commitments, prepare for regulatory requirements, and partner with companies like Scope3 to guide them on their sustainability journey, this investment makes it clear — sustainability is here to stay.

“The climate crisis is an urgent and global problem. With all eyes on the world’s largest brands, advertisers, and businesses to solve it, these companies are embracing sustainability as an opportunity that is both good for the planet and good for business. Sustainable advertising is inevitable,” said Brian O’Kelley, Co-Founder and CEO, Scope3. “At Scope3, we’re building a business that will serve as the foundation for the next generation of media and advertising. This investment gives us the resources to put decarbonization tools into the hands of the industry, while attracting the talent needed to build a more sustainable ad ecosystem and deliver on our mission.”

O’Kelley continued: “Every major company is going to have a sustainability platform for media and advertising 24 months from now. I'm grateful for the support of GV and our other investors, as well as the many clients, partners, and industry leaders who have helped us get to this point. GV’s climate tech focus and extensive knowledge of the nuances of advertising technology make them the perfect fit.”

“We look for companies developing technology that can drive real-world innovation and impact, and we’ve been impressed with Brian’s leadership and Scope3’s early momentum,” said Erik Nordlander, General Partner at GV. “The company’s focus on measurement and reduction takes the right approach to decarbonization and we’re confident in their ability to move the entire digital ad ecosystem toward climate progress. We are delighted to support their business expansion.”

Founded in December 2021, Scope3 introduced a comprehensive emissions model that maps and calculates the carbon footprint of the entire digital advertising supply chain. The model enables every company in the ad ecosystem to see carbon emissions and then make data-driven decisions that optimize toward carbon reduction. It also powers the carbon reduction products brands and marketers are using today to reduce their emissions.

Scope3 works with stakeholders across every part of the media supply chain, including verification partners, DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science; dozens of brands and publishers, including Sanofi, MasterCard, Insider, and Microsoft’s MSN; and nearly every global agency holding company, including GroupM and IPG.

Additional investors in this round include Room40 Ventures and Venrock.

Left Field Labs Joins Constellation Network, Brings New Bench of 'Human-Centric' AI Solutions

Stagwell, the challenger network built to transform marketing, has acquired Left Field Labs (Left Field), a digital agency inventing at the intersection of technology and human-centric design. Left Field has spent over 15 years building a comprehensive digital offering and joins Stagwell's Constellation Network to help guide clients in designing and implementing responsibly designed AI systems, digital transformation initiatives, and immersive consumer experiences.

Left Field will amplify the Constellation network's offering with end-to-end services encompassing strategic innovation, user experience design, adept prototyping, and cutting-edge technological engineering. Left Field partners with industry pioneers like Google, Meta, Amazon, Uber, and Cisco.  

"Left Field has spent 15 years crafting experiences that never existed before, with an exemplary track record of steadily innovating with AI and building what's next with partners like Hasbro, Unity, and DataRobot," stated Mark Penn, chairman and CEO, Stagwell. "We're pleased to welcome Left Field as an integral part of our long-term growth strategy, helping us lead AI -based digital transformation in marketing." 

As part of the Constellation network, Left Field will launch an expansive suite of offerings that seamlessly weave together AI, digital transformation, and immersive experiences to help companies foster organizational growth and enterprise-wide change. These offerings will guide clients in harnessing AI capabilities adeptly while maintaining enterprise security; transforming product strategy; and creating solutions that enhance workflow efficiencies.  

Left Field is resolute in its mission to not just anticipate the future of digital experiences, but to actively shape them, heralding an era of transformative synergy and boundless innovation. Notable client engagements include:  

• Responsible AI for Enterprise: For a major technology company, harnessing AI to automate existing internal processes. 
• Experience Design in Automotive: Concepting, prototyping, and rapid consumer testing to reimagine the driver and passenger UX for the Ford Mach-E, resulting in a foundational set of features and interactions for the in-car OS: Sync 4.0.   
• Harnessing 5G in Telecommunications: Serving as Verizon's innovation partner to help define, communicate, and commercialize the telecom's emerging technologies. Through concerted collaborative workshops, experiential design, VR prototypes, and 3D city design and creation, Left Field seeks the most beneficial strategies to harness 5G and telecommunications, fostering advancements that stand to reshape our connected future positively and productively.  

"As part of Stagwell and as an innovation partner for Constellation, we will pioneer an era of transformation that champions responsibility, fosters evolution, and puts humanity at its core. Our commitment is clear — a future that's profoundly human in every digital stride we take," said Sarah Mehler, CEO, Left Field Labs.

"Left Field blends digital, immersive, and emerging technology to solve complex business problems and does not compromise on the human-centric nature of its work," said Justin Lewis, chair, Constellation. "Together we can be co-creators of the positively disruptive products and services that will guide brands over the next decade while continuing to drive the purpose-filled work that defines our network."  

O2 Web agency, expert in the development and growth of integrated e-commerce solutions, is pleased to announce the launch of a new B2B accelerator in partnership with commercetools, thus revolutionizing the deployment of e-commerce solutions. By harnessing the power of this new accelerator, mid-to-large enterprise companies benefit from a new way to expeditiously create and implement a tailor-made and high-performing commerce platform.

Leveraging its expertise and deep industry experience, O2 Web designed this game-changing accelerator to meet the growing needs of B2B companies wanting to deliver exceptional online shopping experiences to their customers, while facing complex and unique challenges to the B2B industry.

Featuring a full suite of pre-built features and seamless integrations with essential third-party services, the O2 Accelerator enables companies to dramatically reduce development and go-live time for their e-commerce platforms. This innovative solution aims to free development teams and entrepreneurs from technical challenges, in order to focus on building strategies for growth and optimizing the customer experience.

"O2's B2B commercetools accelerator embodies innovation by giving businesses remarkable online shopping experiences and exponential growth, while gaining access to a complete and turnkey solution" - Charles Guimont, President of O2 Web.