Lemon Seed Marketing, a top branding and marketing agency for the home service industry, has announced Skagit Plumbing of Mount Vernon, Washington, as the winner of its Great American Brand Story (GABS) contest. The agency unveiled Skagit Plumbing’s new brand, message, and website live at Service World Expo 2025.

Launched earlier this year, GABS recognizes standout home service companies that embody strong values, local commitment, and growth-driven leadership. Each year, one company receives a complete brand transformation designed to enhance visibility, credibility, and market impact.

Celebrating Community and Craftsmanship

Skagit Plumbing earned the award for its exceptional customer service, deep roots in Skagit County, and dedication to integrity and excellence. The company’s story stood out as a model for what a modern family-owned business can achieve when purpose meets professionalism.

“This brand refresh reintroduces Skagit Plumbing to the community it has proudly served for over 11 years,” said Crystal Williams, co-owner and lead strategist at Lemon Seed Marketing. “Mark Sommers and his team represent everything the GABS initiative stands for—authenticity, service, and community pride.”

A New Look Rooted in Local Pride

The revamped brand centers around a new logo inspired by Skagit County’s heritage and a tagline that captures its spirit: “Staked in Community. Built on Trust.” This identity underscores the company’s long-standing values and its promise of dependable service.

To extend that mission, Skagit Plumbing launched Skagit Cares, a quarterly giveback program supporting local nonprofits chosen by public vote—further proving its commitment to the community it serves.

A Life-Changing Opportunity for Growth

“We’ve always believed that great service begins with great people and love for the community,” said Mark Sommers, owner of Skagit Plumbing. “Working with Lemon Seed and the GABS partners has been life-changing. This experience gave us a clear identity, powerful tools, and the confidence to grow. Our new brand truly reflects who we are and what we stand for.”

$150K Brand Overhaul Powered by Industry Collaboration

Lemon Seed Marketing assembled a team of 10 professional service partners to deliver a comprehensive brand transformation valued at more than $150,000. The package included:

• Brand strategy and design by Lemon Seed Marketing

• Membership and coaching from Service Nation

• A new website developed by Online Access

• A five-week PR campaign led by Ripley PR

• Additional promotional support from industry vendors

“We couldn’t have done it without our partners,” said Emily Fleniken, creative director and partner at Lemon Seed. “Their combined expertise helped us create something meaningful and lasting for Skagit Plumbing. Together, we delivered a transformation that empowers them to thrive in a competitive market.”

Elevating Home Service Branding

The Great American Brand Story initiative reflects a broader shift within the home service industry—one that values authentic storytelling, community engagement, and purpose-driven growth as much as technical skill.

By turning everyday service providers into memorable local brands, Lemon Seed Marketing is setting a new standard for what modern trade businesses can achieve with the right story—and the right partners—behind them.

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DeltaStream, Inc., the company redefining stream processing, has announced the general availability of DeltaStream Fusion, its unified data streaming platform that merges streaming, real-time, and batch analytics into one serverless environment.

After an early-access phase validated by customer deployments, Fusion is now production-ready—and available on Microsoft Azure. The expansion gives enterprises greater flexibility to deploy analytics wherever their data resides, from the cloud to hybrid environments.

The platform’s newest iteration includes AI-driven pipeline creation, multi-engine orchestration, and enhanced support for GenAI applications and agents that depend on real-time data context.

Fixing the Fragmented Data Stack

Most organizations still rely on a patchwork of analytics systems—streaming for immediacy, batch for history, and real-time for operational dashboards. That fragmentation leads to fragile pipelines, higher costs, and stale data. Engineers spend more time tuning infrastructure than accelerating insights.

DeltaStream Fusion eliminates that complexity. The platform’s unified architecture allows users to handle all analytics workloads in one place—without provisioning servers or juggling multiple tools.

“Enterprises across verticals are struggling to stream data, but complexity and cost are holding them back from getting actionable, real-time insights,” said Hojjat Jafarpour, founder and CEO of DeltaStream. “Fusion eliminates tool sprawl, reduces operating costs, and enables every team to go from raw data to action in seconds.”

One SQL to Rule Them All

DeltaStream’s core innovation lies in simplicity. Teams can write queries once in SQL, while Fusion automatically chooses the optimal engine for execution across Apache Flink, Spark, or ClickHouse. This not only improves agility but also reduces dependency on specialized engineering expertise.

Additional highlights include:

• AI-assisted pipeline creation that converts raw data into insights within minutes.

• Serverless scaling, eliminating infrastructure management entirely.

• Cost optimization through efficient data movement and computation, helping reduce Snowflake and Databricks spend.

• Built-in observability and governance for enterprise-grade reliability.

Real-Time Data for the Age of AI

As enterprises race to make data usable for AI, BI, and business operations, DeltaStream Fusion aims to give them a competitive edge. The platform enables streaming-native intelligence that powers real-time personalization, dynamic decisioning, and autonomous systems.

“The next generation of data systems won’t be defined by how much data they store, but by how intelligently they turn it into insight,” said Yaroslav Tkachenko, founder of Irontools and a leading advocate for data streaming. “Platforms like Fusion represent the future—where real-time, batch, and analytics converge into one fluid experience.”

A Unified Vision for Data-Driven Enterprises

DeltaStream Fusion’s arrival on Azure marks a milestone for the company and for enterprises seeking to simplify modern data stacks. By collapsing data silos and automating performance optimization, DeltaStream promises a faster path to value—without the heavy lift of traditional infrastructure.

As real-time intelligence becomes a cornerstone of GenAI and modern analytics, DeltaStream’s unified platform is positioned to lead the charge toward a future where insight is instant, contextual, and effortless.

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In a move underscoring China’s growing influence in intelligent vehicle technology, smart has launched its first plug-in hybrid, the smart #5 EHD, powered by DeepRoute.ai’s assisted driving system. The partnership marks a major milestone in the collaboration between global automakers and Chinese AI innovators, combining luxury engineering with advanced autonomous technology.

During a joint test drive, DeepRoute.ai CEO Maxwell Zhou and smart Global CTO Yang Jun covered 30.9 kilometers of complex urban terrain—without a single driver takeover. The route included unprotected left turns, construction zones, dense traffic, and unmarked lanes, providing a rigorous test of the technology’s adaptability.

Map-Free Driving That Feels Human

DeepRoute.ai’s system impressed with its ability to recognize pedestrians, cyclists, and emergency vehicles while maintaining smooth, confident control. Its human-like decision-making demonstrated not only the precision of its algorithms but also its readiness for large-scale production.

“We believe the future of autonomous driving must prioritize safety and intuitive, human-like behavior—qualities we see in DeepRoute.ai’s technology,” said Yang Jun, Global CTO of smart. “When others questioned map-free technology, we chose to lead. This test proved that safety is the greatest luxury.”

Engineering for Scale and Reliability

DeepRoute.ai brings more than just technical sophistication—it brings proof of scale. “We’ve already delivered around 150,000 production vehicles globally, validating our engineering and manufacturing maturity,” said Maxwell Zhou, CEO of DeepRoute.ai. “Smart’s trust in our map-free technology reflects a shared vision of intelligent, accessible autonomy.”

The smart #5 EHD extends DeepRoute.ai’s proven technology from fully electric vehicles to plug-in hybrid platforms, advancing the goal of mainstream autonomous driving. The system addresses key industry pain points, including urban navigation complexity, data integration, and system scalability—areas where many traditional OEMs still struggle.

A Glimpse at the Next Phase of Intelligent Mobility

Looking forward, DeepRoute.ai is developing an integrated agent-based architecture that blends in-cabin AI models with intelligent driving systems. This convergence aims to create vehicles that can understand context, interact naturally with drivers, and anticipate needs—ushering in a new era of AI-driven mobility experiences.

Redefining the Assisted Driving Standard

The partnership between smart and DeepRoute.ai demonstrates how luxury and technology can coexist without compromise. It’s not just about automation—it’s about building trust through intelligence, safety, and seamless interaction.

By merging smart’s design DNA with DeepRoute.ai’s production-ready platform, the smart #5 EHD stands as a tangible example of what’s next for the automotive industry: intuitive, scalable, and human-centered assisted driving built for the connected age.

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OPAQUE, the leader in Confidential AI, has launched OPAQUE Studio, a new LangGraph-based environment for building and deploying secure, verifiable AI agents. Now available on the OPAQUE Confidential AI Platform, Studio enables organizations to accelerate development with runtime-verifiable trust—a feature that provides privacy and compliance assurance before, during, and after execution.

The launch positions OPAQUE as the first company to deliver end-to-end privacy and policy compliance guarantees for enterprise-grade AI agents, setting a new standard for secure, production-ready AI deployment.

From Early Concept to Enterprise Mandate

Confidential AI has evolved from a niche concept to a boardroom priority within a year, gaining support from NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Anthropic, and cloud providers including Google, Microsoft Azure, and AWS.

According to Gartner, confidential AI is becoming a foundational requirement for industries like finance, healthcare, and insurance. Enterprises unable to prove compliance in AI workflows, the report warns, could fall two years behind in adoption.

OPAQUE aims to close that gap. “A company’s most valuable asset is its proprietary data,” said Aaron Fulkerson, CEO of OPAQUE. “With OPAQUE, enterprises can safely harness their sensitive data to fuel AI—knowing privacy and compliance are verifiable, not just promised.”

Solving the Privacy Problem in AI

Traditional security tools—like Identity and Access Management—aren’t built for AI agents executing probabilistic code. They fail to prevent data exposure during runtime.

OPAQUE’s Confidential AI Platform addresses this by combining secure execution environments with policy-based controls that verify data isolation and compliance in real time. The result: enterprises can finally deploy AI agents trained on sensitive, proprietary data without risking leaks or breaches.

Key components include:

• OPAQUE Studio: A LangGraph-based, drag-and-drop workspace for creating confidential AI agents. Developers can enforce data access policies, integrate enterprise systems, and quickly move from prototype to production.

• OPAQUE Confidential Runtime: A hardware-attested engine that provides cryptographic privacy enforcement, runtime encryption, and post-execution audit logs for compliance verification.

Together, these components deliver:

• 4–5x faster AI deployment with verifiable compliance

• 67% cost reduction in production workloads

• Up to 99% accuracy improvement by safely grounding AI in sensitive data

A Partnership for Scalable, Trustworthy AI

“We built LangGraph to help developers design structured multi-agent systems,” said Harrison Chase, co-founder and CEO of LangChain. “Integrating with OPAQUE adds a layer of privacy and runtime trust—essential for teams working with sensitive data.”

OPAQUE’s customer and partner ecosystem already spans ServiceNow, Accenture, Encore Capital, Bloomfilter, RiskStream, and Anthropic. Early adopters across financial services, insurance, and software are leveraging OPAQUE to transform operations through confidential AI copilots and secure document analysis.

The Future of Confidential, Verifiable AI

OPAQUE’s approach represents the next step in AI evolution—where security, transparency, and scalability converge. By giving enterprises verifiable proof of compliance and privacy, OPAQUE transforms AI from a compliance risk into a competitive advantage.

In a world where data is both the engine and the liability of AI, OPAQUE Studio offers something rare: trust you can prove.

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Ooma, Inc., a leading provider of business and consumer communications services, has announced that its Ooma Office business phone system now integrates with Zapier, a no-code automation platform that connects over 8,000 popular business applications. The new integration empowers small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to automate repetitive tasks, streamline data flow, and eliminate manual updates between Ooma and their favorite business tools.

A Smarter, Seamless Way to Work

With this integration, Ooma Office administrators can easily connect their account within Zapier and tap into key Ooma triggers—such as New Call, SMS, or Call Recording events. Once configured, these triggers can automatically initiate workflows across other platforms. For instance, an incoming call could instantly log details in Google Sheets or send a real-time notification to a Slack channel.

The integration also supports Actions, allowing users to execute Ooma events based on activity in other apps. For example, when a new contact is added in Google Contacts, Zapier can automatically save it as a Personal Contact in Ooma Office. This bi-directional flexibility enables dynamic, time-saving automations that keep systems synchronized without manual input.

Expanding the Ooma Productivity Ecosystem

The Zapier connection builds on Ooma’s growing suite of integrations designed to enhance business communication and workflow efficiency. Ooma Office already connects with leading business tools such as Salesforce, QuickBooks, and Square, offering users a unified hub for managing communications, sales, and operations.

“We’re excited to see what our customers can do with the freedom and power of automated workflows built with Zapier,” said Dennis Peng, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Ooma. “We expect they’ll find new ways to make Ooma Office even more productive.”

Streamlining Communication in a No-Code Era

The integration reflects a broader industry trend toward no-code automation—a movement allowing businesses to connect systems and streamline workflows without developer support. Platforms like Zapier have become indispensable for SMBs seeking to scale operations, reduce administrative overhead, and improve response times in a competitive digital landscape.

By embedding automation directly into its communications platform, Ooma positions itself as more than a VoIP provider—it’s now part of the automation-first movement redefining how modern teams operate.

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Switzerland is rapidly emerging as a leader in the global AI-powered future of work, outpacing much of Europe in adopting automation, hybrid models, and responsible AI frameworks. According to a new report from Information Services Group (ISG), Swiss enterprises are moving beyond experimentation and into large-scale implementation of AI technologies — particularly autonomous agentic systems designed to boost efficiency, agility, and decision-making.

From Experimentation to Execution

“AI adoption in Switzerland has moved beyond experimentation to large-scale implementation,” said Uwe Ladwig, Managing Director at ISG. “The challenge now is to use AI to create new ways of working that enhance both productivity and employee well-being.”

The 2025 ISG Provider Lens® Future of Work Services report for Switzerland highlights how companies are developing transparent, responsible AI frameworks to build trust and ensure sustainable performance. These efforts reflect a broader shift from deploying AI as a tool for automation to embedding it within organizational culture and governance.

Governance, ESG, and the Employee-Centric Workplace

As AI adoption scales, governance has become a top priority in evaluating technology service providers. Enterprises are demanding clear accountability, explainability, and compliance structures before integrating AI into daily operations.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) mandates are also reshaping workplace modernization. Businesses are investing in carbon tracking, circular IT, and sustainability metrics as part of their digital strategies. Equally important, organizations are prioritizing employee-centric design to ensure that AI and digital tools enhance the overall workplace experience.

Redefining Collaboration and Productivity

Collaboration in Swiss enterprises is evolving rapidly as generative AI tools, including Microsoft Copilot, reshape productivity workflows. The report notes a shift from traditional service-level metrics to user experience and engagement indicators, helping companies quantify adoption and satisfaction.

This trend has led organizations to favor vendor-agnostic, interoperable systems that align with Swiss compliance and data protection laws. System integrators delivering flexible, AI-ready collaboration solutions are now in high demand.

Balancing Localized Compliance with Global Platforms

Swiss companies are navigating the balance between localized, regulation-focused support and the scalability of global AI-driven platforms. The digital employee experience (DEX) has emerged as a central theme, supported by telemetry and AI analytics that proactively detect and resolve performance issues.

Many enterprises are adopting Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) models for predictable costs, sustainable lifecycle management, and operational resilience. The reliance on nationwide field services remains crucial for maintaining continuity and meeting sustainability targets.

Mature AI Adoption and Emerging Trends

“Swiss enterprises are approaching AI adoption with notable maturity,” said Roman Pelzel, Principal Analyst at ISG. “They use strong governance to embed reliability and accountability into AI systems, ensuring consistent, transparent outcomes.”

The report also identifies rising interest in AIOps (AI for IT Operations) for intelligent automation and industry-specific workplace solutions designed to address unique vertical needs.

The Leaders of Switzerland’s Future of Work

The ISG analysis evaluated 40 service providers across six quadrants, spotlighting leaders such as Swisscom, TCS, and Wipro, which were recognized across all categories. Other notable leaders include Bechtle, Accenture, Capgemini, Deloitte, DXC Technology, and HCLTech.

Meanwhile, Stefanini, ITRIS One, NTT DATA, and Ricoh were named Rising Stars — firms with high potential and strong growth trajectories. Microland earned the title of ISG CX Star Performer for 2025, achieving the highest customer satisfaction scores among global workplace service providers.

A Model for Responsible, AI-Driven Innovation

Switzerland’s proactive approach to AI regulation, combined with a workforce focused on innovation and trust, has positioned the country as a blueprint for Europe’s digital transformation. As enterprises continue to integrate AI across operations, the Swiss model shows that productivity and responsibility can go hand in hand.

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In a move that strengthens its position at the intersection of technology and public policy, FiscalNote Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: NOTE) has unveiled a major update to its flagship policy intelligence platform, PolicyNote. The company has integrated data from VoterVoice, its trusted grassroots advocacy solution, creating a unified system for tracking influence across both grasstops and grassroots efforts.

A Unified View of Political Influence

For years, VoterVoice has helped more than 2,000 organizations connect with lawmakers, mobilize supporters, and shape policy outcomes. By merging VoterVoice data with PolicyNote’s policy monitoring and stakeholder management tools, FiscalNote is now offering a single, comprehensive dashboard where professionals can view campaign activity, constituent engagement, and policymaker relationships all in one place.

This integration means that users can analyze how community actions—such as calls, tweets, and letters—correlate with direct stakeholder outreach, allowing for more strategic advocacy planning.

Empowering Policy Professionals with Context

“Policy professionals are judged on results across multiple channels,” said Josh Resnik, CEO and President of FiscalNote. “By integrating grassroots campaign activity directly into PolicyNote, we’re providing a more holistic view of their full influence—from stakeholder engagement to community mobilization. It’s a powerful expansion of our PolicyNote platform, helping to drive real outcomes for our customers in a chaotic and complex policy environment.”

The enhancement underscores FiscalNote’s broader mission: to bring AI-driven policy and regulatory intelligence into a more actionable, data-rich ecosystem. With this latest update, advocacy teams can finally visualize how grassroots efforts complement grasstops strategies, streamlining engagement and improving overall policy impact.

New Capabilities Inside PolicyNote

The integration introduces several powerful features designed to enhance visibility and insight:

• Stakeholder Context: Users can view constituent and campaign data from VoterVoice directly within individual stakeholder records.

• District-Level Insights: The platform now provides advocate and contact counts by legislative district, offering regional granularity at a glance.

• Campaign Activity Tracking: Teams can monitor outreach—emails, calls, tweets, and letters—tied to each stakeholder, ensuring no touchpoint goes unnoticed.

Before meeting a legislator, for example, users can instantly see both direct engagements and grassroots activity within that district, providing a 360-degree view of influence.

Connecting the Dots Between Advocacy and Intelligence

This integration signals FiscalNote’s continued commitment to breaking down silos in the policy engagement process. By consolidating campaign and stakeholder data, PolicyNote now gives organizations the tools to measure what truly matters—how their advocacy moves the needle on real-world outcomes.

As the policy landscape grows more complex and data-driven, FiscalNote’s unified approach could become a blueprint for modern advocacy operations, enabling policy teams to act faster, coordinate better, and prove the value of their influence.

The new grassroots data integration is now live for all clients using both PolicyNote and VoterVoice, marking another step forward in FiscalNote’s mission to make policy intelligence more connected, contextual, and impactful.

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The Channel Marketing Association (CMA) has launched ChannelGTM.ai, a purpose-built AI service designed to help vendor-side channel professionals simplify and accelerate go-to-market (GTM) strategy and execution.

Developed in collaboration with Structured and channelWise, the platform combines enterprise-grade AI orchestration with deep channel marketing expertise. Powered by Structured’s AI engine and implemented by channelWise, ChannelGTM.ai delivers actionable, context-rich insights that help channel leaders plan smarter, make faster decisions, and prove ROI with greater confidence.

“CMA is equipping their members to better understand and activate proven channel strategies through an AI solution tailored to their real-world needs,” said Daniel Nissan, Founder and CEO of Structured.

The collaboration brings together three key players:

• CMA curates channel strategy content and drives adoption among members.

• Structured powers the AI infrastructure with security and scalability.

• channelWise oversees implementation to align functionality with field realities.

“Our goal with ChannelGTM.ai is simple: help channel professionals plan smarter, execute faster, and prove ROI with confidence,” said Kathryn Rose, Co-Founder of CMA and CEO of channelWise.

ChannelGTM.ai is tailored for vendor-side channel teams, offering domain-trained intelligence in critical GTM areas — from program design, partner enablement, and campaign planning to ROI measurement and partner performance reporting. Unlike general-purpose AI tools, it draws on CMA’s extensive library of channel-specific insights to provide accurate, real-time guidance.

“After 25 years in channel marketing, I’ve seen the challenges of executing GTM strategies,” said Diane Brode, former Senior Director of Global Partner Marketing at Dell Technologies and CMA Board Member. “ChannelGTM.ai feels like having decades of best practices built into one intuitive experience.”

With ChannelGTM.ai, CMA aims to make the complex discipline of channel GTM more accessible, data-driven, and AI-empowered.

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