Brick Marketing, the Boston-based B2B digital marketing agency with nearly two decades under its belt, just went all-in on artificial intelligence. The agency unveiled three new services—AI Marketing Solutions, AI SEO (GEO) Search Optimization, and AI Agents for Marketing—each aimed at helping businesses not only keep pace with AI-driven competitors but sharpen their own digital edge.

This is more than a feature refresh; it’s Brick Marketing staking a claim on where B2B marketing is headed. In an industry where generative AI hype often outpaces actual utility, the firm is pitching tangible use cases that promise measurable results.

AI Marketing Solutions: Smarter Decisions, Faster

The new AI Marketing Solutions offering weaves predictive analytics, content optimization, and workflow automation into daily marketing ops. The pitch is simple: use AI to analyze mountains of customer and campaign data faster than humans ever could, then layer in human strategic oversight to keep decisions aligned with business goals. The result? Better targeting, quicker pivots, and the kind of efficiency CFOs actually notice.

AI SEO (GEO): Search With Intent

SEO may be a decades-old discipline, but Brick Marketing’s AI SEO (GEO) takes a fresh stab at it. Instead of broad keyword guesswork, the platform applies AI to predict how buyers search differently depending on geography, industry, and where they are in the funnel. The promise here is sharper visibility for mid-market B2B firms looking to climb rankings both locally and globally. Competitors like Conductor and BrightEdge have already layered AI into search, but Brick Marketing’s GEO twist could appeal to firms that want intent-driven insights without enterprise-level bloat.

AI Agents: Digital Assistants for the Marketing Team

If chatbots and scheduling tools feel like old news, AI Agents for Marketing aim to go a step further. Think digital assistants that don’t just automate repetitive tasks but also analyze performance data and even handle customer interactions. By offloading tasks like campaign scheduling or lead segmentation, marketing teams can spend less time babysitting dashboards and more time on strategy and creative.

The Bigger Picture

Brick Marketing’s president, Nick Stamoulis, framed the move as a logical extension of the agency’s “fractional CMO” model, combining strategy with execution. And it’s timely: B2B marketers are under pressure to prove ROI while adapting to faster cycles of change. AI adoption isn’t optional anymore—it’s the competitive baseline.

For Brick Marketing, the bet is clear: mid-sized B2B firms may not have the budgets for in-house AI teams, but they still need AI-driven outcomes. These services aim to bridge that gap, positioning the agency somewhere between a traditional digital shop and a future-ready consultancy.

Whether the market buys in depends on execution, of course. But in a sea of vague AI promises, Brick Marketing’s three-pronged approach—practical, measurable, and integrated into existing strategies—just might stand out.

Procedureflow, the knowledge management software company known for transforming dense documentation into visual process guides, has a new marketing leader. The company has appointed Sarah Jeanneault as Vice President of Marketing, betting on her two decades of experience scaling startups and enterprises to fuel its next growth phase.

A Growth-Focused Veteran

Jeanneault’s résumé checks nearly every box on the growth-leadership playbook: brand strategy, product development, sales enablement, customer experience, and even two fintech exits. Her career has been defined by building ecosystems that not only drive revenue but also deepen engagement and customer loyalty—a profile that fits neatly with Procedureflow’s mission to bring clarity and trust to knowledge management.

“I believe trusted knowledge is the foundation for providing exceptional customer support,” Jeanneault said. “I’m excited to build on the company’s momentum and expand its impact across industries.”

Why Procedureflow Needs This Now

Procedureflow isn’t just another knowledge base. Its platform translates text-heavy process documents into intuitive visual flows, layering in process automation, version control, crowdsourced updates, and performance insights. The goal: reduce inefficiency, eliminate errors, and ensure teams—from support agents to compliance officers—always have the most reliable, up-to-date information at their fingertips.

With enterprises racing to adopt AI-driven workflows, the company sees itself as an enabler of “trusted knowledge for human-AI collaboration.” By giving both employees and AI models a structured, governed knowledge source, Procedureflow argues it can prevent the accuracy and compliance pitfalls that plague many automation efforts.

Leadership’s Take

“Sarah’s extensive expertise in scaling growth strategies and building impactful brands makes her an excellent addition to our leadership team,” said Daniella Degrace, CEO of Procedureflow. “Her customer-first approach and ability to turn strategy into measurable outcomes align perfectly with our mission.”

The Bigger Picture

Knowledge management is having a moment. With AI models scraping, summarizing, and automating at breakneck speed, the question of “trusted sources” looms larger than ever. Giants like Notion, Confluence, and ServiceNow are jockeying for position, each with their own take on how teams should capture and consume institutional knowledge. Procedureflow’s bet is that clarity and governance—not just raw AI integration—will differentiate its offering.

If Jeanneault can turn that positioning into market momentum, expect Procedureflow to play a louder role in the enterprise conversation around knowledge + AI.

ProRataAI, a startup advocating for fair AI models, has raised $40 million in a Series B round led by Touring Capital to accelerate the rollout of Gist Answers. The AI-as-a-service solution lets publishers embed custom AI search, summarization, and recommendation tools directly into their websites—keeping users engaged while ensuring creators get credit.

Launched with early-access partners spanning 100+ publications, Gist Answers is designed to flip the script on AI search. Instead of directing audiences away from publisher sites, the tool brings conversational, AI-driven discovery onto their platforms—extending sessions, boosting engagement, and reclaiming control over how content is surfaced.

“Search has always shaped how people discover knowledge, but for too long publishers have been forced to give that power away,” said Bill Gross, CEO and founder of ProRata. “Gist Answers changes that dynamic, bringing AI search directly to their sites, where it deepens engagement, restores control, and opens entirely new paths for discovery.”

The service builds on ProRata’s wider ecosystem:

• Gist Ads turns AI responses into monetizable real estate, placing contextual ads alongside AI answers.

• Content Licensing allows publishers to extend reach by contributing vetted, licensed material to third-party Gist Answers implementations. More than 700 publications have already signed on, reinforcing ProRata’s ethical, attribution-first model.

Industry leaders are backing the approach. Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, said partnering with ProRata ensures journalism is used “ethically, with full credit.” Andrew Perlman of Recurrent (Popular Science) called Gist Answers a way to keep trusted reporting central in the AI era.

For advertisers, the play is equally compelling. Native placements aligned with intent-rich AI answers represent premium inventory, while publishers unlock incremental revenue streams. Touring Capital’s Nagraj Kashyap described it as “market-neutral infrastructure designed to become the default platform for attribution and fair monetization.”

ProRata, founded just last year, has now raised over $75 million. With Gist Answers gaining traction across global media, the company is positioning itself as a counterweight to AI scraping practices that sideline creators. Its mantra: AI should amplify journalism, not exploit it.

Recruiters spend too much time toggling between systems and not enough time talking to people. Phenom and LinkedIn want to change that.

Phenom, the applied AI talent platform, has rolled out LinkedIn CRM Connect integration for its Talent CRM. The update lets recruiters discover, engage, and manage candidates seamlessly between LinkedIn Recruiter and Phenom Talent CRM, eliminating the need to duplicate data or manually update profiles. For recruiters buried in spreadsheets and browser tabs, this integration feels less like a feature and more like a time machine.

One Source of Truth for Candidate Data

With CRM Connect, talent acquisition teams can:

• Pull profiles directly from LinkedIn Recruiter into the Phenom CRM.

• Automatically sync updates like job titles, emails, and candidate statuses.

• See where each candidate stands in real time—no system-hopping required.

For Henry Lazo, Talent Acquisition Programs Lead at Cboe, the payoff is simple: “Data accuracy is number one for me — and this integration delivers. I no longer have to manually enter candidates; everything syncs automatically.”

Efficiency at Scale

The integration is available at no extra cost for Phenom CRM customers with LinkedIn Recruiter seats. The result is a single, unified workflow that gives recruiters more time to engage candidates rather than babysit databases. Larry Nelson, LinkedIn’s Head of Talent Partnerships, called it “accurate, up-to-date candidate data you can trust.”

Beyond syncing, Phenom’s CRM layers on its AI capabilities: Fit Scores, nurture campaigns, interview intelligence, and automation that reduce manual screening and scheduling. Combined, these tools help teams scale outreach without scaling headcount.

Proof in the Numbers

Phenom’s customers are already seeing hard ROI:

• A major airline self-sourced 80% of contractor roles and cut staffing vendors by 88%, saving $7M annually.

• A global financial firm grew candidate profiles 900% after unifying sourcing and engagement tools.

• A cruise line slashed fake applications and boosted recruiter productivity by 40%, reclaiming 80,000 hours.

In short, fewer clicks = faster hires.

The Bigger Picture

Recruiting tech is shifting fast toward automation and data integration. Rivals like Workday and Greenhouse have been pushing deeper CRM-ATS connectivity, while LinkedIn has become the indispensable sourcing channel. Phenom’s integration strikes at the heart of recruiter frustration: disjointed systems and outdated candidate data.

Joanna Keel, Product Marketing at Phenom, summed it up: “The companies that spend more time connecting with candidates rather than updating information will hire faster.”

Missed calls have long been the bane of sales teams. CallRail, best known for its lead engagement platform, thinks it’s found the fix: an AI assistant that never clocks out.

At HubSpot’s INBOUND event, CallRail announced an expanded integration with HubSpot that brings insights from its recently launched Voice Assist directly into the CRM. The update means that leads captured and qualified by Voice Assist now automatically flow into HubSpot, giving sales and marketing teams a unified, 24/7 picture of customer activity.

Voice Assist: A Call Handler That Works Nights

Launched in July, Voice Assist captures and qualifies leads around the clock, handling conversations with a human-like cadence. For companies that can’t afford to lose high-intent prospects after hours, it’s a safety net—and one that pairs neatly with HubSpot’s follow-up workflows.

CallRail says the HubSpot integration makes this AI assistant more valuable, since every conversation summary, qualification insight, and customer data point is synced automatically. The result: fewer gaps, faster follow-up, and stronger attribution for ROI-minded marketers.

On the Ground at INBOUND

At INBOUND, CallRail showed off live demos of Voice Assist, letting attendees hear for themselves how the system qualifies leads and drops conversation data into HubSpot. Customers like Mid-Atlantic Builders are already seeing an impact. “Missed calls are virtually nonexistent now,” said Bradford Smith, VP of sales and marketing at the firm. “And the ability to store full conversation summaries in HubSpot will only give us deeper insights.”

Recognition in the HubSpot Ecosystem

The announcement comes as CallRail secures a spot—for the second year running—on HubSpot’s Essential Apps for Sales list, a curated group of integrations that help sellers move faster and smarter. Angela O’Dowd, VP of partner ecosystem at HubSpot, called Voice Assist “an innovative solution that ensures every lead is captured, qualified, and seamlessly integrated into our CRM.”

Why It Matters

The integration underscores a broader trend: CRMs are no longer passive data stores, but living systems fed by AI-powered tools that catch leads before they slip through the cracks. Rival platforms like Salesforce and Zoho have been embedding conversational AI into their ecosystems; HubSpot is leaning on app partners like CallRail to deliver similar value without overhauling its own core software.

For agencies and small-to-midsize businesses in particular, the promise is compelling: no more missed leads, no more guessing whether the follow-up data is complete, and no more disconnect between marketing attribution and sales execution.

Automakers want cars that do more than drive—they want cars that talk, anticipate, and personalize. Qualcomm and Google Cloud think they’ve found the engine to make that happen: agentic AI.

The two companies are expanding their long-standing partnership to integrate Google Cloud’s Automotive AI Agent, powered by Gemini models, with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis. The goal? To help carmakers deliver in-car AI companions that go well beyond voice commands and offer fully conversational, multimodal, and personalized experiences.

From Infotainment to AI Companions

Since 2016, Qualcomm and Google have been tag-teaming on automotive innovation—first with embedded Android infotainment, then with AI-enabled cockpit systems. This latest step moves the relationship into deeper waters: transforming the car from a collection of apps into a software-defined AI environment.

Google’s Automotive AI Agent allows automakers to spin up conversational copilots capable of navigation, media management, and even vehicle controls. When fused with Snapdragon Digital Chassis, manufacturers gain a reference architecture that trims development time and comes preloaded with templates for common use cases.

Hybrid Edge-to-Cloud Intelligence

One of the standout features of this partnership is its hybrid edge-to-cloud approach. That means AI inference happens both on the vehicle (for fast, offline responses) and in the cloud (for heavier tasks tapping Gemini’s full multimodal power). Automakers can also white-label these experiences, tailoring them into brand-owned, interactive AI companions instead of handing the keys to a generic assistant.

As Shiv Venkataraman, VP of Applied AI at Google Cloud, put it: “We are putting automakers firmly in the driver’s seat.”

Why It Matters

The stakes are high. Consumers increasingly expect their vehicles to mirror the intelligence of their phones and smart homes, and software-defined vehicles are quickly becoming the battleground for differentiation. Tesla has set the pace, but legacy automakers are scrambling to match AI-driven personalization without ceding customer relationships to Big Tech.

By marrying Google’s Gemini AI with Qualcomm’s automotive hardware leadership, the companies are offering an accelerant: faster time-to-market, customizable experiences, and a system that evolves as AI models advance.

The Road Ahead

Nakul Duggal, GM of Automotive at Qualcomm, calls it a “major transformation driven by breakthroughs in generative AI.” Translation: the car is no longer just hardware—it’s a digital platform that updates, learns, and adapts.

For automakers, that could mean the difference between a vehicle that feels outdated two years after purchase and one that grows smarter over its lifecycle. For drivers, it might mean finally ditching the awkward voice commands and instead having a car that gets what you mean, not just what you say.

Fraudsters have learned a new trick: they don’t need to steal your password if they can simply mimic your voice. TTEC Digital wants to stop them before they get a word in.

The CX technology giant has teamed up with VoxEQ to integrate voice biometrics and real-time fraud prevention into its SmartApps Cloud platform, widely used in financial services. The move arms contact centers with AI tools that can detect imposters within seconds, without bogging down legitimate customers in interrogation-style verification.

Why This Matters

Phone-based fraud is climbing sharply, with synthetic voices and repeat imposters getting harder to spot. Traditional voiceprint systems, once hailed as the fix, have stumbled—low opt-in rates, high false positives, and exploitable vulnerabilities made them unreliable. VoxEQ’s Verify solution aims to change that by analyzing voice bio-signals from the very first second of a call.

In practical terms: the system doesn’t need a pre-registered voiceprint. It protects every caller, including first-timers and anonymous ones, while still distinguishing between suspicious synthetic voices and legitimate uses like voicemail or virtual assistants.

Faster Calls, Safer Calls

Beyond security, there’s efficiency. By removing friction from identity verification workflows, SmartApps Cloud with VoxEQ reduces average handle time, freeing agents to focus on solving problems instead of playing detective.

Dave Seybold, CEO of TTEC Digital, calls it “a game-changer,” promising scalable, cost-effective fraud detection for organizations that don’t have Fortune 500 budgets. VoxEQ’s CEO Jack Caven adds that the integration “brings real-time voice intelligence to the front lines of customer engagement.”

Privacy at the Core

In an era of heightened data concerns, the partnership takes a privacy-first stance: no personally identifiable information (PII) or voiceprints are stored, reducing regulatory risk while maintaining customer trust.

Industry Context

This partnership comes as contact centers face a rising tide of fraud attempts alongside customer demands for faster, more seamless service. While rivals like NICE and Verint have been pushing AI-driven fraud prevention, TTEC Digital’s SmartApps integration with VoxEQ positions it as a flexible, plug-and-play alternative for companies wary of complex, high-cost deployments.

The Bottom Line

Fraudsters aren’t slowing down, and neither are the defenses. With SmartApps Cloud now analyzing voice bio-signals in real time, TTEC Digital and VoxEQ are betting that AI can keep the customer experience smooth while keeping the bad actors out.

Procedureflow, the knowledge management software company known for transforming dense documentation into visual process guides, has a new marketing leader. The company has appointed Sarah Jeanneault as Vice President of Marketing, betting on her two decades of experience scaling startups and enterprises to fuel its next growth phase.

A Growth-Focused Veteran

Jeanneault’s résumé checks nearly every box on the growth-leadership playbook: brand strategy, product development, sales enablement, customer experience, and even two fintech exits. Her career has been defined by building ecosystems that not only drive revenue but also deepen engagement and customer loyalty—a profile that fits neatly with Procedureflow’s mission to bring clarity and trust to knowledge management.

“I believe trusted knowledge is the foundation for providing exceptional customer support,” Jeanneault said. “I’m excited to build on the company’s momentum and expand its impact across industries.”

Why Procedureflow Needs This Now

Procedureflow isn’t just another knowledge base. Its platform translates text-heavy process documents into intuitive visual flows, layering in process automation, version control, crowdsourced updates, and performance insights. The goal: reduce inefficiency, eliminate errors, and ensure teams—from support agents to compliance officers—always have the most reliable, up-to-date information at their fingertips.

With enterprises racing to adopt AI-driven workflows, the company sees itself as an enabler of “trusted knowledge for human-AI collaboration.” By giving both employees and AI models a structured, governed knowledge source, Procedureflow argues it can prevent the accuracy and compliance pitfalls that plague many automation efforts.

Leadership’s Take

“Sarah’s extensive expertise in scaling growth strategies and building impactful brands makes her an excellent addition to our leadership team,” said Daniella Degrace, CEO of Procedureflow. “Her customer-first approach and ability to turn strategy into measurable outcomes align perfectly with our mission.”

The Bigger Picture

Knowledge management is having a moment. With AI models scraping, summarizing, and automating at breakneck speed, the question of “trusted sources” looms larger than ever. Giants like Notion, Confluence, and ServiceNow are jockeying for position, each with their own take on how teams should capture and consume institutional knowledge. Procedureflow’s bet is that clarity and governance—not just raw AI integration—will differentiate its offering.

If Jeanneault can turn that positioning into market momentum, expect Procedureflow to play a louder role in the enterprise conversation around knowledge + AI.