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CellPoint Mobile Expands Executive Team in the Americas by Adding Airline Industry Expert

As new VP for Airlines, industry veteran Howard Blankenship is responsible for developing and executing winning sales strategies aimed at carriers in the region

CellPoint Mobile, a leading global provider of sales and payment-side mobile technology solutions for the airline and travel sectors, welcomes Howard Blankenship to its executive team as VP of Airlines in the Americas region. Operating from the company’s Dallas location, Howard will provide strategic sales and revenue development in North AmericaLatin America and the Caribbean markets.

“Howard has a proven track record helping airlines grow revenue in the mobile channel, experience he will now apply to our sales operations in the Americas,” said Noel Connolly, SVP and Global Head of Sales for Airlines and Hospitality for CellPoint Mobile. “Having Howard join our team is important not only for our Americas growth strategy, but also to airlines serving the Americas, helping them grow their revenue and mobile capabilities.”

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Prior to joining CellPoint Mobile, Howard spent over 15 years at Sabre Airline Solutions as a Senior Solution Partner supporting large and complex airlines in multi-million-dollar long-term deals. Howard has global leadership, technology and industry experience in Sales & Customer Management organizations. He has also held key positions across Product Management, Marketing, Solutions Delivery and Operations.

Recently, Howard held a Senior Director of Sales at NAVBLUE, an Airbus company.  He supported the Tier 1 market by providing aviation services with data-based solutions and leading them in their digital transformation. At CellPoint Mobile, Howard will leverage this extensive experience to oversee all new sales and existing revenue opportunities in the Americas – one of the world’s biggest and most complex airline IT environments.

Read More: Interview with Sandie Overtveld, Vice President Sales, APAC at Zendesk

Supporting Airline Revenue in a Mobile-First Environment

Howard’s deep experience and understanding of carrier pain points will help CellPoint Mobile introduce these solutions to airlines in the Americas, and in the process help airlines grow their bottom line while improving the passenger and user experience.

“CellPoint Mobile has built a strong presence in the Americas region and I’m looking forward to applying my domain expertise and long-standing relationships to promote the company’s mobile-first solutions for airlines,” said Howard Blankenship. “More carriers are investing in solutions that optimize transaction flows and booking experiences, support local and regional APMs and ‘bridge the gap’ between cash and the mobile economy across the Americas – and these are the areas where CellPoint Mobile excels.”

The mobile channel is increasingly important in countries and markets that make up the Americas – more than half (60%) of travel-related searches begin from mobile devices, and 90% of travelers using mobile devices will switch to another site or app if their needs for a frictionless travel booking process are not being met.  CellPoint Mobile helps airlines meet these expectations with a full suite of mobile-first solutions, including Voyage, a high performance and front-end agnostic booking engine, and Velocity, a highly scalable, robust payment platform designed to increase conversions in the direct channel.

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Cloud-Based CRM Solutions Will Increase Your Sales and Offer a Seamless Customer Experience

Frost & Sullivan highlights that cloud-based CRM solutions enable organizations to deliver a truly personal purchase experience to customers

Over the last five years, the percentage of salespeople achieving their sales targets had dropped from 63% to 53%. On the other hand, almost 74% of the salespeople in companies that employed a sales-enablement charter made their quota. In a highly dynamic business environment where customers access information through multiple touch points, it is critical for salespersons to extend personalization through each of these touch points. New cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) solutions are facilitating the shift towards multi-channel, digital, and customized sales interactions by layering their solutions with advanced technologies such as machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced data analytics. Furthermore, integration with the contact center, support desk, and other back-end systems will offer sales and marketing teams a unified view of the customer.

Read More: Interview with Anil Kaul, CEO at Absolutdata

Frost & Sullivan’s new thought leadership paper, Modern-day Sales Team, Yesterday’s CRM?, analyzes the need for sales teams to equip themselves with cloud-based CRM solutions. This research has identified four major groups that have not yet adopted a next-generation CRM solution: Never EversDigital DabblersStill in the 90s, and Taking the Lead. The study recommends specific steps for each group to ensure their approach to CRM is innovative, productive, and effective.

“Many organizations have not yet embraced digitization, and are content to use their legacy sales systems. However, using disparate CRM systems from multiple vendors will deny them the benefits of an integrated CRM system – a consistent and seamless customer relationship across the enterprise and throughout the lifecycle,” observed Melanie Turek, Connected Work Vice President at Frost & Sullivan. “CRM systems provide a central location to gather current and historical information, automate manual business processes, and communicate with prospects and clients as soon as the opportunity arises.”

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“Whether customers are using a landline phone, computer, or mobile device, they expect a data-driven relationshipthat gives them information instantly. To meet the demands of new-age customers, organizations need to employ CRM solutions that can deliver the customer’s history with the organization to client-facing employees, managers, and even back-office employees on a single platform,” noted Tiffani Bova, Global Growth & Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce. “A cloud-based CRM solution can offer significant benefits, including faster time to deployment; better reliability, flexibility and scalability; immediate access to new features and updates; and consistent costs with limited up-front investment.”

Read More: Interview with Sandie Overtveld, Vice President Sales, APAC at Zendesk

For businesses that are late adopters, the study lists steps to implement a CRM solution and compete effectively in a connected business environment. Some of these steps include:

  • Never Evers: Commit to change. Once vendors are evaluated and a best-fit solution has been selected, partner with the provider to ensure optimal use of the solution. Offer continuous training and make sure to cover business process changes as well as new technologies.
  • Digital Dabblers: Install an integrated CRM system that plugs all the gaps in the existing solution, while providing more advanced capabilities. A cloud-based model makes it easy to deploy new tools quickly, scale up or down, and access advanced features when required.
  • Still in the 90s: Implement a CRM solution with a wide range of advanced capabilities and ability to open up new revenue streams. Cloud-based solutions will allow novel platforms and devices to offer a seamless experience to customers and salespersons, regardless of the channel.
  • Taking the Lead: Engage with the CRM vendor to assess if the solution being used currently is truly leading edge. Make sure the new solution leverages technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) to integrate supply chains, production floors, and CRM for better profitability. It could also help take personalization to a micro level.

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Wovenware Named to Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 Annual Ranking of Fastest Growing Private U.S. Companies for the Fourth Time

Inclusion Attributed to Consistent Year-Over-Year Growth

Wovenware, a U.S. nearshore provider of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based services and solutions, today announced that for the fourth time it has been named to the Inc. 5000, the annual list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, published by Inc. Magazine.

“We’re quite honored to once again be included among the Inc. 5000 and be recognized for our success bringing AI solutions to an ever-growing base of clients,” said Christian Gonzalez, CEO and co-founder, Wovenware. “We’re committed to continuing to build on this achievement and push the envelope in the development and delivery of innovative deep learning, machine learning, predictive analytics and chatbot applications that are improving the way people work and live.”

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Receiving a ranking of 2141 among 5000 private companies, Wovenware was judged based on Inc. Magazine’s criteria for percentage revenue growth when comparing 2014 to 2017. During that timeframe, the company grew by 207 percent. Wovenware’s growth during this time period is attributed in part to the continued development and maintenance of digital transformation projects for core long-standing clients, as well as the addition of new customers in industries such as healthcare, government and financial services, leveraging Wovenware’s expertise in AI-based technologies.

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“For companies on the Inc. 5000, it’s unparalleled recognition of years of hard work and sacrifice,” said Inc. editor-in-chief James Ledbetter. “The lines of business may come and go, or come and stay. What doesn’t change is the way entrepreneurs create and accelerate the forces that shape our lives.”

Wovenware has also significantly grown its business because of its nearshore delivery model.  Nearshoring to Puerto Rico is attractive to U.S. businesses looking to outsource software engineering and artificial intelligence project because of its proximity, similar time zones, adherence to the same currency and regulations, and costs far below those of nearshore providers in mainland U.S. states.

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250ok Hires Former Salesforce Marketing Cloud Practice Lead

Anthony Chiulli Joins Email Intelligence Company 250ok as Director of Product Marketing to Lead Go-To-Market Strategy for New Products and Solutions

250ok, a leader in advanced email analytics for deliverability, design, DMARC and engagement, announces the addition of email industry veteran Anthony Chiulli as director of product marketing. With a background in email infrastructure, authentication and deliverability, Chiulli brings more than 10 years of industry experience to 250ok’s marketing team.

“Anthony’s track record of maximizing email performance for major brands, and technical understanding of the tools required to get the job done, made him an ideal addition to our growing team,” said Andy Clark, COO of 250ok. “As we continue to add cutting-edge features and functionality to the 250ok platform, we felt he was the right person to assist us in bringing those solutions to market.”

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Prior to joining 250ok, Chiulli served in a number of leadership roles at Salesforce, including marketing practice lead and associate principal of deliverability services. At Salesforce, Chiulli’s responsibilities included working with senior leadership in the evolution and development of deliverability offerings and services across Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

In his new role as director of product marketing at 250ok, Chiulli will assist in launching new products and services through the development and ownership of go-to-market strategies, supporting collateral and brand evangelism.

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“My passion for email lies in the ability to serve as a mediator between the email industry and brands,” said Chiulli. “I enjoy being a spokesperson for what is happening, why it matters and how brands can apply takeaways to their greater email marketing strategy.”

In addition to joining the team at 250ok, Chiulli was recently elected as the chair of the Events and Education Subcommittee for the Email Experience Council — a global professional organization that strives to enhance the image of email marketing and communications.

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Dentsu’s CCI to Bring SpotX Video Ad Serving Platform to Domestic Broadcasting Stations in Japan

Dentsu’s Cyber Communications Inc. (CCI) (Head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director and President: Akio Niizawa) and SpotX, Inc. (Headquarters: Denver, Colorado, USA, CEO, President: Mike Shehan), have announced their partnership to bring SpotX’s video ad serving platform solutions to domestic broadcasting stations in Japan.

SpotX, a global video advertising and monetization platform, offers cross-screen ad serving across video formats, programmatic infrastructure, data enablement, as well as in-depth analytics and reporting. This partnership will allow broadcasters and media owners throughout Japan to maximize their advertising revenue.

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The broadcasters that are planning to adopt SpotX’s solutions for improved monetization strategies are: 

Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. / Fuji Television Network, Inc.

Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc. / Kansai Television Co. Ltd. / Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation

Tokai Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd. / Nagoya Broadcasting Network Co.,Ltd.  

Aichi Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd. / Fukuoka Broadcasting System Corporation

Hokkaido Broadcasting Co.,Ltd. / Sapporo Television Broadcasting, Co., Ltd. 

Hokkaido Television Broadcasting Co.,Ltd. / Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting Co., Ltd.

Shizuoka Asahi Television Co., Ltd. / RCC Broadcasting Co., Ltd. / TSS-TV Co., Ltd.

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CCI chose to work with SpotX and offer its video ad serving platform solutions in the market because:

  • SpotX is purpose-built for video with technology focused exclusively on the supply-side;
  • RTL Group, SpotX’s parent company has capital strength and stability as the leader across broadcast, content and digital; and
  • SpotX is heavily focused on the Japanese market.

Moving forward, CCI and SpotX will jointly support and help local Japanese media owners to maximize revenue with market-leading products and solutions for video monetization.

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ADYOULIKE Native Advertising Receives IAB Gold Standard Accreditation

Native advertising technology company ADYOULIKE has today (15 August, 2018) become the first pure-play native advertising company to receive the Internet Advertising Bureaus (IAB) Gold Standard certification

The Gold Standard initiative was launched in October 2017 as an effort to raise standards across digital advertising. The Gold Standard has three simple aims – to reduce ad fraud, to improve the digital advertising experience and to increase brand safety.

ADYOULIKE is committed to reducing ad fraud by implementing ads.txt, obtaining JICWEBs DTSH certification for brand safety, and adherence to the IAB’s LEAN principles and the Coalition for Better Advertising Standards. The certification confirms that ADYOULIKE native advertising meets the IAB Gold Standard.

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By completing the rigorous accreditation process for full IAB Gold Standard certification ADYOULIKE has reinforced its commitment to improving standards across the industry and confirms the company’s position as a leader in native advertising best practices.

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Commenting, Dale Lovell, Co-Founder, Chief Marketing & Partnerships Officer, says: “We are proud to be the first native advertising company to meet the IAB Gold Standard criteria and are delighted that ADYOULIKE has completed accreditation for IAB Gold Standard certification. As a business we are fully behind the initiative to improve standards.

“The IAB Gold Standard reinforces what ADYOULIKE as a business has set out to do – deliver non-intrusive, seamless, infeed advertising in a transparent marketplace at programmatic scale. It’s great to see the wider industry recognise this and we are confident that native advertising formats will continue to become the dominant digital ad format in the years to come.”

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SpotX Releases New ‘Global TV and Video Trends’ White Paper

Report Acknowledges Internet Advancements as Biggest Driving Factor of Changes In Consumer Viewing Habits and Growth in Digital TV

SpotX, the global video advertising and monetization platform, today released a new white paper exploring the evolution of TV and digital video.

Based on intelligence from select industry reports, the white paper entitled, “Global TV and Video: Five Trends Contributing To The Continued Rise of Digital” concludes that traditional methods of TV viewing remain popular due to television’s ability to facilitate a communal experience. Faster internet speeds combined with more connected TV devices, the growth of subscription video on demand (SVOD) platforms like Netflix and Hulu and virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) such as Sling TV and fuboTV, are all helping to create a new post-cable era.

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“Although on-demand usage is increasing, linear television remains popular due to the immediacy of traditional live programming. Just think about the massive audiences drawn to the World Cup or the Game of Thrones season finale,” said Mike Shehan, co-founder and CEO at SpotX. “As a company, we are heavily focused on live TV in over-the-top (OTT) because of its growing availability across multiple devices which inherently opens up huge opportunities for media owners to earn more revenue and advertisers to reach more consumers.”

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Other digital TV growth drivers include the rise of skinny bundles from MVPDs via connected TV devices like Roku, Apple TV, and other gaming consoles, which allow audiences to pay only for the TV channels they want to watch. Mobile network speeds are also a factor with predicted spikes in North America of 25.2 Mbps by 2012 and 28.5 Mbps, on average, in Western Europe.

The SpotX white paper reveals a growing appetite for watching TV in general but with wide variations across continents. North Americans consume the most TV with a daily average of four hours and three minutes daily, in comparison to the global average of nearly three hours. Europeans followed at three hours and 49 minutes and Asians watched over an hour less at two hours and 25 minutes.

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Kakapo Systems Wins Product of the Year for Unity Contact Center

Unity Contact Center Recognized for Exceptional Innovation

Kakapo Systems announced today that TMC, a global, integrated media company, has awarded Unity Contact Center a 2018 Communications Solutions Products of the Year Award.

Agents can turn a Web Chat into a voice call with just one click!
Agents can turn a Web Chat into a voice call with just one click!

Unity Contact Center is an add-on solution for any BroadSoft Hosted PBX or ACD deployment that intelligently overlays Web Chat and Call Back capabilities. For BroadSoft service providers and their users, this provides an optimized customer service experience by putting chat on the customer website that is tightly integrated into the overall BroadSoft solution. For Agents, Unity provides a centralized media handling experience where any incoming customer contact, including calls, chats and call backs are dynamically queued and presented.

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Advanced features, such as Last Agent Routing and Presence Based Scripting, are designed specifically for the SMB. Presence Based Scripting will automatically change, or even hide, the web chat prompt based on current conditions. For example, changing the message displayed to “Request a Call Back” if there are no Agents available. All chats and calls are automatically logged against leading CRM platforms including Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics.

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Steve Tutt, Marketing Director at Kakapo Systems says, “SMB customers have previously deployed siloed solutions for both website chat and email routing. With Unity Contact Center we can unify all elements of inbound customer contact, for example, allowing one-click escalation from chat to voice and making Agents unavailable to other media when they take an ACD call. This routing logic is crucial in delivering a blended experience to the user.”

“Congratulations to Kakapo Systems for being honored with a Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award,” said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. “Unity Contact Center is truly an innovative product and is amongst the best communications products and services available in 2018. I look forward to continued excellence from Kakapo Systems in 2018 and beyond.”

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Viant Launches Sales Tactic Optimization and Purchase Cycle Targeting for CPG Marketers

Expanded Partnership with IRI Enables Advanced Optimization and Targeting Capabilities

Viant, a Meredith Corporation people-based advertising technology company, announced the launch of an enhanced suite of capabilities for CPG marketers through its expanded partnership with IRI, a global leader in innovative solutions and services for consumer, retail and media companies. Viant’s new Sales Tactic Optimization solution provides advertisers with weekly insights throughout the campaign, identifying the segments with the most sales activity – enabling marketers to optimize campaigns in-flight. In addition, Viant has launched Purchase Cycle Targeting so CPG marketers can hone in on the unique purchase cycles of their various products and deliver messaging at the likely points of repurchase, improving performance and reducing waste.

Through an innovative partnership with IRI, Viant’s Sales Tactic Optimization provides clients with a data feed on both store visits and in-store sales, so CPG marketers can leverage purchase data to optimize during the flight of the campaign — as opposed to simply looking back post-campaign.

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Purchase Cycle Targeting takes into account the differences in repurchase cycles from fast-moving consumer goods like cereal and beverages to longer lead cycles like laundry detergent and pet food. As Viant’s recent CPG study “The Persuadables” proved, product repurchase can increase by over 26x when messaging is timed in the week prior to a typical repurchase cycle rather than earlier in the cycle. Both Sales Tactic Optimization and Purchase Cycle Targeting are major improvements for CPG marketers looking to maximize the return on their media investment.

“With our Sales Tactic Optimization and Purchase Cycle Targeting solutions powered by IRI data, Viant is creating a deeper integration for CPG marketers looking to improve their targeting and measurement capabilities during the flight of a campaign,” says Jon Schulz, CMO at Viant. “Our unique ability to define the purchase cycle with deterministic data and understand which audience segments and channels are driving higher return enables marketers to maximize offline sales by targeting the right message on the right device at the optimal time and shift campaign spend accordingly.”

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In addition, Viant is the first partner to offer BevMo! segments in a programmatic environment. As the leading specialty beverage retailer, BevMo! has more than 160 neighborhood stores located throughout California, Arizona and Washington. CPG marketers are now able to advertise directly to those consumers and drive sales with targeted marketing campaigns based on recent purchase history.

“IRI has been a leader and innovator in consumer insights for a number of years,” says Nishat Mehta, president of media at IRI. “Our deep understanding of consumer purchase behavior is a perfect complement to Viant’s innovative Sales Tactic Optimization and Purchase Cycle Targeting solutions to deliver improved relevance for consumers and we are excited to be expanding our partnership.”

Viant’s Sales Tactic Optimization and Purchase Cycle Targeting solutions are currently available for CPG marketers as well as marketers in retail, over the counter pharmaceuticals, grocery, drugs and convenience.

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OpenX Taps Leading AdTech Veteran Todd Parsons as Chief Product Officer

OpenX’s Latest Announcement Follows Series of Senior Mobile and Video Product Hires

Leading programmatic adtech provider, OpenX has announced the appointment of Todd Parsons as Chief Product Officer. An expert in audience identification, Todd Parsons brings more than 15 years of experience developing products that meet the changing needs of marketers in the rapidly evolving media landscape. The new position will allow the company to increase focus on innovation, and accelerate the development of programmatic solutions for publishers and brands in both existing and emerging categories.

Todd Parsons and His Experience in Leading AdTech Businesses

Todd Parsons, CPO, OpenX
Todd Parsons, CPO, OpenX

Todd Parsons joins OpenX from SocialCode where he was responsible for leading product for the business across social, mobile, video and more. Previously he worked at Acxiom, leading product for the company’s core $330 million Marketing Services business. Parsons also founded two venture-backed startups; Aditive, acquired by Acxiom in 2014, and BuzzLogic, the first SaaS platform for social media analytics and advertising.

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Todd Will Guide Product Strategy and Innovation for Emerging Categories

At OpenX, Todd Parsons will be responsible for leading a global product team, and the planning, implementation and go-to-market strategy across the company’s entire portfolio of products including display, mobile app, and video. Todd will also guide product strategy and innovation for emerging categories, including CTV/OTT and audio, as OpenX continues to build solutions for the future of digital advertising.

At the time of this announcement, John Gentry, president of OpenX, said, “Programmatic is now the default way to buy and sell advertising in all categories of digital media, and we need to ensure that we are building products that drive value for publishers, app developers and brands across every single channel in advertising.”

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John added, “Todd has spent his career delivering products that help brand marketers navigate the changing media landscape, and his expertise in digital, paired with his deep understanding of marketers’ needs, will play a critical role in shaping the OpenX product pipeline and bringing those products to market.”

Todd Joins a League of AdTech Experts from Programmatic Industry

The appointment follows recent additions to the OpenX leadership team. Experts have joined OpenX from Google, Hulu, AdColony and more, and come in a period of strong growth for the company across a variety of categories like mobile and video.

Currently OpenX powers highly relevant advertising at a global scale, delivering quality and value to brands, publishers, and consumers across every type of connected screen and ad format. The company’s leading technology aggregates, curates, and values consumer interest in real time on one of the world’s largest and highest quality ad exchanges to ensure marketers reach exactly the audience they want.

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