Company Receives Industry Recognition for Global Identity Verification Platform

Trulioo, an industry-leading identity platform with proven global coverage for person and business verification, today announced a significant increase in the adoption of its platform in the past year. The company, which opened a new international headquarters in Vancouver this year, also earned industry recognition following the 2023 launch of its global identity verification platform.

“We have built an incredible suite of technological capabilities, as reflected in the remarkable adoption rate of our identity platform since its 2023 launch,” said Steve Munford, Trulioo CEO. “Our global platform with in-house person and business verification delivers the agility customers need to rise to the challenges of today’s rapidly growing global economy. We take immense pride in our accomplishments and will bring the same spirit of innovation and growth into 2024.”

Enterprise Customer Base Expansion

Following the successful launch of its identity verification platform in early 2023, Trulioo deepened relationships with global banks, payment service providers, marketplaces, social media platforms, online trading enterprises and foreign exchanges. Among new customers, 65% chose the workflow capabilities of the Trulioo platform for fast, flexible integration.

Trulioo counts as its customers three of the five largest U.S. banks, six of the top seven global digital payment processors, five of the world’s leading online marketplaces, four of the top five international foreign exchange brokers and three of the four leading crypto exchanges. Recent strategic partnerships include J.P. Morgan Payments, Public, Syngrafii and Consensys.

Industry Recognition

Trulioo received market recognition from Liminal Research, which found that an integrated identity platform can help companies streamline customer onboarding and reverification to deliver better user experiences and enhanced security.

Trulioo was named a leader in the Quadrant Knowledge Solutions SPARK Matrix™: Identity Capture and Verification 2023, securing a top-five position in technology excellence. The company’s identity platform, with a full suite of person and business verification services, delivers the highest onboarding assurance and eliminates the need for multiple point solutions.

Trulioo also earned recognition as a Deloitte North America Technology Fast 500™ company and was named one of Canada’s enterprise industry leaders in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50™ program.

Continued Innovation

Identity document verification plays a critical role in onboarding across the globe, and Trulioo took steps to ensure customers have access to the most cutting-edge capabilities. That included expanding the number of verifiable documents to more than 13,000 and enhancing optical character recognition to cover more than 20 language character sets.

Trulioo also offers an unparalleled ability to enable customers to mix and match document verification and personally identifiable information checks. That mix-and-match capability extends to pairing data, identity document and business verification in a single workflow so Trulioo customers can automatically waterfall from checking company details to identifying and verifying ultimate beneficial owners or people with significant control. That end-to-end business verification capability saw significant market demand, with 40% of new customers adopting the capability.

The user experience is central to successful onboarding, which is why Trulioo also developed state-of-the-art document verification image capture for web and mobile. On top of those document verification advancements, Trulioo delivers iBeta level 2-certified facial biometric technology to remove onboarding doubt, strengthen security and build compliance confidence.

CAMPAYGN announces transformative updates in Q4 2023, integrating ChatGPT for precise influencer searches, unveiling an Influencer Relationship Manager for direct email communication, introducing a Content Keyword Scanner, and launching a Pro-Sustainability Database to identify environmentally conscious influencers.

CAMPAYGN Unveils Major Enhancements in Q4 2023, Elevating Influencer Marketing Strategies

CAMPAYGN, a leading influencer marketing platform catering to global lifestyle brands, proudly announces a series of transformative updates to its platform in the fourth quarter of 2023. These advancements underscore CAMPAYGN's commitment to providing marketers with cutting-edge tools to enhance their influencer marketing campaigns.

Key highlights of the latest updates include:

ChatGPT Integration for Powerful Influencer Searching:

• CAMPAYGN has seamlessly integrated ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art language model, to revolutionize the way marketers search for influencers. Leveraging the power of ChatGPT, users can now perform more nuanced and context-aware searches to identify influencers that align perfectly with their brand objectives. This integration enhances the precision and efficiency of influencer discovery within the CAMPAYGN platform.

Influencer Relationship Manager (IRM):

• Introducing the Influencer Relationship Manager (IRM), a feature designed to streamline communication between brands and influencers. Marketers can now connect with influencers directly through email within the CAMPAYGN platform. This integration simplifies the outreach process, fostering stronger relationships and ensuring a seamless collaboration experience.

Content Keyword Scanner:

• CAMPAYGN introduces the Content Keyword Scanner, a powerful tool that allows marketers to identify specific words or brands used by influencers in their content. This feature provides marketers with valuable insights into influencer content, enabling them to align their brand messaging more effectively and ensure brand consistency across campaigns.

Pro-Sustainability Database:

• Recognizing the growing importance of sustainability in influencer marketing, CAMPAYGN introduces a Pro-Sustainability Database. This database identifies and showcases environmentally conscious influencers, enabling brands to partner with influencers who share their commitment to sustainability. Marketers can now make informed decisions that align with their brand's values and contribute to positive social and environmental impact.

"At CAMPAYGN, we believe in the power of listening to our clients, and these enhancements are a testament to our commitment to incorporating their valuable feedback into our product roadmap," said Olivier Billon, CEO of CAMPAYGN. "The Influencer Relationship Manager, ChatGPT integration, Content Keyword Scanner, and the Pro-Sustainability Database all stem from the insights and needs expressed by our dynamic user community. We're excited to see how these features will empower our users to create more impactful and sustainable influencer marketing campaigns."

CAMPAYGN remains dedicated to staying at the forefront of influencer marketing innovation. These updates are designed to empower marketers with advanced tools that not only enhance their influencer marketing strategies but also contribute to more meaningful and sustainable brand-influencer collaborations.

In a strategic move set to redefine the landscape of in-game advertising, Adverty, the leading In-Play ad platform, proudly announces its extended partnership with PubMatic, an independent technology company delivering digital advertising’s supply chain of the future. This collaboration solidifies PubMatic's position as Adverty's preferred Private Marketplace (PMP) partner on a global scale.

Adverty's decision to choose PubMatic as its preferred PMP partner underscores the commitment to global expansion. PubMatic's extensive reach and robust infrastructure will empower Adverty to seamlessly integrate its innovative In-Play video and display advertising solutions across diverse markets, reaching a broader audience with unparalleled efficiency for global reach and scale.

PubMatic's cutting-edge technology and programmatic advertising expertise will unlock new avenues for Adverty to monetize its in-game ad inventory. The partnership is showcasing PubMatic’s continuous investment into gaming industry. The extended partnership enables Adverty to tap into PubMatic's extensive network of advertisers and with PubMatic's sophisticated sell-side targeting capabilities, Adverty can now offer advertisers more precise and personalized in-game advertising experiences through dynamic and targeted ads. The partnership ensures that brands connect with their target audiences seamlessly within the gaming environment.

The use of PubMatic's PMP technology will prioritise a positive user experience. Additionally, by leveraging PubMatic's header bidding capabilities, Adverty can optimise ad delivery, reducing latency and ensuring a seamless gaming experience for users while maximizing revenue for publishers.

The collaboration reflects a shared commitment to innovation within the digital advertising landscape. Adverty and PubMatic will work collaboratively to explore new technologies and formats, staying at the forefront of industry trends and delivering cutting-edge solutions to advertisers and publishers alike, such as the latest programmatic VAST video support for In-Play recently released by Adverty.

Jonas Söderqvist, CEO at Adverty, explains: "We are thrilled to announce PubMatic as our preferred PMP partner globally. This collaboration strengthens our ability to deliver impactful in-game advertising solutions on a global scale, providing advertisers with unparalleled reach and precision."

"We are excited to partner with Adverty, a leader in the in-game advertising space. By combining our technology and expertise, we aim to elevate the in-game advertising ecosystem, offering advertisers innovative opportunities to engage with their target audiences in a dynamic and immersive manner," says Lashanne Phang, VP, Mobile at PubMatic.

This partnership signifies a pivotal moment in the evolution of In-Play advertising, as Adverty and PubMatic deepen their partnership to drive innovation, expand global reach, and deliver unparalleled value to advertisers, publishers, and gamers alike.

Deal Accelerates watsonx Data Ingestion Capabilities; Creates a Leading Application Modernization and Integration Platform

€2.13 billion Acquisition Demonstrates IBM's Continued Focus on Strategic M&A to Create Value and Bolster AI and Hybrid Cloud Offerings

IBM today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Software AG, a company majority owned by Silver Lake, to purchase StreamSets and webMethods, Software AG's Super iPaaS (integration platform-as-a-service) enterprise technology platforms, for €2.13 billion in cash.

As organizations continue to accelerate their digital transformations, application and data integration solutions are critical elements for application modernization and effectively deploying AI across the enterprise. StreamSets and webMethods are among the technology leaders in application integration, API management, and data integration. IDC predicts the worldwide integration software market will exceed $18.0 billion in 2027 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.1%.¹

The acquisition of StreamSets and webMethods is further evidence of IBM's deep focus and investment in AI and hybrid cloud. StreamSets will add data ingestion capabilities to watsonx, IBM's AI and data platform, while webMethods will give clients and partners additional integration and API management tools for their hybrid multi-cloud environments.

The core offerings include:

• StreamSets - a cloud-native DataOps and data ingestion platform which allows enterprises to achieve consistent access and delivery of data across a wide spectrum of data sources and types. StreamSets also facilitates the design of smart data pipelines and the ingestion of real-time and batch data.
  
  
• webMethods - an integration and API management platform. The integration platform, deployed both on-prem and in the cloud, offers B2B integration, managed file transfer, and provides a modern API gateway to manage, monitor, and monetize APIs.

Software AG's Super iPaaS platform is growing, profitable and has a significant recurring revenue profile. StreamSets and webMethods serve more than 1,500 clients across the globe.

"Together with IBM's watsonx AI and data platform, as well as its application modernization, data fabric and IT automation products, StreamSets and webMethods will help clients unlock the full potential of their applications and data. This powerful combination helps drive innovation while preparing businesses for AI, no matter where applications or data reside," said Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, Software and Chief Commercial Officer, IBM. "Today's news will give IBM clients and partners one of the most modern and comprehensive application and data integration platforms in the industry."

The pending acquisition follows a more than 20-year relationship between IBM and Software AG, with both StreamSets and webMethods expected to drive synergy with IBM's current portfolio, including watsonx, Red Hat, the company's IT automation products, as well as IBM Consulting. Additionally, StreamSets and webMethods are expected to benefit from IBM's global scale, operating in more than 175 countries.

"IBM is the ideal home for webMethods and StreamSets, the products at the heart of our Super iPaaS vision," said Sanjay Brahmawar, Chief Executive Officer of Software AG. "Combined with IBM's global scale and focus on hybrid cloud and AI, our people will have a fantastic opportunity to develop while helping enterprises everywhere get the most out of their applications and data."

"We believe that there is no business more iconic or better suited than IBM to continue investing in and growing these great platforms," said Christian Lucas, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Software AG and Managing Partner of Silver Lake. "The opportunity to bring the StreamSets and webMethods teams together with IBM to innovate in building the future of hybrid cloud and next-generation AI solutions for the enterprise is uniquely compelling. We are pleased that our investment in Software AG helped spark that vision, reflecting Silver Lake's commitment to partner with the world's best management teams and technology leaders in driving exceptional value creation for customers, employees and other stakeholders."

StreamSets and webMethods will be acquired with available cash on hand. The consummation of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2024.

Only 37% of people expect financial improvements in 2024; people citing inflation worries are 30% more likely to spend less in discretionary categories

DISQO, the leading brand experience platform, released Consumer Trends 2024, a new report revealing that people will be apprehensive, budget-conscious, and intentional about purchases in the new year. A multitude of factors from global conflicts to inflation to politics are contributing to consumers’ pessimism. Nearly two-thirds (63%) reported a negative overall outlook, suggesting that brands must message with empathy and double down on delivering valuable customer experiences and quality.

Perceptions about personal finances are looking up for some consumers. Twenty-one percent (21%) said their finances were better in 2023 than last year, and thirty-seven percent (37%) said they expect 2024 to be better than 2023. Still, people citing inflation concerns were over 30% more likely to say they would spend less in non-discretionary categories next year.

“Social, economic, and political headwinds are challenging consumers’ sense of security,” said David Grabert, VP of Brand & Communications, DISQO. “2024 is not the year to ‘wing it’ when it comes to understanding your customers and their experiences. Brand stewards need to work harder than ever to understand every customer, every touchpoint, and every outcome, so they can continuously optimize advertising and all of their brand experiences.”

DISQO’s report also looks at consumers’ attitudes about advertising in traditional and new media. Beyond asking where ads are found to be informative, entertaining, or annoying, the mediums perceived as most effective in prompting purchases are revealed. Television and social media ads were ranked highest by consumers for their influence over purchases (43% and 44% respectively), but a quarter of all consumers said that they weren’t influenced by ads on any media channel. Sixty-one percent (61%) said that experiences with brands, products, and customer service were the most impactful on their perception of brands.

Top 2024 consumer trends

General sentiment & finances

• Inflation (64%) and global conflicts (61%) are consumers’ top concerns.
• Those concerned about inflation were over 30% more likely than those who didn’t to say they planned to spend less on travel, dining out, live entertainment, clothing, and cosmetics.

Brand experience

• Brand names are more important for higher-ticket and personal items. Consumers cited cars (52%), healthcare (49%), and electronics (48%) as the most important brand-name categories.
• Nearly two-thirds said their experiences with products and services influence their brand perceptions most, with quality, trust, and customer service also highly influential.

Advertising

• Nearly half of consumers find television ads entertaining (46%) and informative (44%). GenZers find social media ads informative (41%) and entertaining (41%), but were most likely to call ads irritating on nascent platforms like gaming (42%).
• TV (43%) and social media (41%) ranked highest as reported purchase drivers, but a quarter of consumers said that they weren’t influenced by ads on any platform.

Cable TV and streaming

• Thirty percent (30%) of “cable TV” subscribers plan to discontinue services in 2024.
• More than half of streaming subscribers (58%) plan to keep their subscriptions the same; 21% plan to increase them; and 21% plan to decrease.
• Over two-thirds of consumers (71%) said they spend $100 or less on cable and streaming services combined. Most paying consumers said they had one to three streaming subscriptions (67%). Nearly a fifth (18%) said they had five or more.

Insights were sourced from 3,004 U.S. adults in DISQO’s audience, November 6-13, 2023, and balanced on age, gender, income, and ethnicity. 

Mundial Media, the first AI-enabled contextual marketing platform uniting multicultural voices, has announced the hiring of Gerardo (Gerry) Ramirez as Chief Growth Officer, who will focus on strategic initiatives including client partnerships, operational optimizations, and marketing.

As Chief Growth Officer, Ramirez brings extensive experience in digital advertising across publishers and agencies with a proven track record of scaling business operations. Through this role, he will spearhead strategic growth initiatives and lead Mundial Media through its new expansion phase by increasing awareness of CADMUS AI, the company’s AI-enabled contextual technology. His leadership will further solidify the company’s position as the only end-to-end contextual solution to reach multicultural audiences. Ramirez was previously the General Manager of H Code at My Code Media and a key figure in designing and executing the company’s overall growth strategy. He also oversaw the account management, marketing, and other operational teams. He holds a B.A. in Business Marketing from Loyola Marymount University.

“We are thrilled to welcome Gerry Ramirez as our Chief Growth Officer. His unique expertise in the digital media space, leadership, and strategic vision will prove pivotal in shaping Mundial Media’s growth trajectory,” said Tony Gonzalez, CEO of Mundial Media. "Gerry's addition to our executive team exemplifies our company's dedication to assembling a leadership team that authentically represents the audiences we serve.”

“Mundial Media's approach to connecting with multicultural audiences resonates with me on a profound level. It's not just a matter of moral integrity; it's supported by compelling proprietary technology and a nuanced understanding of how authenticity plays a pivotal role in enhancing brand relevance," said Ramirez. "Mundial Media's technology empowers our brand and publisher partners to access a solution that possesses a profound understanding of the multicultural voices embedded within the content we represent. This capability opens doors to distinctive and nuanced prospects in the realms of media planning and delivery, integrated content, as well as research and insights."

Findings underscore the pivotal role brand trust plays in the digital landscape.

Vercara, a leading provider of cloud-based services that secure the online experience, recently researched the importance of consumer trust in businesses. In 2023, businesses have been hit with 800,000 cyberattacks, over 60,000 of which were DDoS attacks and 4,000 falling victim to ransomware.

Vercara’s research found that consumers hold nuanced perceptions regarding cybersecurity incidents and are often less aware of the role they play in maintaining cyber hygiene within a business.

These findings underscore the pivotal role brand trust plays in the digital landscape – with an overwhelming 75% of consumers expressing their readiness to sever ties with a brand in the aftermath of any cybersecurity issue.

It takes a lot to earn consumer trust, especially after a successful cyberattack. The majority (66%) of U.S. consumers would not trust a company that falls victim to a data breach with their data and 44% of consumers attribute cyber incidents to a company's lack of security measures. Interestingly, 54% extend a degree of leniency toward smaller brands grappling with cyberattacks, in contrast to their higher expectations for larger businesses.

These findings, coupled with the lack of awareness of how cyberattacks start, have led to reckless behavior from consumers – 55% of respondents use their corporate devices for online shopping, inadvertently posing risks to business infrastructure. However, 35% believe it’s difficult to impersonate large e-commerce brands.

“In the current cyber landscape where most attacks start with some form of social engineering, it’s important for businesses to see their security policies through the eyes of their most vulnerable link – the employees,” says Colin Doherty, CEO at Vercara. “It’s important to run regular awareness and training sessions not just for the IT and cyber departments, but for all employees, as even more sophisticated ransomware and DDoS attacks can be spotted sooner if everyone knows what to look out for.”

To navigate the festive season and beyond, businesses must have a proactive stance towards all cybersecurity challenges as consumers and employees become more focused on the end-of-year period. Despite the holiday season, all departments should remain aware of the risks associated with using corporate devices for personal reasons to lower the risks of unpleasant surprises in the form of cyberattacks. Internal awareness campaigns should be paired with regular training sessions focused on identifying phishing emails, emphasizing the profound impact a single click can have on business security.

Methodology

In partnership with Dynata, Vercara conducted a consumer survey, targeting 1,000 adults across the United States, age 18+, during November 2023. Figures for age, gender, education, income, employment and region were weighted to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate, no estimates of sampling error can be calculated. All data, unless specified otherwise, is pulled from this survey.

ActionIQ, the leading Enterprise Composable Customer Data Platform, today released six key trends the company anticipates will shape the future of marketing, data, and technology in 2024, from tech stack shifts and enterprise priorities, to data, technology, and Generative AI.

"For enterprise brands, consistently delivering exceptional customer experiences remains at the heart of their business – a constant," said Tasso Argyros, ActionIQ CEO and Founder. "What does evolve annually, however, are the novel tools, innovations, methods, and modalities through which these brands engage with their customers. 2023 brought significant transformations, forever altering the landscape of how brands conceptualize and craft customer experiences. In 2024, the way that enterprise brands design those customer experiences–and the solutions and tooling they use to achieve their business goals–will change dramatically."

6 Marketing, Data and Technology Trends We'll See in 2024

1. As marketing clouds lose their grip, a new incarnation of Database Wars emerges
The battle for who owns the data among marketing solutions will continue. This tension will continue as marketing clouds like Adobe and Salesforce seek to be the source of truth for enterprise data. In 2024, we will see marketing clouds lose adoption in favor of solutions that have an open infrastructure and integrate with true data sources of truth. Databricks will attack Snowflake on price and performance, and try to peel away the core SQL analytics workload. There will be a land grab for AI and ML workloads between the two, as both make major investments to improve those offerings.

2. Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) Gain Household Recognition Among Enterprise Brands, Marked by Distinctive Innovators...and Followers
Impressive results at F500 and major analyst research supporting the space will create a buying spree among enterprises for CDP solutions — but not all are created equal. Martech contenders like Salesforce will continue to attempt and fail to build a CDP as customers who received free licenses realize it's smoke and mirrors. Adobe will try to jump on the Composable CDP trend with hollow announcements for data sharing integrations, but still operate on copies of data behind the scenes.

3. Enterprises will slowly but surely shift their focus back towards growth
With interest rates stabilizing and recession fears receding, along with huge amounts of cash saved during the past couple of years and valuations at very reasonable levels, inorganic growth will start to look attractive and will trigger acquisition sprees that may last 2-3 years. This will feel similar to the M&A spree that took place in 2010-2012 after the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2008.

4. Brands rush to adopt Generative AI – and many will fail due to a lack of the context they need to make it succeed
As brands rush to adopt GenAI they will need the right data foundation and right context to succeed — building their own products and services around customized models. LLMs will need to be trained on an enterprise's own data and context to operate effectively. Data warehouse vendors will try to ship SQL LLMs with their data, however LLMs will need to be trained on an enterprise's own proprietary data. Within the business context of an enterprise's own customer data, models will become richer and more effective. The cost of executing GenAI models, not just training them, will emerge as the main bottleneck in scaling AI. As a result, there will be a shift to smaller GenAI with higher quality training data that will be cheaper both to train and to evaluate.

5. We're in for a wave of mediocre, AI-generated content – and targeting is the only way out
The creation of marketing content will no longer be a constraint in reaching customers as marketers begin to acquire "prompt engineering" skills. As such, it will become even more important for marketers to cut through the noise in their communications so the brand voice remains unique — supporting micro-segmented messages with micro-segmented targeting, fueled by first-party data. Without those audiences and microtargeting, GenAI efforts will fall flat.

6. Martech will eat Adtech – forming a single tech stack commanded by IT teams
As IT teams increasingly take responsibility for managing the technology behind martech, we'll see a shift in priorities for adoption, toward flexible and open stacks. We'll also see the collision of adtech and martech accelerate with the final strike on the clock for third-party cookies, with martech eventually consuming adtech, and advertising becoming more and more reliant on a first-party foundation for more control, cleaner data, and more respect of privacy. This is already happening with DMPs getting replaced by CDPs, Data Clean Rooms becoming more prevalent, the rise of first-party data collection (CDI) vendors like Snowplow and Metarouter, and data onboarding vendors like LiveRamp becoming redundant and struggling to stay relevant with high onboarding costs.

"As we look ahead into 2024 where the interplay between data, technology and the customer experience will continue to adapt, make sure you keep focus on the solutions that will help your enterprise business best serve each customer," said Justin Debrabant, Chief Product Officer at ActionIQ. "Take advantage of the most cutting-edge solutions, but make sure they're balanced with the foundation to help you do it right and continue to innovate with the flexibility to adapt and the room to grow."