It’s not often you can get three cloud giants like Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce to agree on much of anything, but today they were all part of a $27 million Series C investment in Tact.ai, a startup that has been trying to change the way sales people interact with information in CRM systems using voice. Amazon Alexa Fund, Salesforce Ventures and M12 (formerly Microsoft Ventures) joined Comcast Ventures as strategic investors in the company this round. Traditional VCs Accel Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Upfront Ventures also participated. Tact has now raised over $53 million, according to Crunchbase. Amazon is of course deeply invested in voice interfaces and has recognized what Tact is trying to do in an enterprise setting with this investment. In fact, Tact was one of the first services to launch as part of Alexa for Business last fall. “Just as people were quick to adopt voice technology in the home, we see an enormous opportunity for voice services in the enterprise,” Paul Bernard, Director of the Amazon Alexa Fund said. He sees Tact on the forefront of that movement. As though to prove Amazon’s point, the company also announced a product enhancement to improve the voice experience in the car. The feature dubbed ‘Voice Intelligence’ acts like a car-based virtual assistant. Sales people spend much of their time in the car, and the tool can not only give them the basics about the next meeting, it can also provide details about the deal and other relevant information, such as recently filed service tickets. All of this info can arm the salesperson for a potentially more effective meeting, Tact CEO Chuck Ganapathi explained. “We want sales professionals who are on the road, keeping their eyes on the road ahead, so we are pushing information to them and initiating a conversation, which is exactly what a human assistant would do,” he said. Ganapathi understands the limitations of CRM tools perhaps better than anyone. That’s because before he started Tact, he had been helping build them for more than 20 years — first custom systems with Ernst and Young, then on prem with Siebel Systems and finally with Salesforce in the cloud. Share this:The post Tact $27M Series C attracts Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce appeared first on Statii News. from http://news.statii.co.uk/tact-27m-series-c-attracts-amazon-microsoft-and-salesforce/
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Throughout my career, I’ve had managers tell me how to do a task (incorrectly), why I should support their views (though I had my own views), and why agreeing with their decision is good for the firm (with a pat on my back and a smile on their faces). If these one-sided statements sound like your CRM buy-in strategy, then your firm’s low adoption rate shouldn’t be a surprise. Many CRM conversations with advisors center around workflow bottlenecks, out-of-date data fields, and staff that won’t use it. Advisors believe that a new CRM will do the trick. It won’t, unless you start at the beginning – your people. There’s a reason “people” is listed first in the phrase “people, process, and technology.” A high CRM adoption rate is dependent on your staff’s comfort level with it. Without their willingness to embrace it, you can end up with several CRMs – otherwise known as spreadsheets. Understand these firm-wide acceptance issues before looking for a new CRM: • Either the CRM is easily navigable or confusing: People process information differently. Some people can easily navigate through clicks and screens to retrieve data and follow workflows. Others find it difficult to navigate and label the CRM confusing, clunky, or useless (words from my clients). The latter group is usually branded as not tech-savvy, which isn’t the case. The majority of workflow bottlenecks result from people who prefer following their own instincts rather than what the technology dictates. • Staff understands integration isn’t seamless. They must manually gather or export data, from multiple sources, into a spreadsheet, then format and upload the data. As one vendor said to my client: “Our software seamlessly integrates with your CRM through CSV (comma-separated values).” This is really an export/import process, which is not seamless. Some people prefer to leave the data in the spreadsheet or refer to the original source. • Inconsistent data field usage leads to more spreadsheets. When I ask advisors to define household or AUM, they realize their answers don’t apply to all clients. Other data fields have the same issue. Your staff knows which CRM data fields are inaccurate or out-of-date and can point to the spreadsheets with accurate client data. Share this:The post The Issue Isn’t the CRM, It’s You appeared first on Statii News. from http://news.statii.co.uk/the-issue-isnt-the-crm-its-you/ Aptean, a leading global provider of mission-critical, industry-specific enterprise software solutions, has formed a strategic partnership with MACS EU in Son en Breugel, Netherlands. This partnership is another key milestone in Aptean’s continued growth strategy in the European market, specifically the Benelux region. MACS EU will sell and support Aptean’s industry-leading Manufacturing Execution System, Aptean Factory MES. Process and discrete manufacturers use Factory MES to gain real-time visibility into production and quality operations, enabling the transition toward a paperless floor. MACS EU serves customers that manufacture products ranging from carpets to cardboard boxes, from pharmaceuticals to ceramic tiles, and from aluminum extrusion to confectionary. “We are proud to become an Aptean partner and look forward to the opportunity to deliver Factory MES as part of our solutions portfolio. The out-of-the-box offering will prove to be very attractive for many of our customers as it will offer a faster implementation with fewer customizations,” said Guus de Nijs, CEO for MACS EU. “Working with Aptean, we look forward to helping our customers maximize efficient, productive output and labor productivity.” MACS EU’s presence as a manufacturing consultancy across Europe will help Aptean better serve its customers in the Benelux region of Europe. In turn, Aptean will rely on MACS EU’s expertise in addressing key manufacturing industry challenges. “We are delighted to welcome MACS EU as an Aptean partner,” said Alan Somerville, managing director of Aptean EMEA. “We are expanding Aptean Factory MES across Europe, and partnering with trusted names in manufacturing technology gives both us and manufacturers peace of mind. We expect MACS EU will be a great help in bringing more factories under the Aptean umbrella.” Source: Nasdaq GlobeNewswire The post Aptean Announces Partnership With MACS EU to Increase Presence in Benelux Markets appeared first on Statii News. from http://news.statii.co.uk/aptean-announces-partnership-with-macs-eu-to-increase-presence-in-benelux-markets/
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Privacy & Cookies Policy Go to Source The post When Bringing Equipment Into The Industrial IoT, Choose The Method That Is ‘Just Right’ appeared first on Statii News. from http://news.statii.co.uk/when-bringing-equipment-into-the-industrial-iot-choose-the-method-that-is-just-right/ South Korean telco LG Uplus will deploy its home Internet of Things (IoT) platform to Wooshin Construction’s apartments, the company has announced. It will start with 1,664 households in Geumwang Wooshin Rieon Class apartments at Eumseong district, North Chungcheong Province. Those who live in the apartments can download LG Uplus’s IoT@home app and use it to control heating, lights, and gas in their homes and check their energy usage and parking space availability. They can also use it to control IoT devices bought separately such as robot cleaners and air purifiers. Users can also configure the setting to activate them simultaneously at scheduled times. For example, the lights, gas units, and boilers can be set to be turned off when the user leaves the home. Afterwards, LG Uplus will expand deployment to other and new apartments provided by Wooshin, it said. The company currently has agreements in place with 80 construction firms to deploy its IoT services. Share this:The post LG Uplus to deploy home IoT to Wooshin apartments appeared first on Statii News. from http://news.statii.co.uk/%e2%80%8blg-uplus-to-deploy-home-iot-to-wooshin-apartments/
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Privacy & Cookies Policy Go to Source The post Global Internet of Things (IoT) Markets, 2015-2018 & 2024: Annual Estimates & Forecasts – Number of Connected Devices in Million Units appeared first on Statii News. from http://news.statii.co.uk/global-internet-of-things-iot-markets-2015-2018-2024-annual-estimates-forecasts-number-of-connected-devices-in-million-units/ The servitization megatrend is upon us. Product-driven companies are adding services revenue streams and business models, usually to augment but sometimes to replace product-based business. WHAT IS SERVITIZATION, AND WHY IS IT HAPPENING?When a major change or megatrend happens, there is usually not just a single reason. Multiple forces push a culture, society or economy inexorably in a single direction. Servitization is driven in part by limited opportunity for many product-centric companies to grow in terms of product revenue and profits—due to factors like downward price pressure, volatile demand and increasing prices for inputs and raw materials. In other markets like machine tools, lumpy year-over-year business may make the stable, recurring revenue of services attractive. Aftermarket services may also make the customer more dependent, as they push off important value-added services like maintenance, operation and asset lifecycle management onto the supplier. This may insulate the vendor from competitors. It also enables a vendor to access deep insights on how their customer is using their products, which can in turn drive a consultative selling process. But enabling technologies are also making servitization more feasible. The internet of things (IoT) is enabling companies to sensor products they sell and use the resulting data stream to automate everything from re-order to dispatch of a service technician. A recent report from McKinsey suggests that while margin on new product sales is typically 10 percent, aftermarket service margin averages 25 percent. But actually realizing that revenue poses some significant management and enterprise software problems. Executives will need to live increasingly in the mental future—planning around not only the product lifecycle but the service cost and revenue cycle. When the service agreement is sold, a company will be committing to deliver against a contract that they could make or lose money on for years. “To gain clarity and remain competitive, they must undertake a more detailed examination of aftermarket lifetime value—the total revenue they receive from servicing their installed base,” the report states. “This measure, which is typically calculated for each product line, provides a more comprehensive view of aftermarket value than commonly used metrics, such as service revenue captured per customer.” Now, a 2018 IFS study of 200 North American manufacturing and industrial executivesdelivers insights into the extent of servitization and its impact on profitability and the extent of their adoption of service lifecycle and field service management technologies. CURRENT PROGRESS TOWARDS SERVITIZATIONAmong respondents to the IFS study, the majority had some type of aftermarket revenue stream, even if that revenue stemmed strictly from aftermarket parts sales. The smallest segment was those who had servitized completely—essentially doing away with product revenue and charging for a product by duty cycle, usage or some other metric.
Read the study by downloading the Industrial servitization and field service technologywhite paper. The post Will Manufacturers Ride The Servitatization Wave To Greater Profitability? appeared first on Statii News. from http://news.statii.co.uk/will-manufacturers-ride-the-servitatization-wave-to-greater-profitability/ Federal officials have for years cited cybersecurity as one of their top concerns when moving to the cloud, but a top tech official at the CIA said the technology is better equipped than any legacy system to house the country’s most valuable secrets. “Security is an absolutely existential need for everything we do at the agency—the cloud on its weakest day is more secure than a client service solution,” said Sean Roche, associate deputy director at the CIA’s Digital Innovation Directorate. “Encryption runs seamlessly on multiple levels. It’s been nothing short of transformational.” Four years ago, the CIA inked a $600 million contract with Amazon Web Services to provide the intelligence community with commercial cloud services. Called C2S, the cloud serves the CIA and 16 other IC agencies, hosting secret and top secret classified information. Speaking Wednesday at the AWS Public Sector Summit, Roche presented cloud services as a streamlined, user-friendly alternative to the “cacophony” of legacy systems today’s IT specialists are “desperately” trying to upgrade at organizations across government. Retrofitting often decades-old tech with new security software leaves agencies constantly behind on defending against the latest digital threats, especially when groups don’t always understand how those systems are configured, according to Roche. Federal officials have said government won’t fully maximize the benefits of the cloud until it focuses more on the opportunities it can provide than worrying about cybersecurity, and indeed many agencies with particularly sensitive information have begun to overcome these fears. The National Security Agency is moving all of its mission data to a classified cloud environment, and the Pentagon is planning to use it’s long-awaited JEDI cloud to hold data as sensitive as nuclear secrets. But security benefits go beyond the cloud’s robust architecture, he said. Going to the cloud also gives access to more software-as-a-service solutions, bypassing the traditional acquisition process that can leave agencies waiting months or years to get their hands on innovative tech. The current acquisition process “crushes souls,” said Roche. “It takes too much time. Commercial and private companies doing no business with the government have to have an on-ramp in.” Through the cloud, agencies can vet new tools and have them up and running in the field in a matter of months, he said. Groups can also easily update that software as new versions come out. AWS introduced a classified version of its Marketplace feature to the C2S cloud, which gives the CIA and other IC agencies the ability to spin up software in the cloud and test it out before buying. Officials say this gives the IC the ability to make use of innovative software solutions they might not otherwise have access to through government’s traditional acquisition processes. Share this:The post CIA Official: Cloud Is More Secure Than Old Tech, Less ‘Soul-Crushing’ appeared first on Statii News. from http://news.statii.co.uk/cia-official-cloud-is-more-secure-than-old-tech-less-soul-crushing/ There are deep-rooted misconceptions about what the cloud is and where it is headed. This article corrects some of these common misconceptions. Misconception No. 1: The Cloud Is A Place In The Sky Most people associate the word “cloud” with the services provided by public clouds such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure, but actually, this is not the case. The best way to think about the cloud is as an experience. It can be from the public cloud or from private clouds in your own data center or a hosted data center. The cloud experience includes: • Elimination of IT staff for infrastructure management • Self-service • Paying only for what you use • Multiclient support Misconception No. 2: Public Clouds Are For Modern Workloads; Private Clouds Are For Legacy Workloads Customers are running modern workloads on both public and private clouds today. Some modern workloads are better in private clouds, and some better in public clouds. From personal analysis and confirmed elsewhere, I know that predictable workloads, whose infrastructure needs are well understood, are cheaper to run on private clouds than public clouds. The economics have not changed much over the two years I have been doing this analysis. Additionally, laws or corporate policies that require enterprise data to be in certain locations may make private cloud the only choice. On the other hand, if the workload is dynamic and elasticity is important, the public cloud is superior. Also, if developers need to rapidly integrate voice recognition, natural language processing or other such services, the public cloud is the better choice. Finally, the public cloud is the fastest way to launch a new project. The notion that most workloads will eventually migrate to the public cloud is incorrect. If this were true, we would not see public cloud vendors get into the private cloud business, as Microsoft is doing with Azure Stack or IBM is with IBM Cloud Private. Misconception No. 3: Public Clouds Are Adding Capability So Fast That Private Clouds Will Be Left Behind Private clouds have also evolved rapidly in recent years. They are easy to use, cost-effective, often come in appliance form and reduce or eliminate the need for the customer to manage infrastructure and support capabilities such as platform as a service (PaaS) and serverless that were first associated with public clouds. There is no question that public clouds are adding new services faster than private clouds. AWS, the public cloud leader, introduced 1,300 new features in 2017, or 3.5 new features a day! However, it is also well documented that 85% of AWS public cloud revenue comes from fewer than five of these services, out of the thousands available. It is my view that these popular services will always be available on private clouds. One of the most popular new features that AWS introduced to benefit developers is a new way of programming called serverless — AWS Lambda. The post Five Common Cloud Misconceptions appeared first on Statii News. from http://news.statii.co.uk/five-common-cloud-misconceptions/ With data breaches everywhere these days, it seems harder and harder to keep information safe. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to be a bit safer online. We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council for tips on what anyone can do to better protect themselves online. It seems like we’re hearing of a new data breach each month, giving companies transitioning to the cloud plenty reason to feel vulnerable. What’s your best tip for ensuring data security in the cloud? Their best answers are below: 1. Use two-factor authentication Using two-factor authentication and, where unique, cycled temporary passwords are sent to a device tend to be much safer for remote usage and security protocol. – Russell Kommer, eSoftware Associates Inc 2. Get cybersecurity insurance Despite your best efforts, it is hard to prevent a motivated, skilled hacker. We recommend all of our clients who are storing sensitive information in the cloud to get a cybersecurity insurance policy to help protect them if there is a malicious attack on their company’s data. – Doug Bend, Bend Law Group, PC 3. Perform annual security assessments As a web-based healthcare company with access to PHI protected by federal law, security is paramount to customer confidence in our solutions. Security is not our expertise, so we invest annually in professional security assessments where experts test our solutions, try to breach our system and provide feedback on areas of vulnerabilities. It’s a huge investment, but it’s absolutely essential. – Amanda Elms, Metis Genetics, LLC 4. Encrypt data locally Cloud storage services that offer local data encryption provides two levels of security. In order to gain access to data, it will have to be decrypted. This is important because this means service providers and administrators can’t get to the information. Taking this step ensures better privacy and a lot fewer headaches down the line. – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker 5. Invest in online security protection Hackers are criminals, but they’re also geniuses. As technology continues to advance, hackers are one step behind, trying to find a way to breach data. The only way you can ensure that your company’s data is truly protected is by investing in online security services that can detect the first sign of illegal activity. – Patrick Barnhill, Specialist ID, Inc. 6. Rely on a good provider Depending on how you are utilizing the cloud to transmit and store data, security is dictated by the cloud provider. For example, companies like itopia, that deploy and manage Windows cloud desktops, rely on Google’s Cloud to run their business. Google has exceptional data security that regularly undergoes independent security testing. Choose wisely. – Nick Chasinov, Teknicks Share this:The post 11 ways to keep information safer in the cloud appeared first on Statii News. from http://news.statii.co.uk/11-ways-to-keep-information-safer-in-the-cloud/ |
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