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SalesTechStar’s Sales Technology Highlights of The Week: Featuring Revenue Grid, Pipedrive, Spiff and more!

From discussing the importance of data to using AI to drive the retail sales experience: catch the latest thoughts, insights and practices from industry leaders from this weekly sales and salestech highlight:

 

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SalesTech Quote-of-the-Week!

Being data-savvy is also crucial in sales today. You need to use data to drive your sales strategy. Access to information on revenue, buying signals, and firmographics can help you find the best prospects and increase your chances of actually closing deals.

Ang McManamon, VP of Sales at Crunchbase

Top SalesTech News of the Week: 20th Feb to 24th Feb

SalesTech QnA with the Expert

Read More !

Selling is constantly evolving and the combination of virtual selling post-COVID and the flood of new technology has changed the skills required to be a high-performing salesperson.

Ben Calfee, VP Commercial Sales of Showpad

 

 

Top B2B Sales and SalesTech Articles on Scheduling Automation, Channel Partners, AI in Retail and more!

Missed The Latest Episode of The SalesStar Podcast? Have a quick listen here!

Episode 154: B2B Business Development Tips for 2023 with Brian Bero, cofounder and VP Sales, Strike Graph

Episode 153: Personalization and the Future of Sales with Collin Mitchell, Chief Evangelist at Humantic AI

Episode 152: Sales Compensation Best Practices for B2B Sales Teams with Grayson Morris, CEO at Performio

FourKites Research Report Highlights Evolving Challenges in Ocean Shipping, with 50 Percent of Shippers Having Zero Visibility into Ocean Freight

Supply chain stakeholders cite customer service, labour shortages and transportation costs as top concerns going into 2023

After a tumultuous three years for global supply chains, ocean freight stakeholders are under pressure from shifting economic conditions, geopolitical influences and labour challenges going into 2023. That’s according to a new survey released today by leading real-time supply chain visibility provider FourKites.

The survey polled over 350 supply chain professionals to shed light on the top issues facing the ocean shipping industry. The survey revealed that the past few years of supply chain disruptions — including COVID-19, market volatility, global political conflict, material shortages and extreme weather events — have driven 73% of respondents to invest in supply chain visibility, with 46% planning to invest more in 2023.

“Shippers and other players in the supply chain ecosystem are getting smarter about allocations by tapping into more reliable and real-time data, instead of guessing,” said industry expert Chris Stauber, Founder of VentureSoftPM. “They want to know, for instance, what the risk-versus-reward will be for going to an extra port or country to move their containers, or for shifting from one supplier to three for raw supplies. Additional investment is required to get better data, but the value of that data brings a huge reduction in risk.”

Read More: Mastering Sales in 2023 Will Require Masterful Outbound

“We are known in the industry as a leading air freight forwarder”

Other key survey findings include:

  • 50% of respondents reported having zero visibility into their ocean freight, with more than 20% relying on manual track-and-trace processes to track their ocean freight.
  • More than half of respondents were most concerned about labour challenges, high shipping costs and impacts to customer service, with 35% also reporting concerns around congestion at the ports.
  • 73% of respondents reported having some level of visibility into their over-the-road shipping.

The survey findings have been published in the report, The Great Reset: Ocean Shipping in a Post-Pandemic World. The report includes expert analysis on the current state of ocean shipping, predictions for 2023 and ways shippers can shore up their supply chains to build resilience for the future. Download a copy of the report here.

FourKites continues industry-leading ocean momentum

FourKites has seen continued growth in its ocean visibility business over the past year. The company now tracks 98% of global ocean container traffic across more than 270 lanes and 120 carriers, across every container port in North America and all major ports in Europe. Over the last 12 months, FourKites has tracked more than 1.3M ocean shipments — a 163% increase in ocean volume year-over-year — and has seen 70% growth in ocean customers year-over-year, with customers now including Cardinal Health, Arizona Tile, LyondellBasell, American Eagle Outfitters, McCain Foods, Roehm, Rove Concepts, Yamaha Motors and RCS Logistics.

A testament to the value of FourKites’ ocean visibility offerings, FourKites customer RCS Logistics reports that since deploying the FourKites platform — including the company’s groundbreaking Dynamic Ocean solution — in Q3 2022 to track ocean, drayage and OTR shipments, the company has achieved 7x growth in its domestic transport services, while its ocean freight business has grown 12x.

“We are known in the industry as a leading air freight forwarder,” notes Brian Aldridge, Senior Vice President of Sales, at RCS. “With FourKites, we’ve been able to elevate our ocean freight experience and connect the dots with other modes to truly differentiate ourselves in the market. Our customers and partners appreciate FourKites’ simple, modern interface, and the transparency it creates across their supply chain.”

FourKites’ Dynamic Ocean gives customers end-to-end precision ocean freight tracking, the most accurate predictive ETAs, and can easily integrate with their existing TMS. Additional capabilities help international shippers identify and mitigate the risks and costs associated with runaway demurrage and detention fees, and proactively manage exceptions. These include exception dashboards, notifications and alerts; analytics dashboards; and the ability to monetise the potential and actual financial impact.

Read More: SalesTechStar Interview with Matthew Sentena, Senior Vice President, Global Sales at Digital.ai

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

Medius Appoints Henrik Rosén as Chief Technology Officer

Medius, a leading provider of AP automation and wider spend management solutions, today announces the appointment of Henrik Rosén as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

As CTO, Rosén will drive Medius’s innovation activities, delivering] the established Medius product suite, developing new products, and doubling-down on providing value to the customer base. Rosén will lead the Research & Development (R&D) and the Customer Support organizations, and in addition also manage the Cloud Operations and the Security organization at Medius.

Formerly Senior Vice President of R&D at Medius, Rosén joined the company in 2011 and has been part of Medius’s journey for over 12 years, as the company has grown from a local Swedish software company to a global SaaS business. Based in Linkoping, Sweden, Rosén will be responsible for a globally distributed technology function, made up of almost 200 people, including the R&D headquarters based in Krakow, Poland, founded in 2009.

Read More: ProntoForms Announces Management And Board Changes

Prior to joining Medius, Rosén was part of the R&D leadership team at the ERP vendor IFS as the company grew into a global ERP player which today has 5,000 employees.

Henrik Rosén, CTO, Medius, comments: Sweden has a long history of innovation – home of household technology names like Spotify, Klarna, and Northvolt. Medius is now amongst those top technology actors, drawing on the winning-formula of exceptional talent in a relatively small and supporting technology ecosystem, and I’ve relished the opportunity to be a part of the Medius journey. In my new role as CTO, I’m excited to accelerate the innovation at Medius, investing in new technology areas which hold ample opportunity to ultimately bring more value to customers in this current economic climate.”

Read More: SalesTechStar Interview with Jason Smith, CEO at Klue

Jim Lucier, CEO, Medius, comments: “As we scale Medius into a billion-dollar growth company, Henrik will continue to play a key role in driving transformational change and spearheading technology leadership within the company – amplifying the importance of product and technology for Medius’s success.”

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

Rebuy Raises $17M Series A to Make Online Retail Personal

One-of-a-kind personalization platform supporting nearly 7,000 brands including Rhoback, Liquid Death, Patagonia, and Feastables, raises $17M Series A to reimagine online retail.

Rebuy, the premier personalization platform for online retailers, announced an oversubscribed $17M Series A round of funding. Combining the power and precision of artificial intelligence with the flexibility and scalability of no-code, low-code, and custom-code technology, Rebuy has quickly become one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in ecommerce. The round was led by M13, with participation from Dynamism Capital, R-Squared Ventures, and follow-on investments from Peterson Ventures and Sidekick Partners. The round also included strategic investments from Ben Jabbawy of Privy and Nik Sharma.

“Modern consumers expect buying experiences as unique as themselves, and Rebuy unlocks intelligent buying experiences for next-gen ecommerce with AI and intuitive technology. I’m thrilled about our next chapter and the opportunity to bring our solutions to more retailers and consumers worldwide.”

“From day one, Rebuy’s mission has been to unlock intelligent buying experiences for innovative brands across the world. Modern consumers expect buying experiences as unique as themselves, and Rebuy unlocks intelligent buying experiences for next-gen ecommerce with AI and intuitive technology,” says Rebuy CEO, and Co-Founder John Erck. “I’m thrilled about our next chapter and the opportunity to bring our solutions to more retailers and consumers worldwide.”

Read More: ProntoForms Announces Management And Board Changes

In the last year, Rebuy has tripled its revenue, released 218 new products or feature enhancements, and launched integrations with some of the most prominent solutions in ecommerce, including; Klaviyo, Attentive, and, Tapcart. Brands and agencies of every size and industry leverage Rebuy’s end-to-end personalization platform to deploy hyper-intelligent shopping experiences across every stage of the buying journey. Thousands of brands, including 10% of all Shopify Plus merchants are choosing Rebuy to elevate their online experience and unlock new revenue streams.

This new round brings Rebuy’s total funding to $21.5 million after raising a $4.4m seed round led by Peterson Ventures in late 2021. The additional investment will be used to enhance Rebuy’s intelligence engine, expand platform capabilities, and hire world-class talent. In addition, Rebuy will use the funds to accelerate the development of new and innovative products like Rebuy Search, Rebuy Intelligence Graph, and Visual Editor.

Read More: SalesTechStar Interview with Jason Smith, CEO at Klue

“Over the last several years, we’ve seen CAC levels rise over 50% in ecommerce. As a result, brands have shifted their focus to maximize every customer encounter on their site,” says Brent Murri, Principal at M13. “We were amazed by the results Rebuy’s customers saw after adding Rebuy’s personalized recommendation engine to their website. The increase in conversion rates and AOV provided immediate ROI to the brand. We see Rebuy as a must-have for direct-to-consumer brands in today’s competitive customer acquisition landscape.”

Additionally, Rebuy announced the addition of Jason Nelson as the new SVP of Revenue. Nelson’s deep ecommerce and SaaS experience will be instrumental in accelerating growth and expanding Rebuy’s global footprint.

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

As Cybercrime Soars in 2023, Texas Software Company Red Maple Offers Key Solutions for Retailers

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As cyberattacks soar in 2023, Texas software company Red Maple says the key to cybersecurity lies in the cloud.

Experts predict this year will be another record year for a familiar, dangerous, and costly threat to retailers: cyberattacks. According to a report from Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrime could cost its victims more than $8 trillion dollars worldwide and more than 90% of businesses are at risk. A Forbes study shows cybercriminals can hack 93% of company networks.

One key reason for this is more businesses and organizations are connected to more devices and exposed to more devices via the Internet, according to the Internet of Things (ioT). More organizations are also investing more money in security. So, the main cause of attacks, according to experts at the Thought Lab, is likely “misconfigurations, human error and poor maintenance.”

Read More: SalesTechStar Interview with Jason Smith, CEO at Klue

“Another strategy I recommend to retailers is to get out of the data storage business. Stop collecting and storing sensitive data – such as credit card numbers – on your website.”

— Patrick Hodo, CIO of Red Maple

Patrick Hodo is CIO of Texas-based software company Red Maple. He says the best option for protecting your company is by moving everything to the cloud. Hodo says this is a simple and cost-effective way to protect your data if you fall victim to a cyber-attack.

“Another strategy I also recommend to retailers and beyond is to get out of the data storage business. Stop collecting and storing sensitive data – such as credit card numbers – on your website. This simple step is key to mitigating attacks,” adds Hodo.

Hodo and his team at Red Maple developed an innovative and patented solution called Clever Division™ software. When using this system, retailers no longer have to collect the entire credit card number. So, if a hacker breaks in, there is nothing valuable to steal because this data is NOT stored online.

Clever Division is the one of the most secure PCI platforms available today. Here’s how it works:

1. Customers place their order and only enter a portion part of their credit card number.
2. The software sends the customer a two-factor authentication link where they can enter the rest of the credit card number via phone, text, or email.
3. Clever Division’s system then divides and scrambles the credit card data, locks it up in separate vaults, and send the business an encrypted token from their processor to verify the sale.

While using the cloud and NOT storing valuable date are two key tips to protect your valuable information from cyber criminals, there are a few other basic tools to protect your website from attacks. The Federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency offers these tips.

1. Install an SSL certificate. SSL, also known as Secure Sockets Layer. This protocol creates an encrypted link between a web server and a web browser.
2. Update your website on a regular basis.
3. Use strong passwords and encourage your team to do the same.
4. Back up your site often.
5. Train your staff about the importance of these steps.

Read More: Bright Pattern Announces Record Growth, Profitability, And Other 2022 Milestones

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DE Star: Web3 Fashion Startup Secures $700k in Angel Funding with Ambition to Bring Asian Heritages into the Metaverse

DE Star, a fashion startup founded by a Parsons alumni with the goal of developing a Web3 Asian-futuristic phygital co-creation fashion label, has recently completed its seed round financing.

DE Star, a fashion startup founded by a Parsons alumni with the goal of developing a Web3 Asian-futuristic phygital co-creation fashion label, has recently completed its seed round financing.

Creative directors have long played a crucial role in traditional fashion brands. Their ability to lead a brand in a new direction or rejuvenate an ailing brand can be invaluable. However, if talented directors become stagnant and fail to keep up with current trends, customers may become bored with homogenous products. The challenge of reducing the divide between customers and brands remains unresolved, however, web3 technology presents a potential solution.

DE Star is founded by Eva(Juewei) Liu, who brings a wealth of experience in the fashion industry, including working with top fashion venture capital firms, leading luxury groups, and education background in Parsons and Central Saint Martins. Eva has assembled a team of professionals with diverse skills, including veteran cryptocurrency traders, fashion investors, pioneering artists, and seasoned engineers. The upcoming first drop will be NFT created by global-renowned artists and give holders access to DE Star’s future drops, airdrop benefits, voting rights, and phygital exclusive events. The company’s mission is to create fashion that serves the next generation’s needs for self-expression, aesthetics, socialisation, participation, and democratic spirits in the metaverse by focusing on the needs and desires of customers. As Eva stated, “We are not creating fashion by one creative director, we are creating fashion by thousands of members who love Asian Art. DE is a fashion brand of the members, by the members, and for the members.”

Read More: Gartner Expects Sales Enablement Budgets To Increase By 50% By 2027

DE Star aims to make fashion more democratic and decentralised through its design, production, distribution, and ownership. The company’s community members play a key role in defining the brand’s Asian-futuristic aesthetic, philosophy, and future product releases. DE Star empowers community members through smart contracts and gamification, allowing them to shape the brand’s artworks and earn rewards such as loyalty benefits and secondary market resale revenue.

Read More: SalesTechStar Interview with Matthew Sentena, Senior Vice President, Global Sales at Digital.ai

DE Star leverages the power of NFTs, blockchain authentication, AIGC technology, augmented reality, and advanced manufacturing capabilities to democratize fashion design and empower people of all skill levels to create and sell their own fashion products. DE Star not only inherited the intangible cultural heritage of Asia and the civilization of Asia, but also the democratic spirit of The Enlightenment. The company believes that in the new metaverse, civilization should be futurized rather than allowed to perish, and is leading a DAO of artists, designers, fashion enthusiasts, and brands to redefine traditional Asian art and culture through the concept of Asian-Futurism.

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

Justuno and Growth Gurus Announce Conversion Audit Initiative To Improve Lifecycle Marketing for Merchants

Justuno Accepted Into New Shopify Plus Certified App ProgramJustuno, the leading website conversion optimization platform, announced a new initiative with conversion marketing agency Growth Gurus, taking their partnership to the next level to help e-commerce brands identify and implement holistic improvements to their entire marketing funnel.

In an effort to help brands grow in 2023, this new conversion audit will help brands identify hidden opportunities to make the most of their marketing efforts. The audit program focuses on three main areas: onsite experience, email marketing campaigns, and overall brand strategy.

Read More: Mastering Sales in 2023 Will Require Masterful Outbound

Through a clear understanding of a lifecycle marketing approach, Growth Gurus and Justuno seek to help brands bring a more connected approach to campaigns in 2023.

According to Olivia Thibault, a Senior Specialist in Lifecycle Marketing for Growth Gurus, and Dilyar Askar, Agency Partnerships Manager at Justuno:

“Growth Gurus combines high-level strategy with outstanding marketing technology to bring seamless integrations with unbeatable functionality. Our teams optimize your growth potential through not only the theory behind the strategy but the MarTech stack that can enable it seamlessly.”

Together the two companies are striving to help commerce brands continuously improve performance through the introduction of this conversion audit. Through consistently auditing the customer purchase experience, uncovering hidden opportunities and pitfalls—Growth Gurus and Justuno are ready to take conversion methodology to the next level.

Read More: SalesTechStar Interview with Matthew Sentena, Senior Vice President, Global Sales at Digital.ai

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

Cisive Appoints Don Clewell as Incoming Chief Revenue Officer

Global background screening and compliance solutions provider Cisive announces Don Clewell as its incoming Chief Revenue Officer.

Cisive, a global provider of compliance-driven human capital management and risk management solutions, announced Don Clewell as its incoming Chief Revenue Officer. Cisive is a portfolio company of GTCR, a leading private equity firm, which acquired the business in December 2021.

As CRO, Clewell will assist in optimizing the company’s business strategy, enable teams to achieve continued growth, and help to drive customer satisfaction as Cisive scales operations. “I’m excited to join Cisive at such a pivotal time in the company’s journey,” said Clewell. “This team is well-positioned for the scalability of services and reach, and I look forward to working with them to perfect processes and highlight Cisive’s value.”

Read More: Digital Business Growth Exploding in 2023

His impressive experience in sales leadership makes him an excellent addition to our executive team, as Cisive focuses on our continued growth worldwide

Don Clewell has over two decades of experience in sales leadership roles. His most recent position was at NielsonIQ, where he served as Senior Vice President of Sales, directing sales and driving key sales transformation efforts. Prior to his role at NielsonIQ, Clewell served 18 years at LexisNexis Risk Solutions in director and executive sales roles. There, he led a team of approximately 500 sales and sales operations professionals, consistently meeting revenue targets while growing market-leading positions in the Identity/Fraud and Financial Crime Compliance segments for the organization.

“Cisive is excited to welcome Don Clewell as our Chief Revenue Officer,” said Larry Neal, CEO at Cisive. “His impressive experience in sales leadership makes him an excellent addition to our executive team, as Cisive focuses on our continued growth worldwide. Don’s leadership will be key as we strategically position our company for a new era of rapid growth.”

Read More: SalesTechStar Interview with Jason Smith, CEO at Klue

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

Datalogic And Datema Take Self-Shopping to the Next Level With The Joya Touch 22

Datema Retail Solutions is a leading provider of self-scanning solutions to the retail industry with the software EasyShop. The new Joya Touch 22 is certified with EasyShop.

Datalogic, a global leader in the automatic data capture and factory automation markets, is excited to announce the release of the new Joya™ Touch 22 self-shopping device in partnership with Datema. The ultimate shopping companion is now better than ever.

Datema Retail Solutions is a leading provider of self-scanning solutions to the retail industry with the software EasyShop. The new Joya Touch 22 is certified with EasyShop.

Read More: SalesTechStar Interview with Matthew Sentena, Senior Vice President, Global Sales at Digital.ai

The Joya Touch 22 meets the most demanding self-scanning application requirements, effortlessly running Android™ OS with Google Mobile Services. The scintillating 4.3-inch display performs under the brightest of store lighting. The device is ruggedly designed and fully customizable externally in terms of color and branding, whether in PDA or pistol-grip form factor. The unique addition of wireless charging provides full battery capacity from a two-hour charge, and the boost recharge enables more than one hour of shopping time with a short 15-minute charge. You will no longer have to worry about damaged contact pins on your device or cradle leading to unplanned downtime due to maintenance. This boost to your ROI is further enhanced with device range backward compatibility with existing Joya Touch and Memor™ 1 accessories. The Joya Touch 22 is certified with Quuppa Intelligent Locating System™, adding the possibility to accurately track customer location indoors, ensuring they don’t miss out on the latest offers, promotions, and product locations in real-time.

Datema provides huge added value by delivering the EasyShop self-scanning solution on top of Datalogic’s embedded fully integrated software ecosystem, extending the capabilities of the Joya Touch 22 to provide a more tailored customer experience.

Read More: Mastering Sales in 2023 Will Require Masterful Outbound

“Datalogic recognizes the expertise and unique value that Datema adds to our self-shopping offering, helping the retailers ensure customer satisfaction and productivity with the best-in-class shopping experience”, declares Luigi Frison, Global ISV Partner Director at Datalogic.

“Datalogic is an innovative player in self-scanning for the retail market. The partnership between Datema and Datalogic unites two innovators that jointly create a new dimension of consumer shopping experience”, says Fredrik Englund, Managing Director of Datema Retail Solutions.

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

Bright Pattern Partners with German-Based SOGEDES to Deliver True Omnichannel CX Solutions to European Customers

Bright Pattern partners with German-based SOGEDES to deliver intelligent and creative customer experience solutions to clients in the DACH market to improve the way they deliver customer service.

Bright Pattern, a leading provider of cloud-based omnichannel contact center software for innovative companies, announces its partnership with SOGEDES, a leading provider of CX solutions in the German-speaking market, to provide innovative, creative, and cutting-edge omnichannel solutions to midsize and enterprise companies.

SOGEDES is a technology provider based in Germany providing contact center solutions to the DACH market, which includes Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. SOGEDES, for the last 20 years, focuses on maximizing efficiency in customer interactions, implementing best practices for customers in the way they communicate, and adding value to the way businesses interact with their customers. They are driven by using technology creatively in ways that add meaning and efficiency to every interaction. SOGEDES focuses on cloud-based omnichannel customer interactions, workforce management, and AI such as bot integrations and speech analytics.

Read More: SalesTechStar Interview with Jason Smith, CEO at Klue

Bright Pattern’s platform is fully omnichannel, and built to be omnichannel from day one. Bright Pattern can also easily integrate AI from the major AI providers, including Google, Microsoft, and IBM Watson. For this reason, Bright Pattern’s platform is perfect for delivering AI-powered omnichannel communications that maximize efficiency while personalizing the customer experience. By partnering with SOGEDES, Bright Pattern will help deliver on SOGEDES’s vision and deliver personalized, AI-driven omnichannel communications to the DACH market by providing a powerful cloud-based platform that can be customized to match any use case.

“SOGEDES’s vision of delivering creative, yet advanced contact center solutions to customers with omnichannel conversations, omnichannel quality management, and AI, perfectly matches Bright Pattern’s capabilities. Bright Pattern’s platform is enterprise-grade, flexible and robust, and will allow SOGEDES to fulfill their vision for delivering innovative CX in the DACH market ,” noted Michael McCloskey, CEO of Bright Pattern.

“Bright Pattern’s innovative solution will absolutely enrich our offering for the contact center market in the DACH region. In addition to best-of-class omnichannel management, innovative features such as the Bright Pattern Mobile App make the solution exceptional. With this app, we can bring the agent desktop to smartphones of on-field agents and mobile sales reps – people anywhere in the company, even outside the contact centre. A revolutionary extension of Omni-Enterprise CX™,” said Berndt Walz, Managing Director of SOGEDES.

Read More: Digital Business Growth Exploding in 2023

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