New AI-powered solution will accelerate and scale the Recording Academy®'s editorial content capabilities around Music's Biggest Night® 

IBM today introduced AI Stories with IBM watsonx, a generative AI solution co-created alongside the Recording Academy® to generate and scale editorial content around GRAMMY® nominees before and during the 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards®.

Each year, nominees are celebrated in coverage across GRAMMY.com and GRAMMY social channels. Using AI Stories, powered by IBM's AI and data platform watsonx, the Recording Academy editorial team will be able to expand its coverage of GRAMMY-nominated artists, ultimately creating a more personalized digital experience that further connects millions of music fans with the artists they love while also introducing them to new ones.

The produced content will consist of social-ready assets as well as longer-form coverage that will appear across GRAMMY digital platforms. Fans will be able to engage with the AI-generated content during GRAMMY livestream events – including moments on the red carpet, throughout the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony®, with the limo and fashion cams, and more – through an interactive widget available on live.grammy.com. 

To create the AI-generated content, the Recording Academy editorial team will utilize an AI Content Builder dashboard using AI language models hosted in the watsonx.ai studio and trained using the Recording Academy's own trusted data and brand guidelines. The team will engage with the dashboard through prompts to produce detailed insights on the various GRAMMY nominees including their philanthropic endeavors, cultural influence and other career highlights.

"Through our long-standing partnership, IBM is proud to continue co-creating new solutions with the Recording Academy to digitally transform their most important work – whether it's improving the membership experience, increasing engagement with fans, or celebrating artists with expanded and customized editorial coverage around Music's Biggest Night®," said Jonathan Adashek, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications at IBM. "AI Stories with watsonx is a powerful example of how AI can help drive productivity gains in a wide variety of use cases." 

"The ability to customize and scale our work ahead of Music's Biggest Night is crucial as we look to bring the magic of the GRAMMY Awards to fans worldwide," said Adam Roth, Senior Vice President, Partnerships & Business Development at the Recording Academy. "We are thrilled to continue our partnership with IBM to deploy cutting-edge solutions that unlock new possibilities for our digital content and beyond this GRAMMY season." 

IBM has been the official Cloud and AI Partner of the Recording Academy for over seven consecutive years. In addition to AI Stories with IBM watsonx, IBM Consulting has worked closely with the Recording Academy and Latin Recording Academy® to co-create new solutions that will enhance its business operations and create a more personalized digital experience for each of its 24,000 members.

Data highlights ways AI brings 24/7 immediacy, with automation and personalisation, for continuous engagement across diverse communications channels

Vonage, a global leader in cloud communications helping businesses accelerate their digital transformation and a part of Ericsson, has released its Global Customer Engagement Report 2024. The 12th annual report outlines data and insights into customer communications preferences with businesses, highlighting emerging trends that emphasise the need to augment these interactions with artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance customer engagement. The 2024 report is based on nearly 7,000 consumer responses from 17 countries, including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

AI’s Role to Reduce Frustration and Deliver Great CX

The global data revealed consumers continue to prefer a range of channel options when communicating with businesses, with mobile phone calls (36%), messaging/non-SMS apps (31%) and phone calls via apps (29%) ranking high in preference. However, less than half (42%) indicated they are “very satisfied” when communicating with businesses.

In APAC, consumers revealed that mobile phone calls (73%) are the most common method used by customers to communicate with businesses, followed by phone calls via messaging apps (60%), messaging via non-SMS apps (64%), emails (50%) and social media posts (47%).

Consumers cited multiple frustrations such as long wait times to speak to an agent (63%), no way to speak to customer service via voice/phone (59%), lack of 24/7 support availability (48%) and lack of self-service support (46%).

The report found that (80%) of APAC customers are likely to take their business elsewhere as a result of poor experiences, and 61% of consumers will not tolerate bad experiences and will walk away after just one or two bad encounters.

These findings underscore opportunities to leverage AI. With tools like AI-based virtual assistants, businesses are equipped to provide quick resolution, reduce frustrations and ultimately provide a more targeted and personalised experience for the user, including the ability to:

• Triage urgent customer inquiries
• Provide smarter self-service at scale
• Deliver smart IVR (interactive voice response) and skills-based routing to connect customers with an agent best suited to handle their query, preventing and mitigating a bad customer experience

Report findings demonstrate that consumers are embracing AI to make their experiences better. In fact, responses show a likelihood that chatbot and video chat usage will more than double within the next year, with 10% using chatbots today and 23% expected usage in the next six to 12 months. Additionally, 13% indicate they’re using video chat today, with 26% expected usage in the next six to 12 months.

Commenting on the report findings, Joy Corso, Chief Marketing Officer at Vonage, highlights the significance of these results in shaping customer experience (CX): “This data underscores that, to differentiate on customer engagement, businesses need an omnichannel communications strategy that allows customers to contact them seamlessly across their preferred channels. Those that do will also benefit from the ability to leverage the powerful capabilities of AI across communication channels, such as voice, video, messaging, and chat, enabling them to augment live customer support. This goes a long way to ensuring personal and real-time customer engagement at every touchpoint.”

“Metrigy’s upcoming AI for Business Success study shows significant growth for AI-enabled technologies, with 38% of CX leaders saying 2024 will be their turning point for acceptance of AI in CX, up from 17% in 2023,” says Metrigy CEO Robin Gareiss. “Companies that adopt and integrate AI and automation into their CX processes have documented compelling success metrics, with improvements in customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as agent efficiency. Companies not using AI on an omnichannel environment are already at a competitive disadvantage, so it’s imperative to establish a targeted AI strategy now.”

Positive CX Creates Loyal Brand Ambassadors

With 56% of consumers indicating they are likely to offer positive survey feedback after a great experience with a business and 55% noting they would share their experience with friends and family, it’s clear that great experiences create valuable brand ambassadors. Even better, more than half (52%) of customers report heightened brand loyalty following such an encounter, and more than a third (36%) go as far as purchasing additional products.

Added Corso, “This report emphasises that businesses that leverage AI across communications channels have the ability to facilitate the kind of meaningful, intelligent conversations that strengthen loyalty, build long lasting customer relationships and ultimately boost sales.”

The Global Customer Engagement survey was conducted in October 2023, and explored the varied channels customers use for communicating with friends, family, and businesses - including voice, messaging apps, email, social media, chat, and more - and the immense value of delivering excellent customer service.

Snowflake, the Data Cloud company, today announced that Brad Burns is joining the company as Chief Communications Officer. In his new role, Burns will be responsible for Snowflake’s communications strategy, advising the company’s leadership as Snowflake continues to grow and scale as a technology leader.

“We are thrilled to welcome Brad to the Snowflake team,” said Denise Persson, Chief Marketing Officer at Snowflake. “With a wealth of experience from highly successful enterprises, Brad brings a strategic approach to communication and deep understanding of the dynamic technology landscape. His expertise will play a crucial role in elevating Snowflake communications as we scale the Data Cloud to $10 billion and beyond.”

Burns joins Snowflake from Salesforce where he was Chief Communications Officer. He has two decades of experience providing communications counsel to executive teams in highly competitive industries, especially around global communications, high-visibility product launches, financial and M&A communications, and issues management.

Prior to Salesforce, Burns was at AT&T, where he served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications for AT&T Communications. There, he led global communications, including public relations, employee communications, reputation management, social media, and executive communications.

“Now more than ever, every enterprise needs a global, connected data foundation to capitalize on the possibilities of AI, and Snowflake is unlocking that future,” said Burns. “I look forward to contributing to Snowflake's next phase of exponential growth, driving the narrative that is redefining what's possible in the world of data and AI.”

Burns holds a B.A. from Southern Methodist University. He is an executive board member of SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, and is a former adjunct professor of Georgetown University’s Corporate Communications program.

Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and Connected TV (CTV) today announced that the 10th edition of its Quarterly Global FAST Report, comparing Q3 2022 to Q3 2023 and Q4 2022 to Q4 2023, has found consistent growth in ad impressions within the global FAST market, with increases of 15% in Q3 and 28% in Q4. Channel deliveries and Hours Of Viewing (HOV) showed significant growth over the same periods. Channel deliveries grew by 45% in Q3 and 25% in Q4, and HOV rose by 30% in Q3 and 26% in Q4. These steady numbers demonstrate how FAST continues to be a popular streaming model, enabling advertisers to target specific audiences and content providers to differentiate themselves within the broader video advertising ecosystem.

Moreover, an introduction to the report by Gavin Bridge at FASTMaster Consulting, provides stakeholders with key insights into how they can take further advantage of this underutilized ad market.

"FAST's global audience continues to grow, offering advertisers new opportunities to reach consumers," said Bridge. "2024 will be a pivotal year for the medium as it looks to see ad spending catch up to viewing trends, as well as greater awareness of who the FAST audience is and why they are an attractive target."

Amagi's 10th Quarterly Global FAST Report combines findings from analyst reports with real-time data from the Amagi ANALYTICS platform and Amagi's consumer survey, representing over 500 US households across diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. The report also examines viewer data across 50-plus FAST platforms and approximately 3,800 channel deliveries that use Amagi THUNDERSTORM, the company's proprietary server-side ad insertion (SSAI) platform.

Key Highlights From the Report:

1. Ads Are Worth It: While 46% of survey respondents primarily use SVOD services, 44% use FAST or AVOD, with two-thirds of viewers saying they'll willingly watch ads if it means receiving free, high-quality content. This finding demonstrates the potential for continued migration to AVOD and FAST services.
2. APAC Surpasses in Overall Growth: APAC is the only region that shows a three-digit growth in both analyses (Q3 2022 vs. Q3 2023 and Q4 2022 vs. Q4 2023) across HOV (145% in Q3 and 130% in Q4) and ad impressions (281% in Q3 and 352% in Q4).
3. News Takes a Huge Lead Over Other Genres Globally: News contributed a substantial 41% to total HOV worldwide in Q3 2023, followed by 37% in Q4 2023, maintaining its status as the most watched genre. Movies trailed behind at an 11% share in Q3 2023 and a 9% share in Q4 2023, with nature and wildlife as the third runner-up at 8% and 6% during the same quarters.
4. EMEA and LATAM Have Their Own Preferences: While news may dominate other genres on a global scale, both EMEA and LATAM show a stronger preference for movies. In EMEA, this genre remained the crowd favorite at a consistent 18% HOV contribution across Q3 2023 and Q4 2023, while news came second at 13% and then at 11%. In LATAM, news never reached the top three, with movies at a massive lead (50% in Q3 2023, 52% in Q4 2023), lifestyle in second place (14%, 16%), and sports in third (8%, 7%).

"As this latest edition of the Global FAST report shows, stakeholders need to start aligning their strategies with the pace at which ad dollars are now moving in the FAST lane," said Srinivasan KA, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Amagi. "The surge in ad dollars toward CTV is not just a trend; it's a seismic shift reshaping the digital advertising landscape. Advertisers, content providers, and FAST services must recognize the incredible opportunities within this dynamic environment."

Amagi provides a complete suite of solutions for channel creation, distribution, and monetization. Amagi's global clients include ABS-CBN, AccuWeather, A+E Networks UK, beIN Sports, Cineverse, Cox Media Group, Crackle Plus, Fremantle, Gannett, Gusto TV, NBCUniversal, PAC-12, Tastemade, and The Roku Channel among others.

NTT DATA Business Solutions taps IBM watsonx AI and data platform to create new customer solutions for application modernization, finance, hospitality and the public sector 

NTT DATA Business Solutions and IBM have announced the establishment of a Center of Excellence (CoE) for the watsonx generative AI platform. The joint CoE will focus on the use of the IBM watsonx AI and data platform with watsonx AI assistants for the development of embedded generative AI solutions for clients. The CoE combines the industry expertise of NTT DATA Business Solutions with IBM technology to help NTT DATA Business Solutions clients scale and accelerate the impact of generative AI. "While currently anchored in Denmark, this initiative is a global endeavor, empowering our customers worldwide," explains Norbert Rotter, CEO of NTT DATA Business Solutions and EVP NTT DATA, Inc.

The CoE is also instrumental in helping to extend new use cases for generative AI to NTT DATA's it.human platform which incorporates IBM watsonx capabilities, machine learning, speech recognition, natural language processing and conversational AI to enhance the customer experience. "As businesses move to adopt generative AI, they need the right client and industry expertise, combined with the best open technology," said Kate Woolley, General Manager, IBM Ecosystem. "IBM's partnership with NTT DATA Business Solutions allows us to co-develop solutions for clients that are purpose-built with flexibility, governance and openness."

The collaboration also leverages IBM's training, education and technology resources, including IBM Cloud, to build use cases and provide access to foundation models and best practices to assist with client projects using the watsonx platform. NTT DATA Business Solutions provides the CoE with sales resources to engage with customers, build use cases and implement AI products. "We expect an increased investment in AI on the customer side this year," says Nicolaj Vang Jessen, EVP, Global Innovation & Industry Consulting, NTT DATA SAP TFA and responsible for the Region NEE at NTT DATA Business Solutions. "The CoE harmonizes our resources, methodologies and industry expertise, reinforced by the exceptional competence of IBM."

A preview into the work underway will be offered at the IBM TechXchange Summit EMEA in Barcelona, where Thomas Noermark, Global Head of Innovation at NTT DATA Business Solutions, and Thor Hauberg, Director Venture Lab and Digital Business Transformation at NTT DATA Business Solutions, will share their knowledge in several sessions.

Choozle, a leading omnichannel digital advertising platform and services provider, today announced the relocation of its headquarters to downtown Denver. The company's new office, situated at 1125 17th Street, marks a significant milestone in Choozle's growth and commitment to innovation.

The move to this prime location underscores Choozle's dedication to fostering a dynamic work environment and expanding its presence in the heart of the city. The new office space is designed to inspire creativity, collaboration, and innovation among the Choozle team.

"The decision to move our headquarters to downtown Denver aligns with our strategic vision for growth and innovation. We believe this vibrant location will not only enhance our company culture but also provide an ideal setting for attracting top talent in the industry," said Adam Woods, CEO of Choozle.

Choozle's new address offers a central location with convenient access to key business districts and amenities. The spacious and modern office reflects Choozle's commitment to providing an exceptional workplace for its employees.

To commemorate the move, Choozle will host its annual sales kickoff meeting February 6-8, inviting the team and key partners to explore the new space and collaborate on 2024 plans.

"We're excited about the possibilities this move brings. It not only enhances our accessibility to clients and partners but also further solidifies our position as a one-stop-shop for the best media inventory and expertise," added Woods.

CMO Council Releases Year-End Scorecard of B2B Marketing Effectiveness In Finding, Winning and Growing Key Customer Accounts

Seeding and harvesting the sales pipeline the process of acquiring, capturing, qualifying and converting business opportunities are essential to the growth and profitability of B2B marketers across every industry and geographic sector. Marketing is largely responsible for driving this business process, yet nearly two-thirds of lead gen and engagement strategies are underperforming.

A new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council report, produced in collaboration with WM America, entitled “Fire Up Your Revenue Generation Engine,” covers critical aspects of lead generation and engagement. This includes models and metrics for tracking and measuring performance, best practice demand-gen execution, ways to score effectiveness, and more.

The latest CMO Council research finds scores of marketers falling behind in lead scoring, account-based marketing, accelerated pipeline, and intention-based marketing. Key findings from a Q4 survey of over 170 B2B marketing, sales, revenue, growth, demand gen and campaign execution leaders include:

• 63% say marketing must own and optimize a company’s revenue-generation engine
• 64% say their lead gen and engagement strategy underperforms
• 78% of highly evolved marketers are satisfied with their accelerated pipeline, compared to only 15% of lesser evolved marketers

“In today’s competitive data-driven environment, marketers should no longer be satisfied with paltry returns on their sizable lead-gen and ABM investments,” the report notes. “It’s time to turn the tables on inefficient, ineffective, and outdated practices for anticipating, adapting, and responding to customer needs and opportunities.”

Download the report at: https://www.cmocouncil.org/thought-leadership/reports/fire-up-your-b2b-revenue-generation-engine

Based on the research findings, the CMO Council provide a year-end scorecard that ranks proficiencies in critical areas of B2B marketing execution and demand gen operations:

“Marketers must climb the evolutionary ladder and leave behind outmoded and dated practices,” notes CMO Council executive director, Donovan Neale-May. “Using AI-derived, intention-based buyer data and advanced sales intelligence are among the ways growth marketers bring more precision, predictability, and performance to B2B account marketing investments.”

The CMO Council’s research revealed the top five skill sets contributing to improved ABM-driven business outcomes:

1. Better segmentation and precision targeting of buyers and influencers
2. On-demand customer business intelligence and personal buyer insights
3. Tighter integration of demand gen, channel, direct sales, and support teams
4. Greater utilization of tools and data sources for richer prospect profiling
5. Proactive and timely pre-sales follow up and cultivation strategies

The CMO Council has uncovered widening gaps in performance between highly evolved marketers and lesser evolved marketers. Gaps are occurring in four core capabilities: lead scoring, account-based marketing, accelerated pipeline, and intention-based marketing.

This report tiers factors that make up a model for better identification, engagement and conversion. The model coincides with the CMO Council and WM America’s thought leadership initiative to advance lead revenue science practices through a certified Lead Evaluation and Assurance Process, or LEAP model. “Marketers will need to take a few LEAPs of faith in the coming months, because sticking to the status quo is just not practical or possible anymore. As data becomes more critical than ever before, CMOs need to extend their visions for innovation and forward-thinking strategies,” according to Lee Salem, WM America’s Vice President of Sales.

Methodology
The report is based on a survey of over 170 heads of B2B marketing, sales, revenue, growth, demand gen and campaign execution in Q4 2023. It also included content from in-depth interviews with executives from Netline, Autodesk, T-Mobile, NTT, ABM Consortium, TechTarget, IBM, B2B Marketing, Reachdesk, Momentum ITSMA, and Xometry.

Hofeler will support the zero trust identity and network security startup’s decision to be a 100% channel organization, with goals to grow Zero Networks’ global partnerships by 50% in 2024

Zero Networks, a leading provider of zero trust identity and network security solutions, today announced the appointment of Adam Hofeler to Vice President of Go to Market (GTM). Hofeler brings to Zero Networks a deep understanding of channel sales strategy and a history of cultivating strong partnerships, and will play a pivotal role in guiding sales, channel, technology alliances, and MSP relationships. 

Hofeler joins Zero Networks on the heels of a successful 2023, which included closing $20 million in Series B funding, earning recognition as a forward-thinking technology provider supporting midmarket organizations in The Channel Company’s MES Midmarket 100, and being highlighted as a representative vendor for ZTNA (zero trust network access) and microsegmentation by Gartner. Notably, Zero Networks was also named to CRN’s Stellar Startups list for success in creating new opportunities for solution providers.

“Zero Networks is immensely proud of the five-fold revenue growth we achieved last year, which is a testament to the work we put in to build a strong solution to a real problem before we entered the market. As our new VP GTM, Adam will be instrumental in expanding and further activating our community of channel partners,” said Benny Lakunishok, CEO and co-founder of Zero Networks. “Adam's prior experience and expertise in building channel alliances in our industry will contribute significantly to the company's growth trajectory and we look forward to the impact he will make.”

With more than 20 years of IT industry experience in sales, marketing, channel management and distribution, Hofeler is well positioned to expand the Zero Networks partner program across the Americas, EMEA and APAC. Previously, he served as VP GTM Strategy at Sepio, an asset risk management platform. Prior to joining Sepio, Hofeler was VP Worldwide Sales at IRONSCALES, an email security platform. Adam has also held executive sales management roles for Palo Alto Networks and NetApp, and earned his bachelor's and master's degree from University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

"Zero Networks is tackling one of the most complex problems in cybersecurity – how to prevent attackers from moving laterally within the organizational network to exfiltrate data or launch ransomware attacks. As we look ahead to 2024, the channel will play a pivotal role in our expansion strategy,” said Hofeler. “We aim to be a 100% channel organization globally and are working to grow our partners by 50% this year. I look forward to collaborating with an expanding network of partners that share our commitment to securing the digital landscape.”

Zero Networks partners are guaranteed a plug-and-play product that will meet customer needs, strong incentives and margins, and dedicated channel managers with 24/7 response times.