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Lucidworks Acquires Cirrus10, Global Ecommerce Service Provider, To Deepen Domain Expertise and Become A Leader in Digital Commerce Solutions

 Lucidworks, leader in AI-powered search, acquires Cirrus10, ecommerce solutions expert with more than 100 ecommerce customers. Lucidworks and Cirrus10 have worked together as partners for the past two years and now combine their domain expertise to provide more targeted solutions for different domains in the fast-moving ecommerce market.

Ecommerce companies face stiff competition to win sales and customer loyalty across all channels. Lucidworks’ AI-powered search produces relevant results, recommends products that meet customer goals, and predicts shopper intent to create a more engaging experience. Leading companies realize that powerful search is an effective way to boost their bottom line. In response, Lucidworks digital commerce base has been growing rapidly, particularly among the Fortune 1000.

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“As the experts in using search and AI to personalize user experiences, we want to be able to translate brand experiences to digital experience, which requires more subvertical knowledge. We realized that we could be doing even more for our customers,” says Will Hayes, Lucidworks CEO.

“The objectives of each customer whether apparel, home goods, travel, or hospitality, are unique, and we want to become a partner in understanding the strategic imperatives of those goals,” Hayes adds. “Cirrus10 has been integral in moving beyond Lucidworks Fusion AI-powered search capabilities to understand and impact what brands are doing in the verticals they serve. By acquiring Cirrus10, we can go beyond technology to understand the distinct demands of these organizations and move objectives forward more effectively.”

Cirrus10 was founded in 2010 by a team who shares decades of domain expertise working with search platforms including Solr, Fusion, and Endeca. The acquisition enhances Cirrus10’s impact on Fusion customers, and their expertise will drive Lucidworks’ roadmap, execution, and reach in the digital commerce field. They will help inform new product features to serve digital commerce customers while continuing to service their more than 100 existing implementations.

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“We felt an instant kinship with Lucidworks when we began our partnership in 2018,” says Peter Curran, Cirrus10 co-founder. “Fusion is the world’s only platform for extensible AI-driven search. Fusion elevated our service offerings by giving us a framework for exploring machine learning with our customers, and using it, we can build personalized and scalable relevancy models without a black box or army of data scientists. By combining Lucidworks search and AI expertise with our deep experience in the ecommerce space we can cement our role as digital commerce solution leaders.”

The acquisition follows a record year for Lucidworks. The company received significant funding in August 2019 to support company growth, product development, and territory expansion. The acquisition enables both companies to provide even more value to customers and empower them to create an online customer experience that drives their bottom line.

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Omnichannel Customer Engagement Solution Provider eGain to Present at the Annual Needham Growth Conference

eGain , the leading provider of omnichannel customer engagement solutions, announced it will present at the 22nd Annual Needham Growth Conference taking place January 14-15, 2020 at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York City.

eGain’s CEO Ashu Roy is scheduled to present on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 12:50 p.m. Eastern Time, with one-on-one meetings with institutional investors held throughout the day.

eGain customer engagement solutions deliver digital transformation for leading brands – powered by virtual assistance, AI, knowledge, and analytics. Our comprehensive suite of applications help clients deliver memorable, digital-first customer experiences in an omnichannel world.

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Melissa Celebrates 35 Years in Enterprise Data Quality

Unsurpassed Domain Knowledge and Technology Expertise Fuel Global Role in Improving Data for Analytics, CRM, Commerce, and Compliance

Melissa, a leading provider of global address, name, email, phone, and identity verification solutions, is celebrating its 35th anniversary with renewed commitment to continued growth and enterprise data quality leadership. The company’s longevity can be attributed to decades of address expertise and deep domain knowledge that builds the foundation for global intelligence – everything from demographic, business, location and identity data.  It is this foundation that empowers risk management, data-driven engagement, analytics, insight, and compliance.

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“This significant milestone demonstrates how Melissa products and solutions meet the rising data intelligence mandates throughout the world,” said Ray Melissa, president and founder, Melissa. “We’ve been around for decades because we understand the needs of the marketplace and we take action. We invest in developing smart data quality solutions that give enterprises a comprehensive competitive edge.”

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Addressing the most pressing data issues facing global businesses, the company has made available the 2020 Melissa Solutions Catalog, free to download as an updated resource on the importance of good data, along with tips and guidance for professionals at every step of the data chain. This handy guide includes insight on how to address the full spectrum of data quality from point-of-entry ID verification to deduping, as well as real-world cautions against the pitfalls of bad data and its negative impact to any business.

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Selligent Names Matthew Saskin as VP of Customer Experience

Former Dimension Data Leader to Accelerate Selligent CX Business Growth

 Selligent, the intelligent omnichannel marketing and experience cloud platform, announced that Matthew Saskin has joined the company as Vice President of Customer Experience. Saskin will help drive Selligent’s growing CX business, working with its burgeoning channel and technology partner community to enable businesses to deliver powerful end-to-end customer experiences.

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“The growing expectations to deliver transformative experiences shows no signs of slowing. A new era of real-time personalization will take off in 2020 as delivering connected customer experiences becomes a requirement, not just a differentiator for businesses,” said John Hernandez, CEO of Selligent. “Matthew has seen this evolution first-hand with his years-long background as both a practitioner and leader in digital strategy and CX. I could not think of a more experienced leader to work closely with our partners to enable their customers to execute and influence the entire customer journey using the Selligent platform.”

Saskin brings more than 15 years of CX and digital strategy experience to Selligent, most recently serving as VP and General Manager of Dimension Data’s Customer Experience practice for the Americas. While there, Saskin defined and executed against a multi-year growth plan, which led to substantial growth in professional, managed, and cloud services bookings. Prior to his role at Dimension Data, Matthew was global practice director at managed services provider, IPsoft, where he spearheaded its unified communications and contact center managed services practice, growing revenues from $0 to $20M ARR within two years.

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“I’ve always had a passion for using technology to deliver transformational business outcomes. I am very excited to join Selligent to usher in the next wave of experience-driven solutions,” said Saskin. “For years, organizations have struggled to break down silos across channels and functions to deliver end-to-end experiences – until now.  I look forward to working with the Selligent team to drive change across the industry with their game-changing platform, and witness its growing impact in helping organizations deliver high-quality experiences.”

Saskin joins Selligent on the heels of its continued CX ecosystem growth. In early December 2019, the company announced that it has joined Cisco’s SolutionsPlus program, bringing experience-driven solutions to Cisco’s customer base. Selligent has also announced technology integrations with Bucher+Suter, Calabrio and Upstream Works Software. The growing number of collaborations highlights the importance of connecting the customer experience across the silos of marketing, service and sales.

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Bazaarvoice names Keith Nealon as Chief Executive Officer

Bazaarvoice, Inc. announced that it has appointed Keith Nealon as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In his new role, Nealon will draw on over twenty years of experience with high-growth technology companies to help scale Bazaarvoice’s leadership position into new markets and areas of innovation. Joe Davis of Marlin Equity Partners has served as CEO since Marlin Equity acquired Bazaarvoice in February 2018; he will transition out of the CEO role and return to his original role as Operating Executive.

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“Keith is a seasoned entrepreneur and executive with a strong track record leading successful, client-focused growth. His technology and go-to-market experience is the ideal match for the business needs of Bazaarvoice,” said Joe Davis, Operating Executive, Marlin Equity Partners. “With expansion into international markets, acquisitions of new solutions, and organic roadmap acceleration over the last two years, Bazaarvoice is positioned for continued growth, and we look forward to Keith driving exponential success for the business and its clients.”

Most recently, Nealon was the Chairman and CEO of financial technology platform Vyze, which was acquired by Mastercard in April 2019. Prior to that, he held leadership roles at both private and public technology companies, including Adaptive Insights, Eloqua, ShoreTel, Conductor, and NaviSite.

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“Bazaarvoice pioneered the category of authentic reviews and user-generated content, serving as a trusted partner to the world’s leading brands and retailers,” said Nealon. “At a time when consumers increasingly insist on trustworthy user-generated content to make purchase decisions and brands and retailers seek to innovate on their go-to-market playbooks to drive revenue growth, Bazaarvoice is poised to deliver increased value to brands, retailers, and shoppers. Recent product innovations and acquisitions focused on driving measurable results for our customers have extended our leadership position and set us up for the next chapter in our company story, and I am excited to lead the business into its next phase.”

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VTEX Achieves AWS Retail Competency Status for its Innovative Commerce Offering

AWS Retail Competency Partners Provide Innovative Technology Offerings That Accelerate Retailers’ Modernization and Innovation Journey Across All Areas in the Enterprise.

VTEX Cloud Commerce Platform, a leading unified commerce solution serving brands and retailers in 28 countries, announced it has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Retail Competency status. This announcement validates VTEX’s innovative approach to digital commerce retail services and its proven record of global customer success.

The AWS Retail Competency Partners have demonstrated success in offering end-to-end solutions across Customer Engagement, Corporate Merchandising and Planning, Supply Chain and Distribution, Physical, Digital, and Virtual Store, Advanced Retail Data Science, Core Retail Business Applications, and Consulting Practices for Retail on AWS.

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AWS Retail Competency Partners undergo rigorous validation by AWS to ensure alignment to AWS best practices for building secure, high-performing, resilient and efficient cloud infrastructure for industry applications – to give customers an increased confidence when making decisions.

Achieving the AWS Retail Competency differentiates VTEX as an AWS Partner Network (APN) member that delivers highly specialized technical proficiency. To receive this designation, APN Partners must possess deep AWS expertise and deliver effective customer solutions seamlessly. This validation process ensures that customers can choose AWS Retail Competency Partners like VTEX with confidence.

“VTEX is proud to have achieved AWS Retail Competency status. This designation positions us to deliver even more value to our customers,” said Alexandre Soncini, VTEX North America General Manager. “Our unified commerce solution provides one of the fastest time-to-revenue in the industry. VTEX retailers can deliver Amazon-like experiences to their customers without the complex technology to manage, which grants them the freedom to focus on selling products.”

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Motorola has recently announced that it will implement the VTEX unified commerce platform to further strengthen its relationship with consumers and offer them a better online journey. “After an extensive search, Motorola decided to partner with VTEX, which uses AWS to provide an elastic cloud infrastructure, with a software platform that fulfills the digital vision of the company,” said François Laflamme, Motorola’s Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer.

“Many retailers are reinventing their operations and brand experience with new innovations in the cloud,” said Tom Litchford, Head of Retail Business Development, Amazon Web Services, Inc. “We are delighted to welcome VTEX to the AWS Retail Competency Program. Their solutions for retail operations, powered and vetted by AWS, can help our customers to accelerate their transformation, modernization, and customer engagement efforts.”

Achieving AWS Retail Competency status caps a banner year for VTEX. During Q4 of 2019, the company received a $140 million SoftBank-led investment round and was named a leading major player on the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled B2C Digital Commerce Platforms 2018 Vendor Assessment. In 2019, VTEX also marked three years in a row ranking in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce.

AWS is enabling scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from startups to global enterprises. To support the seamless integration and deployment of these solutions, AWS established the AWS Competency Program to help customers identify Consulting and Technology APN Partners with deep industry experience and expertise.

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Business Intelligence (BI) Platform Domo Gets Top Rank In Two New G2 Crowd Reports

Domo announced it has been named the top vendor in G2 Crowd’s latest Grid reports for Business Intelligence (BI) platforms and Mid-Market BI platforms, receiving high scores for ease of use, quality support and ease of doing business. Domo achieved a G2 Crowd score of 92 in the report for BI platforms and 91 in the Mid-Market report for BI platforms.

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“Domo helps customers of all sizes modernize and mobilize any business process, and it’s incredibly rewarding to be recognized for our leadership through real customer feedback,” said Josh James, founder and CEO, Domo. “No matter how many legacy BI or point data solutions customers have in place, we’ve found that customers still have significant unresolved data challenges that Domo can address to help them get BI leverage at cloud scale in record time.”

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G2 Crowd’s Grid is based on real, unbiased user reviews and rates platforms algorithmically from product reviews shared by G2Crowd users and data aggregated from online sources and social networks. The G2 Crowd ranking takes into account several factors buyers should consider including product attributes, vendor market presence, customer satisfaction, G2 Net Promoter Score and the quality and age of reviews. Vendors in both reports are ranked by customer satisfaction and market presence.

Domo’s mission is to be the operating system for business, digitally connecting all your people, your data and your systems, empowering them to collaborate better, make better decisions and be more efficient, right from their phones.

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GK Software Embeds Next-Generation Workforce Dimensions from Kronos Suite into OmniPOS Platform to Streamline Workforce Management

Partnership Empowers Associates to Manage All Schedule and Time-Related Administration Directly at the Point of Sale

GK Software announced a technology partnership with Kronos Incorporated to embed the next-generation Workforce Dimensions suite into GK’s OmniPOS platform. This partnership enables frontline retail employees to access the revolutionary workforce management solution from Kronos at every point of sale terminal and all GK OmniPOS touchpoints. This intuitive, frictionless interface establishes a more flexible and productive workplace environment that empowers employees and promotes more efficient and profitable store operations at organizations that deploy both solutions.

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GK Software’s cloud-enabled, agile OmniPOS platform has been identified as the most robust POS platform by Forrester and is one of the fastest-growing POS platforms worldwide. Workforce Dimensions is the first intelligent workforce management solution. The cloud-native suite leverages artificial intelligence to provide unprecedented real-time insights, recommendations, and analytics.

“By partnering with the established leader in workforce management applications for hourly employees, we are creating a unique opportunity for retailers to leverage a single, centralized platform to manage the full scope of their store operations,” said Michael Jaszczyk, CEO, GK Software USA. “Our focus on eliminating the friction associated with the checkout process perfectly aligns with the Kronos ethos of doing the same for workforce empowerment. Together, we can offer the most robust, simplified experience for store managers, associates and customers – a requirement for success in modern retail.”

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The integration of Workforce Dimensions into GK’s robust, cloud-enabled OmniPOS platform will allow employees to significantly reduce the time and complexity associated with managing administrative workforce processes. Now, they will have the ability to clock in and out, view their schedules, request and accept shift changes, manage time off and more, right at the point of sale. This increased flexibility will improve store efficiency, reduce administrative work, support real-time data-driven workforce optimization and improve the employee experience.

“Our technology partnership with GK is yet another example of the new era of efficiency for modern store operations,” said Michael May, senior director, Workforce Dimensions Technology Partner Network, Kronos. “We designed Workforce Dimensions from the ground up to easily integrate with and embed inside of workplace applications where employees already spend most of their day. This creates a more engaging workplace experience while allowing them to remain focused on customer service and driving the business forward.”

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Turn Small Business Saturday Traffic into Future Sales: Five Ways the Right CRM Can Help

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The holiday season has just ended, and for many small or mid-sized businesses (SMBs) that means the potential for big sales. Small Business Saturday (held the day after Black Friday) has become a beacon, driving shoppers to seek out and support local small businesses while on the hunt for the perfect gift.

In fact, Small Business Saturday continues to grow more popular each year, with 2018 posting records in both participation and spend with 104 million shoppers spending $17.8 billion. These numbers are astounding—and what would be even better is if you could turn Small Business Saturday traffic into consistent sales all year.

And, with that thought in mind, here are five ways your customer relationship management (CRM) system can help you turn your next Small Business Saturday or Holiday period into future sales.

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Not an Island

When Small Business Saturday drives customers to seek out your product, it’s vital that you take the opportunity to collect their contact information and log it in your CRM. However, the right CRM doesn’t exist on its own separate from Sales, Customer Service, Marketing, and Product Development. Instead, the right SMB CRM will have integrations to work for, and with, all of these teams and support important functions like Email Marketing and Marketing Automation to help you turn valuable Small Business Saturday leads into not only holiday sales but year-round customers.

Establish a Relationship

Small Business Saturday is all about supporting and connecting with local small businesses. The customers who participate truly care about your business and want you to succeed. They also want to hear from you, but it’s imperative you make the effort to learn how, when and where to reach them. And don’t feel limited by geography. Social media provides an opportunity to reach a targeted audience for your products and services at a key time of year when customers are particularly receptive to purchasing from a small business. Build a relationship with these customers through lead nurturing and follow up with email marketing and promotional information.

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On average, 61 percent of customers report wanting a promotional email at least once a week, but that drops to 15 percent when asked about daily contact. The trick is to figure out what’s right for your business and customers. The right CRM will help you capture critical information about open rates, click-through-rates (CTRs), unsubscribe rates and more—and allow you to share this data across your Sales and Marketing teams. Reviewing this information and adjusting accordingly will ensure you’re communicating with your customers in a way that will help drive future transactions and establish a positive relationship.

Actionable Customer Information

A comprehensive CRM can not only help you capture customer information such as how your clients found you and how they prefer to receive communication, but the right SMB CRM can also utilize predictive technology to help you determine the best course of action moving forward. Predictive technology uses trends to identify which Email Marketing, content and offers will perform best and will even be able to identify which types of offers generate the most sales. This type of analysis could be used to present appealing offers outside of the holiday season, allowing your Small Business Saturday leads to become regular customers.

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Customization is Key

When it comes to sales and managing customer relationships, SMBs will want a CRM that’s highly customizable, offering the flexibility they need based on their industry, business size and the volume of transactions they see throughout the year. For example, you may generate more revenue during the holiday season and find that summer is a bit slower.

A CRM that offers customizable options and allows easy integration with your other Sales and Marketing tools will help you grow revenue in both your busy and slow seasons.

Taking It on the Road

The beauty of Small Business Saturday is that the customers are seeking you out. The reality is that for the other 364 days of the year you need to be the one seeking out leads. The right SMB-optimized CRM will give you the flexibility and mobility tools you need to take your most important customer information and contact features on the road via your mobile device. As a business owner, you can’t be tied to your desktop, so being able to access the customer insights you need to close sales on the road is a must-have feature.

That’s a Wrap

Are you ready to turn the next holiday season and Small Business Saturday traffic into future sales?

By finding the right CRM for your SMB, you can start cultivating customer relationships that will lead to sales all year. Look for a CRM that offers powerful features such as marketing integration, actionable data and customer analysis, as well as the customization and mobility you need to fit your business’ style.

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Healthgrades Acquires Evariant

Creates the Most Comprehensive, End-to-End Consumer and Physician Engagement Platform

Healthgrades, the leading resource that connects consumers, physicians and health systems, announced it has acquired Evariant, a leading healthcare consumer and physician engagement company. With the combination of these two market leaders and innovators, Healthgrades will offer the most comprehensive end-to-end engagement platform in the healthcare industry, enhancing the company’s value proposition for its combined base of 2,000+ hospitals and life sciences customers.

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Healthgrades’ products and services enable physicians and health systems to optimize growth through smarter consumer acquisition, patient retention and physician network utilization strategies. The combined offering includes:

  • the most advanced healthcare customer relationship management (HCRM) solution;
  • a leading physician relationship management (PRM) solution;
  • an Engagement Center application that transforms call centers into profit centers;
  • a web content management solution (CMS) supporting an integrated digital experience;
  • a full-service healthcare marketing agency and strategic services arm focused on accelerating ROI;
  • and the most comprehensive consumer website to help educate consumers and connect them with a physician.

This integrated technology platform will leverage more than 30 years of experience with predictive analytics and patient communications to engage consumers at every step of the patient journey, redefining their relationships with healthcare providers in the digital age.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Evariant shareholders will retain a minority stake in the combined company and will have a representative on the Board of Directors. Healthgrades is a Vestar Capital Partners portfolio company.

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“Following the successful integration of Influence Health, this acquisition further positions Healthgrades to lead the industry in improving connections between consumers and providers across multiple solutions and media channels,” said Rob Draughon, CEO, Healthgrades. “Since the beginning of 2019, Healthgrades has significantly expanded its product suite, added exciting new talent, and enhanced its ability to innovate, invest and grow. Our goal remains clear: to better inform consumers along their health journey, powered by data and insights, improving the overall care experience and ultimately driving improved health outcomes.”

“At Evariant, we have successfully partnered with health systems to achieve high-value service line growth, extend patient lifetime value and improve network utilization and planning,” said Clay Ritchey, CEO, Evariant. “We are excited to become a part of Healthgrades and look forward to the significant opportunities ahead as the scale of our combined companies will fuel expansion of our products, services and support resources to benefit our collective client base.”

“Healthgrades is a pioneer in healthcare information, and with the addition of Evariant, the company will become the most comprehensive healthcare communications platform in the industry,” said Norm Alpert, chairman of Healthgrades and co-president of Vestar. “Merging the best features of both companies creates an unrivaled solution set for health systems to engage with consumers, patients, providers and other constituencies on a new level.”

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