Page 1038 – SalesTech Star

Birdzi and LOC Software Integrate To Improve Digital Couponing and Loyalty for the Grocery Industry

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February 27, 2023

After integrating the solutions, Strack & Van Til witnessed a 20% increase in digital coupon engagement

Birdzi, the supermarket industry’s most comprehensive customer intelligence and engagement ecosystem, today announced a new partnership with LOC Software, a leading retail software firm that improves the frequency and profitability of transactions. Grocers, like Strack & Van Til, that utilize Birdzi and LOC Software’s collaborative integration will benefit from enhanced digital coupon redemption and rewards capabilities powered by real-time transaction data.

For years, Birdzi has been on a mission to reimagine how grocers approach customer engagement. In 2022, Birdzi announced VISPER 2.0, an innovative solution designed to automate the weekly ad circular and improve margins for grocers amid today’s ever-changing financial landscape. By integrating with LOC Software, Birdzi’s platform can rely on real-time transaction data that informs automatic coupon selection that’s specific to the needs of each individual shopper.

“Across the industry, grocers have a wealth of untapped customer data,” said Guy Leger, VP of sales and marketing, LOC Software. “This strategic implementation with Birdzi helps grocers take hold of their transaction data and analytics in our solutions and apply this information to customer outreach and promotions.”

This collaboration has already been rolled out by Strack & Van Til, an Indiana-based grocer. Prior to the integration, Strack & Van Til had implemented Birdzi’s Customer Intelligence Platform and LOC’s Point of Sale solution to utilize customer data to enhance the in-store experience. Yet, the midwestern grocer was still looking for new ways to personalize the types of coupons customers received and report on the success in real-time. That’s why Birdzi and LOC Software teamed up to allow information to flow freely from LOC Software’s point-of-sale technology to Birdzi’s customer intelligence platform. As a result, Strack & Van Til customers receive truly personalized promotions that further develop the relationship between the shopper and the grocer.

“The partnership between Birdzi and LOC Software has already increased the engagement rates of our personalized digital weekly ad and coupons,” said Michael Tyson, chief marketing & merchandising officer, Strack & Van Til. “We have open rates of over 37% from our personalized emails. More importantly, customer feedback with the new layout of the personalized coupons and search functions has been extremely positive. We’ve seen great responses with increased engagement and the collaboration is only a few months old. After seeing such success, we are happy that we’ve partnered with Birdzi and LOC.”

“We’re always looking for new ways to support our customers to the best of our abilities, and partnering with other exceptional companies like LOC Software has allowed us to do just that,” said Shekar Raman, CEO and co-founder, Birdzi. “Our partner ecosystem has grown tremendously in the last few years and these developments have empowered our customers to implement true personalization and better provide for their loyal shoppers.”

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Shoptalk 2023 to Launch Meetup, the World’s Largest Meetings Program for the Retail Industry

STS News Desk

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February 27, 2023

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Shoptalk 2023 to Launch Meetup, the World’s Largest Meetings Program for the Retail Industry

Expanded Meetings Program, Now Available to All Shoptalk Attendees, Will Facilitate More than 50,000 Double-Opt-In, On-Site Meetings

Shoptalk, the leading global event for retail and e-commerce, today announced the launch of Meetup—the world’s largest meetings program for the retail industry—at Shoptalk 2023, taking place March 26–29, 2023, in Las Vegas. Meetup will be open to all Shoptalk attendees at no additional cost and will facilitate more than 50,000 double-opt-in meetings on-site during the show in a dedicated area the size of eight football fields.

“We’re thrilled to launch Meetup to make it even easier for Shoptalk attendees to meet new people, discover new organizations, and create new partnership and collaboration opportunities, at an unprecedented scale”

“We’re thrilled to launch Meetup to make it even easier for Shoptalk attendees to meet new people, discover new organizations, and create new partnership and collaboration opportunities, at an unprecedented scale,” said Sophie Wawro, Global President, Shoptalk. “In 2018, we introduced our Hosted Retailers & Brands Program to Shoptalk, and through it, we’ve arranged tens of thousands of meetings between buyers and sellers of retail technology and solutions. By launching Meetup this year, we’re making the same technology that has powered all those meetings available to every single Shoptalk attendee. This will enable the thousands of retailers and brands at Shoptalk to meet with one another for peer-to-peer networking and learning, and allow everyone at the show to maximize their time by prescheduling meetings with potential partners, vendors, investors and employees. Since all Meetups are opted into by both parties, attendees are guaranteed to meet only with people they want to meet and who also want to meet with them. It’s a guaranteed win-win.”

Meetup is designed to deliver the best networking and collaboration opportunities for all Shoptalk attendees, whether their goal is to connect efficiently with clients, vendors, partners and friends; meet potential retail and brand customers and partners; buy, sell and discover products, services and solutions; be introduced to their peers at similar organizations; or learn about the newest and hottest startups.

For attendees who are launching products, making announcements and sharing news at Shoptalk, the program will provide a convenient and efficient way to participate in media and analyst interviews. Meetup will also help foster M&A opportunities for attendees looking to fund startups, raise capital, or connect with potential acquirers or acquisition targets. All meetings facilitated through Meetup will be prescheduled based on the participants’ individual availability.

To participate in Meetup, attendees need to get their ticket no later than this Friday, March 3, and complete the pre-event process leading up to the event. Shoptalk sponsors can continue to buy prioritized meetings with retailers and brands, and retailers and brands can continue to qualify for free tickets and travel/hotel reimbursement, up until the deadline of Friday, March 3.

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BigCommerce Names 2022 Partner Awards Winners, Recognizing the Most Innovative Technology and Agency Partners Across Regions

STS News Desk

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February 27, 2023

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BigCommerce Names 2022 Partner Awards Winners, Recognizing the Most Innovative Technology and Agency Partners Across Regions

In its fifth year, BigCommerce honors the most progressive agency and technology partners across North America, APAC and EMEA for their commitment in helping merchants fuel ambitious growth through innovation during uncertain economic times

BigCommerce, a leading Open SaaS ecommerce platform for fast-growing and established B2C and B2B brands, today unveiled the winners of the 2022 BigCommerce Partner Awards. Now in its fifth year, the annual awards program recognizes top-performing partners among BigCommerce’s global network of thousands of agency and technology partners in its open ecosystem. This year’s winners are honored for their outstanding commitment and dedication to providing BigCommerce merchants with exemplary technology and services needed to thrive, grow and succeed against a challenging macroeconomics backdrop.

“BigCommerce is committed to an open commerce approach. We are invested in our best-in-breed, partner-first ecosystem to give our merchants the flexibility to choose the best options for their business requirements. This year’s fifth annual BigCommerce Partner Awards illustrates the next level work our winners put forth into building world-class solutions that helped our merchants maximize success in the most uncertain of times,” said Russell Klein, chief commercial officer at BigCommerce. “Every winner has assiduously earned their award, and BigCommerce appreciates their partnership and dedication.”

The 2022 BigCommerce Partner Awards featured 18 categories across the Americas, APAC and EMEA regions whose applicants were evaluated by a panel of BigCommerce employees and executives. The awards recognized one winner for each category based on their accomplishments respective to the geographic region in which they operate. New categories added for this year include Regional Partner of the Year (Agency EMEA), Omnichannel Solutions Award (Tech AMER), Community Awards (Agency EMEA and AMER).

2022 BigCommerce Agency Partner Winners

Agency Partner of the Year: Awarded to Certified BigCommerce agency partners that have demonstrated commitment to investing in the platform, executing for clients and generating meaningful business over the last year.

Winners: Mira Commerce (Americas) | Moustache Republic (APAC) | Calicantus (EMEA)

New Partner of the Year: Awarded to agency partners that have demonstrated excellence within their first year as a BigCommerce Partner.

Winners: CQL (Americas) | Web Force 5 (APAC) | Quba Digital (EMEA)

B2B Excellence Award: Awarded to agency partners that consistently demonstrate superiority at meeting the complex needs of BigCommerce’s B2B merchants.

Winners: VSG Commerce | (Americas) | Orange Digital (APAC) | Brave Bison (Greenlight Digital) (EMEA)

Omnichannel Solutions Award: Awarded to agency partners that provide outstanding omnichannel services for BigCommerce merchants by being well-versed in social commerce, connecting in-store and online experience, email strategy services, lead generation SEO, marketplace strategy and/or performance marketing.

Winners: Arctic Leaf (Americas) | Moustache Republic (APAC) | Space 48 (EMEA)

User Experience & Design Award: Awarded to agency partners who have an exceptional talent for creating beautiful, world-class BigCommerce storefronts that enhance the shopper’s experience.

Winners: Codal (Americas) | Matter Design & Digital (APAC) | Eurostep (EMEA)

Creative Problem Solving Award: Awarded to agency partners with an exceptional talent for using innovative thinking to create powerful online shopping experiences.

Winners: Arizon Digital (Americas) | Moustache Republic | (APAC) | Like Digital (EMEA)

Headless Commerce Award: Awarded to agency partners who leverage BigCommerce’s open APIs to deploy headless storefronts that power customized and engaging shopping experiences.

Winners: The ZaneRay Group (Americas) | Raak (APAC) | Wunderman Thompson Commerce (EMEA)

Regional Partner of the Year: Awarded to agency partners who are accelerating BigCommerce’s expansion into new countries through their local domain expertise and successful client storefront launches.

Winners: Gluo (Americas) | Madive (APAC)
Winners EMEA: Wallmander (Nordics) | De Nieuwe Zaak (Benelux) | ACTUMDigital (DACH) | Digital YOU (Iberia) | Emankina (France) | Calicantus (Italy) | Space 48 (UK)

Excellence in Delivery Award: Awarded to agency partners that consistently demonstrate the ability to successfully launch their clients’ BigCommerce storefronts on time and within budget, with high levels of customer satisfaction.

Winners: Trellis (Americas) | Matter Design & Digital (APAC) | De Nieuwe Zaak (EMEA)

Community Awards: Awarded to agency partners who have exhibited a commitment to growing, supporting and contributing to an ecosystem of developers working on, and around, the BigCommerce platform.

Global Winner: Space 48

2022 BigCommerce Tech Partner Winners

Tech Partner of the Year: Awarded to technology partners whose integration features a superior user experience demonstrated by a high volume of installation and positive user reviews plus successful co-marketing activity over the last year.

Winners: PayPal/Braintree (Americas) | Klaviyo (APAC) | Adyen (EMEA)

Innovative Integration Award: Awarded to technology partners that have built a new integration or feature that solves a critical need for BigCommerce merchants.

Winners: Gorgias (Americas) | Stripe (APAC) | JMango B2B (EMEA)

Customer Growth Award: Awarded to technology partners whose outstanding solution has generated the most revenue growth for BigCommerce merchants.

Winners: Affirm (Americas) | Searchspring (APAC) | Bloomreach (EMEA)

Think Big Award: Awarded to technology partners for their collaborative efforts in driving high-quality referrals that produce the highest average revenue for BigCommerce.

Winners: Acumatica the Cloud ERP (Americas) | Klaviyo (APAC) | Avasam (EMEA)

Best User Experience Award: Awarded to technology partners whose integration delivers a best-in-class user experience based on simplicity of app install and configuration process, ease of use and beautiful design.

Winners: Stamped.io (Americas) | Searchspring (APAC) | Sales Layer (EMEA)

Emerging Partner Award: Awarded to new technology partners whose solutions feature a superior user experience, outstanding customer reviews and a growing install volume.

Winner: Attentive (Americas) | Optty (APAC) | Scalapay (EMEA)

Open SaaS Innovation Award: Awarded to technology partners who leverage BigCommerce’s open APIs to enable merchants to build storefronts that power customized and engaging shopping experiences.

Winners: Contentstack (Americas) | Akeneo (APAC) and (EMEA)

New Frontier Award: Awarded to technology partners whose solutions have enabled BigCommerce merchants to expand their business into new countries.

Winners: Mercado Pago (Americas) | Optty (APAC) Vercel (EMEA)

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Swiftly Systems, Inc and Webstop Announce New Mobile Partnership

STS News Desk

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February 27, 2023

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Swiftly Systems, Inc and Webstop Announce New Mobile Partnership

***Swiftly to bring best-in-class mobile app solution functionality to* Webstop‘s current 2,000+ store *client base***

Swiftly, a best-in-class retail technology company that delivers omnichannel tools for enterprise retailers, today announced that it has partnered with Webstop, the leader in digital solutions built for regional and independent grocers, to bring expanded mobile solutions to Webstop’s client base. Webstop will leverage Swiftly’s advanced mobile app platform to bring its customers improved features and a functionality that enable its retail partners to capture their share of the $100 billion retail media market.

The combination of rising inflation and economic uncertainties have made today’s consumers savvier and more selective than ever before. Driven by the pursuit of savings, shoppers are relying heavily on digital tools such as mobile apps, digital coupons, loyalty programs, digital circulars and other solutions, to find the best deals to stretch their dollars. Shoppers rely on their mobile devices to help them navigate their shopping journey, whether that means researching products online, browsing in-store, comparing prices, or looking for a brick-and-mortar store to make their final purchase. With over 6 billion smartphone users across the globe, the importance of a mobile-first approach and bridging the gap between digital to in-store is critical to retailer success.

The partnership with Webstop is designed to put the power back in the hands of the regional, independent grocers, and enable them to leverage their unique strengths. Through this partnership, retailers will be equipped to meet the expectations of today’s hybrid shopper by utilizing Webstop’s web-based digital platforms as well as Swiftly’s mobile app technologies to deliver a seamless, personalized experience for shoppers, while increasing revenue and driving long-term loyalty both online and in-store.

“As the threat of industry consolidation increases, regional retailers must take action now in order to secure their digital customer relationships and establish long-term loyalty and revenue,” said Henry Kim, co-founder and CEO of Swiftly. “Competition for engineering resources and budget remain ongoing challenges for independent grocers. The ability to offer our mobile solutions to Webstop’s customer base will enable retailers to compete with ecommerce giants while boosting shopper engagement and driving margin-rich revenue.”

“We are excited to partner with Swiftly and help better equip regional grocers with the mobile app tools they need to successfully compete in today’s evolving retail market,” said Shawn Tuckett, CEO of Webstop. ” With Swiftly’s powerful mobile platform, our grocers can now leverage their nimbleness to gain a competitive edge while also increasing loyalty, sales and basket size.”

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Xerox to Showcase Scalable Digital Print Technologies and Automated Workflow Solutions at Hunkeler Innovationdays 2023

STS News Desk

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February 27, 2023

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Xerox to Showcase Scalable Digital Print Technologies and Automated Workflow Solutions at Hunkeler Innovationdays 2023

Beginning today through March 2, Xerox will present its portfolio of innovative digital print solutions to help print providers grow their business and deliver high-quality output for customers at Hunkeler Innovation Days (HID) in Lucerne, Switzerland. Xerox will showcase its end-to-end production print ecosystem from feeding to finishing to the Xerox Baltoro HF Inkjet Press and Xerox Iridesse Production Press that help print providers create stunning output for their customers in an automated and efficient way.

“Xerox continues to invest in our portfolio of scalable production print technologies using AI, AR and data analytics to advance productivity and speed print providers on their digital transformation journey”

Also featured is the company’s automation workflow software, including:

New FreeFlow Vision with Predictive Analytics: eliminates time-consuming manual tasks, boosts capacity and reduces operating costs.
CareAR Assist Service Management Software: prevents and resolves problems using guided visual support reducing equipment downtime.
XMPie’s personalization platform: delivers data-driven and personalized communications and fully automated omnichannel campaign management.

These workflow solutions use automation and machine learning to help print providers improve workplace productivity, decrease turnaround times, and reduce costs to deliver a better customer experience.

“Xerox continues to invest in our portfolio of scalable production print technologies using AI, AR and data analytics to advance productivity and speed print providers on their digital transformation journey,” said Tracey Koziol, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer, Xerox. “Over the four-day event, we are delighted to share how our end-to-end production print ecosystem can help meet the varying needs of print providers and their customers.”

Xerox will further highlight its full spectrum of color and digital enhancements with Beyond CMYK that enable print providers to capture new business with applications that help their customers stand out from the crowd and in turn drive more revenue and profit.

In addition to Xerox’s exhibit located in Hall 2, booth 7 at Messe Luzern, the company is attending the Hunkeler Print Partner Conference and delivering a presentation on digital transformation during the DoxNet conference.

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Pagos Raises $34M to Expand Vital Cost and Revenue-Impacting Payment Intelligence for Any Business Selling or Billing Online

STS News Desk

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February 27, 2023

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Pagos Raises $34M to Expand Vital Cost and Revenue-Impacting Payment Intelligence for Any Business Selling or Billing Online

Built by former Braintree and PayPal executives, the company’s bird-themed SaaS platform turns complex payment data into real-time actionable insights backed by a suite of tools to optimize payments performance

Pagos, a payment intelligence company that empowers businesses to optimize their digital payment infrastructure and maximize revenue, lower payments costs, and reduce fraud, announced an oversubscribed $34 million Series A investment led by Arbor Ventures, a global fintech-focused venture firm. Additional participating investors include Point 72 Ventures, Infinity Ventures and Underscore VC, which led the company’s $10 million seed round in 2021. This latest round of funding will be used to expand the Pagos engineering team and advance the platform’s enterprise product suite of Parrot, Peacock, Canary, Toucan, and Loon.

With more than 1 billion transactions analyzed per year, the Pagos platform is trusted by many of the world’s largest online brands such as Adobe, Eventbrite, GoFundMe, and Warner Bros Discover. Global digital payments revenue is expected to reach $14.79 trillion by 2027, so payment infrastructure has never been more critical. However, as payment technology becomes increasingly essential, the associated costs and complexities have also surged, leading many businesses to miss out on significant revenue opportunities while also racking up high payment acceptance costs – a particularly worrisome reality given ongoing economic volatility.

“Payment processing is fundamental to customer relationships, revenue, and a business’s bottom line, but most companies don’t have the data, knowledge, or tools to develop and execute on a best-in-class payments performance strategy. Even the small number of companies that do have those resources are leaving money on the table,” said Klas Bäck, co-founder and CEO of Pagos. “Our platform helps companies understand and act on the data that already exists within their payments environment, allowing them to better support changing consumer behavior and demands, reduce their operating costs, increase their revenue, and mitigate unnecessary customer friction—all without having to change their current payments infrastructure.”

“Payments is becoming a critical performance driver for businesses of all sizes and Pagos offers a unique payments and data intelligence platform that not only helps merchants better understand their existing payments infrastructure but also offers a suite of tools to deliver on the insights it generates,” said Peter Sanborn at Arbor Ventures. “In an economic environment where businesses are becoming more focused on balancing top-line growth with improved margins and profitability, the Pagos platform is exceptionally well-placed to help customers achieve these goals by optimizing their payments infrastructure. We’re thrilled to lead the company’s opportunistic Series A and to support the Pagos team as they extend their platform and further scale their customer base”.

Pagos has introduced a suite of composable payments intelligence and action tools which can be used on top of businesses’ existing payments processing infrastructure. For example, their most colorful bird, Peacock, provides a user-friendly dashboard enabling businesses to see, analyze, and act on payments data across vendors, channels, and markets – a common challenge for large multinational brands—and it’s all available via simple low code / no-code integrations with payment processors like Adyen, Braintree, Chase, PayPal, Stripe, WorldPay and more. Once payments insights are visible in Peacock, companies can build a flywheel of payments optimization with easy-to use APIs which enable companies to:

Improve customer conversion
Optimize recurring billing to reduce churn
Dissect and analyze decline codes
Identify optimal payment methods and routes
Determine when, where, and why chargebacks occur
Track payments and chargeback metrics by sub-merchant or channel
Conduct A/B testing and monitor payment method to improve processing performance

Pagos adds value throughout the payment ecosystem, including for service providers like Ravelin, a fraud and payment authentication solution. Jeremy Jonker from Infinity Ventures emphasizes this point, noting, “Pagos has gotten attention not only from companies selling online, but also the companies supporting them: fraud providers, acquirers, payment service providers, payment orchestration platforms, vertical SaaS players, and billing engines.”

Pagos was founded in 2021 by former leaders at Braintree, Venmo, PayPal, Stripe, eBanx, Klarna and Apple, who know first-hand how difficult it is for companies to understand and optimize their digital payment processes, and their products resonate with businesses like GoFundMe: William Roberts, Vice President Payments, Risk, Compliance, and Platform Integrity, said “GoFundMe is committed to providing a safe and trusted place to give and receive help, and Pagos’ tools help us be even more proactive in protecting our global community. Pagos’ formidable birds ensure we are able to proactively monitor our global business down to the BIN level to stay ahead of fraud while optimizing our payment performance.”

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FutureDial’s New Decision Manager Automates Workflows at Mobile Device Refurbishing Operations

STS News Desk

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February 27, 2023

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FutureDial’s New Decision Manager Automates Workflows at Mobile Device Refurbishing Operations

***Customizable system automates “if-then” workflow decision handling and routing of* *mobile devices undergoing refurbishment processing at mobile supply chain warehouses***

FutureDial Incorporated, the leading provider of automation, information and logistics management solutions for the mobile device industry, announced the launch of its newest innovation ― Decision Manager™, which automates “if-then” business rule decision-making for processing pre-owned mobile phones in refurbishing warehouses.

For over 20 years, FutureDial has been delivering innovations for the reverse logistics industry in the mobile supply chain. Decision Manager™ is the latest addition to FutureDial’s proven platform of automation solutions with cutting-edge technology for the mobile phone refurbishment industry. Over 1.5 billion tests have been performed on mobile devices with FutureDial solutions.

Innovative Technology Enhances Decision-Making at Refurbishment Facilities
Decision Manager™ automates decision-making at warehouse operations, providing automated guidance to expedite handling and routing decisions, reducing bottlenecks and errors. The system automates customer’s predefined business rules to provide timely and precise guidance throughout the processing line, expediting workflow and improving efficiency.

According to Angel Anderson, FutureDial’s Product Solution Manager, “We designed Decision Manager to automate the customer-specific ‘if-then’ business rules and logic which drive everything about how a mobile device is processed and handled at various touchpoints in a refurbishment operation. Flexible workflows are seamlessly applied device by device. Each device’s unique condition drives individual decisions and routing. This system is special in that it doesn’t just assign the same routing for batches of devices; it’s all situationally determined, based on the unique device flowing at that time.”

Removing the Guesswork from Processing Decisions
Decision Manager™ is customizable to different use cases throughout the processing operation. FutureDial’s Chief Strategy Officer, Steve Manning, spoke about the removal of guesswork, enhancement of decision-making and streamlining of workflows for mobile device processing: “We are excited to bring this game-changing technology to the market. Decision Manager is extremely flexible across a variety of use cases. The system streamlines operator workflows, to process more phones in less time and with greater efficiency.”

Standalone or Integrates with Customer Systems
Decision Manager™ can operate as a standalone product or it can be integrated with other FutureDial solutions such as SMART Receive™, as well as with a customer’s existing Warehouse Management System or other external systems. As a cloud-based solution, Decision Manager™ is not software that is installed, rather it integrates with other systems and there are no hardware components needed.

Angel Anderson explains that “a key advantage of Decision Manager is that no extensive hard-coding of customer-specific ‘if-then’ logic is needed at the customer’s system-level; just some straightforward integration is all that is needed. This task is outsourced to the system’s cloud level, saving engineering time and effort on the customer side. The system is highly customizable and easily adaptable to unique business rules, seamlessly integrating with existing infrastructure and scalable for growth.”

Easy Configuration for Effective Deployment
Decision Manager™ is designed for easy configuration of rule profiles and easy operation. Admins use a simple console to create, select and load the “if-then” business rule profiles they need for their operations, and all systems interact with Decision Manager™ via the Cloud interface. This provides customers with a centralized location to store and easily configure their business rules (“if-then” decision/condition logic) for all touchpoints in their mobile device processing operation.

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Conversica Launches First Enterprise-Ready GPT-Powered Chat Solution

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February 27, 2023

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Conversica Launches First Enterprise-Ready GPT-Powered Chat Solution

Conversica Chat Uniquely Leverages the Best of Generative AI Technology with Enterprise-Ready Capabilities to Deliver Hyper-Personalized Experiences and Drive Revenue Growth

Conversica, Inc., the leading provider of Conversation Automation solutions for enterprise revenue teams, will showcase Conversica Chat, the first generally available GPT-powered chat solution for enterprise use during the B2B Marketing Exchange (B2BMX) conference being held this week in Scottsdale, AZ.

Since 2020, Conversica has been incorporating the latest Generative AI and multiple large language models (LLM) into its solutions. With Conversica Chat for the enterprise, users are able to engage in ongoing, personalized interactions that provide highly relevant information and resources to support them through their buying processes, with a host of capabilities that truly make this technology consumable by the Fortune 100.

“GPT and large language models have been the foundation of Conversica’s Conversation Automation solutions for several years,” said Jim Kaskade, CEO of Conversica. “Our aim has always been to disrupt the industry by combining GPT technologies with the enterprise-scale features that customers demand. Conversica Chat is only the beginning of the customer journey. Our Powerfully Human™ conversation technology engages users in a humanlike way throughout the buyer lifecycle, across all communication channels. These capabilities make Conversica’s AI automation solutions mission-critical to customers of all sizes.”

In addition to advanced Generative AI models, Conversica Chat has key components that make it ready for enterprise use, including:

Brand Domain Knowledge: Conversica Chat enables organizations to train the AI to represent their specific brand tone, vernacular, offerings, and details.
Brand Secure Governance: Conversica Chat specifically represents brands with built-in guard rails that guarantee consistent, brand-safe responses which redirect and avoid discrimination constructs such as sexism and hate speech.
Outcome-Based Conversations: Conversica Chat engages users beyond Q&A to drive specific business outcomes, actively and autonomously progressing leads through the funnel rather than just gathering contact information and passing leads to human employees.
Multi-Channel and Multi-Lingual Support: Support for over 100 languages with rich, dynamic GPT-enabled conversations that span the entire communication spectrum: email, SMS, messaging applications, on social media, over voice, or even via in-store digital signage.
Use Cases Across the Lifecycle: Conversations that begin with chat on brands’ websites continue long after the windows close via two-way engagement from top of the funnel to purchase, complex retention, renewal, and expansion discussions.

“We’ve been working with Conversica on conversational AI solutions for the ability to connect with our fans directly, quickly help answer any questions, or guide them to the next step in their buying journey,” said David Walkovic, Senior Director of Ticket Sales for the Louisville City Football Club, which recently adopted Conversica Chat. “Conversica Chat amplifies these capabilities and offers us the opportunity to better serve our fans with cutting-edge technology.”

A recent survey conducted by Conversica shows that the majority of buyers are not satisfied with the standard chatbot experience, causing missed revenue opportunities for businesses. Four out of five enterprise buyers abandon the chat experience if the answers don’t address their unique needs when evaluating a potential vendor. They want fast, accurate answers relevant to their situation, and they’re not getting it from the first-gen, scripted chatbots generally in use today.

“As consumers continue to become familiar with GPT capabilities and enjoy their experiences, they will increasingly expect enterprise-class, GPT-enabled conversations across every communication channel in their native language when interacting with any and all businesses, brands, and organizations. Conversica is the only conversational AI company that’s truly leveraging Generative AI and GPT technologies to create life-like, two-way conversations with prospects and existing customers that help find and convert revenue opportunities,” added Kaskade.

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Fulfil Solutions Emerges From Stealth With Revolutionary Robotic Automation to Make Online Grocery Profitable

STS News Desk

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February 27, 2023

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Fulfil Solutions Emerges From Stealth With Revolutionary Robotic Automation to Make Online Grocery Profitable

Fulfil’s robot-powered automated store enables The Save Mart Companies to delight customers with accurate grocery orders packed and delivered fast and at ultra-low cost
Robotics startup announces $60 million in Series B financing by Eclipse, Khosla Ventures and DCVC

Robotics startup Fulfil Solutions unveiled a fully automated platform to revolutionize online grocery by making it profitable and socially responsible. Unlike other automation being tested in the grocery industry, Fulfil’s robots do all the picking and packing across all product categories and temperature states. As it emerged from stealth, the robotics startup also announced that it recently closed a $60 million Series B round of funding led by Eclipse with participation from Khosla Ventures and DCVC.

Fulfil’s robotics platform uniquely solves several challenges in the online grocery business. Although grocery e-commerce has soared in popularity since the pandemic and is expected to see annual sales double to $200 billion in the US alone by 2027, the cost to manually fulfill online grocery orders results in a loss – even before delivery costs are factored in. As a result, online grocery is very expensive for customers, pick-up can be inconvenient, and product substitutions occur frequently. Moreover, inefficient inventory management in grocery stores is a key reason a third of food is wasted globally – resulting in carbon emissions from food waste being nearly equal to that of all road transportation, combined, according to the United Nations.

“With Lucky Now, powered by Fulfil’s robotic automation, we are excited to offer the best value on local and fresh products that our shoppers have come to know and trust.”

“To address the many challenges facing online grocery, retailers must adopt efficient automation that substantially reduces costs and provides the accuracy, quality and convenience customers expect,” said Fulfil CEO and President Mir Aamir. “That’s why our fully automated solution represents such a revolutionary step forward. Not only does it make online grocery retailing profitable while meeting customer expectations, but it also prioritizes social and environmental responsibility by cutting carbon emissions, eliminating food waste and enabling healthier food to reach more households at lower cost.”

Fulfil opened its first automated dark store, or micro-fulfillment warehouse, a few months ago in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Mountain View, in partnership with The Save Mart Companies, to power a same-day grocery delivery and pick-up service called Lucky Now. Within minutes of receiving an order, Fulfil’s robots accurately pick all categories of groceries – including refrigerated and frozen goods. The robots then bring packed grocery bags to a waiting area where drivers collect them. To see a video of the robots in action at the Mountain View facility,

Fulfil’s differentiated platform leverages advanced AI, machine learning, and optical and sensor technologies to enable next-generation inventory management and quality control. Within the warehouse, Fulfil’s proprietary dispense stations handle any grocery item with computer-vision precision, and sensor fusion algorithms confirm that every item is packed successfully. Fulfil’s mobile robots split and sequence items to prevent damage and minimize pack time, while dispense stations redistribute inventory to balance load. A database tracks every item’s location, origin and expiration for a new level of real-time inventory management that enables perfect order accuracy and minimizes waste.

“The Save Mart Companies is thrilled to embrace innovative technologies that help deliver on-demand groceries to our customers on their own terms,” said Shane Sampson, Executive Chairman of the Board, The Save Mart Companies. “With Lucky Now, powered by Fulfil’s robotic automation, we are excited to offer the best value on local and fresh products that our shoppers have come to know and trust.”

“Today’s online grocery business is built on manual, wasteful and expensive processes. Mir and the team at Fulfil have successfully developed a highly differentiated, full-stack solution to automate the $1 trillion grocery industry by automating all picking and packing,” said Jay Knafel, Early Growth Partner at Eclipse. “We’re thrilled to continue our support of Fulfil, by leading their Series B, as they demonstrate their ability to unlock value for businesses and end customers, while advancing sustainability goals.”

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Business Leaders are Turning to AR to Onboard and Train Frontline Workers

Hendrik Witt

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February 27, 2023

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Business Leaders are Turning to AR to Onboard and Train Frontline Workers

For the past few years, America’s workforce has experienced intense disruption from a multitude of challenges, such as the pandemic, digital transformation and what is being called “The Great Resignation.” This disruption has rippled throughout industries, forcing organizations to embed processes to adapt and causing workers to change jobs at much greater rates. While employees in all kinds of jobs are those hitting the exits, many of them are frontline workers.

No matter the role, onboarding a new employee requires supervised training before undertaking productive work. This training often falls to the veterans in an organization and ends up taking away valuable time from their own responsibilities. By finding ways to shorten the duration of initial training — e.g., showing new hires the tasks, tools, procedures, and policies that come with employment — a new hire can become a productive employee more quickly and the veteran employee can resume their normal work sooner. A growing number of employers are looking to advanced technologies, including wearables and augmented reality (AR), to achieve this goal.

Turning To Technology

Many organizations rely on outdated training methods, using paper-based manuals, e-learning or instructional videos. These training methods feature minimal interaction and do little to teach the person the job they’ll do.

But with the emergence of advanced technologies, such as AR, companies are starting to realize there is an alternative to the old and outdated methods of employee recruitment and training. According to a recent survey TeamViewer conducted, 86% of respondents found AR has improved the quality of their training. Additionally, companies training with AR are 2.5 times more likely to hit their onboarding goals.

As an example of how augmented reality is being used, AR-enabled smart glasses can serve as a live training aid, helping new team members solve problems with the assistance of experienced team members. A manufacturing worker can learn how to use specific machinery without hands-on training. More immersive on-the-job onboarding can reduce training time, create highly efficient learning environments and foster employee acceptance.

How AR Connects Employees

Here’s where mixed reality becomes a practical use case in the industrial metaverse, a new ecology of deep integration between new information, new tech and the real economy. Smart glasses can provide employees with hands-free step-by-step instructions that take them through the tasks they’ll be required to perform. Workers will quickly understand how to complete each task and not depend on an experienced employee to supervise them for any significant length of time.

If an employee has a question or needs assistance, a team member can see exactly what they see through their smart glasses and provide additional instruction. This makes training faster and more efficient. It also engages employees more in their work than the traditional training materials mentioned earlier. Here are a few other ways that training using AR could work:

A worker puts on smart glasses and uses a personalized QR code to log in to a training library of personalized content.
The employee uses voice commands to pick the appropriate video and is led through a series of tasks.
AR can ensure the employee follows proper protocols, such as wearing protective equipment. The system could stop the employee from performing the next task until they’ve completed all appropriate steps.
Instructions, tips and best practices can be transmitted to the glasses via text, voice recording or video.
Throughout the training, the employee sees the desired outcome of the workflow. Once training is finished, they return to the main menu and can repeat the training, start a new session or complete the work without a visual aid.

Promising Returns For HR Leaders

While companies benefit tremendously when infusing their onboarding and training processes with AR, they are also seeing improvements in their bottom line. Our survey found that 80% of onboarding leaders expect frontline employee productivity to increase in 2023 due to new technology, while 67% said that training with augmented reality is becoming a key competitive advantage.

These capabilities also benefit existing employees using the same technology for upskilling. This keeps employees engaged in their careers as they continue to receive new training and skills that increase their value. This will help retain workers who felt in the past like they reached a ceiling at an organization.

Before embracing AR as a strategic tool for training and retaining frontline workers, however, there are a few things companies should consider:

Understand how to initiate a successful implementation. Existing platforms and teams will likely need to be involved, including your IT department. Determine a budget and what’s possible in-house versus through a partner. As efforts scale, a combination of in-house and third-party will be common.
Ensure needed integration between software and wearables. Lack of the necessary integration remains a primary obstacle to realizing ROI. Take stock of existing platforms and sentiment toward them, and then identify potential integration synergies, as well as obstacles. Having a device management platform that supports smart glasses could make content delivery and support easier.
Identify your hardware needs. Hands-free will likely be the first critical facet to understand and will dictate much of the discussion afterward. If hands-free data access is needed, then smart glasses are the solution of choice.

The role of frontline workers continues to change and business leaders need to recognize this shift. The Great Resignation and Great Reshuffle pose challenges for businesses, but the ones who can adapt to the needs of workers and create an engaging environment will continue to thrive.

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Write in to psen@itechseries.com to learn more about our exclusive editorial packages and programs.

Business Leaders are Turning to AR to Onboard and Train Frontline Workers

Turning To Technology

How AR Connects Employees

Promising Returns For HR Leaders

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Business Leaders are Turning to AR to Onboard and Train Frontline Workers

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Swiftly to bring best-in-class mobile app solution functionality to Webstop‘s current 2,000+ store client base

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Write in to psen@itechseries.com to learn more about our exclusive editorial packages and programs.

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Customizable system automates “if-then” workflow decision handling and routing of mobile devices undergoing refurbishment processing at mobile supply chain warehouses

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Fulfil’s robot-powered automated store enables The Save Mart Companies to delight customers with accurate grocery orders packed and delivered fast and at ultra-low cost

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Write in to psen@itechseries.com to learn more about our exclusive editorial packages and programs.

Turning To Technology

How AR Connects Employees

Promising Returns For HR Leaders

Popular Posts

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Visit Out Other Sites

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Interested in our Customized Editorial Services?

Please fill your details and we'll get in touch with you!

***Swiftly to bring best-in-class mobile app solution functionality to* Webstop‘s current 2,000+ store *client base***

***Customizable system automates “if-then” workflow decision handling and routing of* *mobile devices undergoing refurbishment processing at mobile supply chain warehouses***