Q&A with Diane Perlman, CMO at Blis

Diane Perlman, CMO at Blis, is an established marketing leader with various brand experiences at Microsoft, as well as startup, scaleup, and agency-side experience. She is adept at creative problem solving with an agility to learn. She holds a track record in delivering results in structured and unstructured environments. You can follow her on Twitter here.

B2B marketers need to get ever-more creative about how to reach customers and get in front of them with exciting new developments. 



MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into marketing? Please take us through your journey.
DIANE PERLMAN:
I always knew that I had a talent for words and creativity, and marketing was an area of interest for me. At university, I studied mass communications, and this solidified my path in the direction of marketing. Later, I got a Master's in business as well, which I thought would help me to more deeply understand all aspects of business and management. I wanted to be a stronger leader and a better partner in finance and sales, which are crucial to marketing success.

Right out of university, I started as a writer for a small independent agency and moved through most of the marketing disciplines, from PR to advertising to digital, both agency and client-side as well as large corporates like Microsoft, startups, and AdTech scaleups like Unruly and Blis more recently in my career. I got introduced to the entrepreneurial world of tech and, what was then called, ‘new media’ and I think it’s safe to say, I was hooked! I made the jump from a strategic PR agency to a startup tech company, and my life changed forever. It was that role that took me from the US across to the UK, where I’ve been living now for over 20 years. I’ve never looked back since then.

M7: How do you focus on demand generation as well as long-term brand building at Blis?
DP:
At a smaller company, it’s always a fine balance, because the focus is usually on driving leads vs long-term brand building. But both are important. I recently read some research conducted by LinkedIn in 2019, which found B2B brands that invest at least 50% of their budget in long-term brand building deliver the best financial returns in terms of market share growth, profitability, and revenue. Not only that, brand building does drive short-term sales – if you think about it, you’re much more likely to buy today from a brand that you know and like. So, for me and my team, it’s about finding that balance and having the right strategies and tactics, from awareness through to lead gen and sales.


Brand building drives short-term sales – if you think about it, you’re much more likely to buy today from a brand you know and like.



M7: How do you target content to your audience, and what are the challenges that you face while producing effective content?
DP:
Over the past year, we’ve had a content-heavy marketing strategy. When COVID-19 hit, we didn’t want to be just part of the noise. We knew we had to be as useful as possible to our clients, and that became our mantra. Blis operates in the AdTech industry and specifically, we are the leading privacy-first, location-powered programmatic partner. Our insights team produces an abundance of interesting insights using movement data across a variety of verticals. This gave the marketing team plenty to work with, as clients and our sellers alike were crying out for clues as to movement patterns and changing consumer behaviors. 
We produced several interactive ‘white papers’ and a regular ‘changing behaviors’ blog series and, given the budget constraints, we relied on our blog and social channels as well as direct email marketing to clients to distribute this exciting insights content. We also leveraged partner co-marketing with allied companies to expand our circle and drive reach.

One of the recurring challenges in a global business is that the local markets want local content, which makes driving a global content more challenging. But during the height of COVID-19 in 2020, all our markets were interested in learning from each other, especially from regions that were further along in the COVID-19 journey towards recovery. As a result, we were able to produce meaningful global content pieces. We also created a consumer confidence pulse for several key markets so that we could have an ongoing insights feed, to inspire our clients. 

M7: What do you believe are the top three product marketing challenges in the post COVID-19 era?
DP:
For Blis, our offering has traditionally been about working with the world’s largest brands and media agencies to drive foot traffic in stores. As the COVID-19 era has accelerated the move toward online and e-commerce, so one of the first challenges was to pivot to develop new tracking and measurement solutions and partnerships that enable us to drive consumers to a landing page or a shopping cart and measure that activity vs primarily in-store footfall.

The second challenge for any company operating in the AdTech industry, or indeed any brand that is doing advertising, is to develop and market products that reach consumers in a privacy-first way due to changing regulations, the death of the cookie, and the reduction of personal identifiers across Apple devices. While Blis has a heritage of privacy-first technologies, we have been working hard to future proof our offerings and innovate at this historic inflection point for the industry.

Thirdly, and what is hopefully a more transient challenge, is the limitations on face-to-face interactions with clients that are typically part and parcel of B2B marketing, from product roadshows to events. This means that B2B marketers need to get ever-more creative about how to reach customers and get in front of them with exciting new developments.


You don’t need to be a ‘techy’ or an engineer to work in tech. Be brave and avoid self-limiting beliefs when entering tech or any other career. 



M7: How are promotional tactics changing for products and services launching during these periods?
DP:
As marketers, we need to keep innovating, testing, and learning to try to breakthrough. As an example, I’ve been receiving and seeing more and more personalized video messages in emails that are really compelling and make you want to click. Even ‘old fashioned’ personalized gifting is taking on even more importance in this COVID-19 era as well, to create memorable moments and experiences for clients. ‘Zoom fatigue’ is real, so we also need to innovate from the standard webinar, moving to more on-demand content, where customers can view in their own time, or other more interactive formats, designed to engage and entertain.

M7: Your advice for young women considering a career in high tech?
DP:
The most important thing for young women to consider is that you don’t need to be a ‘techy’ or an engineer to work in tech. I’ve worked in and around tech almost my whole career, and as a marketer, what attracts me is the pace of the industry and also the challenge of simplifying complex messages and making them understandable and compelling. I also encourage young women to be brave and avoid self-limiting beliefs when entering tech or any other career. Self-belief and not being afraid to fail will go a long way to inspire the bravery needed to try new things, build credibility and make your mark. Just go for it!

ABOUT BLIS

Blis is the leading privacy-first, location-powered programmatic advertising partner. We deliver accurate targeting at scale without reliance on personal data, helping the world’s largest brands and media agencies drive key business outcomes through personalised and high-performing digital advertising. Established in the UK in 2004, Blis now operates in more than 40 offices across five continents and works with the world’s largest and most customer-driven companies across all verticals.

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Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, CEO of Hawthorne Advertising, fosters long-standing client relationships with the company's expansive base of Fortune 500 brands to develop highly strategic and measurable advertising campaigns, designed to ignite immediate consumer response. From strategy, creative and production to media and analytics, Jessica is committed to premium quality and innovation throughout all agency disciplines. Jessica is a contributor for various industry publications and speaks on panels offering insights on key industry trends. She has published hundreds of articles with Forbes, AdAge, AdWeek, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, and many more. She has received many awards for her career accomplishments including the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur Of The Year” in the Transformational Leader category, and Los Angeles Times B2B Publishing “CEO Leadership Award” Winner. Prior to joining Hawthorne Advertising, Hawthorne-Castro was a successful TV literary agent with William Morris Endeavor (formerly Endeavor), one of Hollywood's top, full-service talent agencies representing writers, directors and producers for television. Jessica is the Chapter Chair for YPO Los Angeles and on the YPO Pacific U.S Regional Executive Board and YPO Global Editorial Advisory Board. In addition, Jessica is on the Board of the ANA/Association of National Advertisers ECHO Awards, the L.A. Chamber of Commerce’s CEO Council and social justice Boards including Dignity Moves Homelessness Board and is a Climate Change Reality Ambassador.

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Brendan Gahan, Partner & Chief Social Officer at Mekanism, has been at the forefront of social & influencer marketing since 2006, developing social campaigns for brands such as Mountain Dew, Unilever, Amazon, 20th Century Fox, and The Olympics. Brendan was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2012 and his agency was recognized as Digiday’s Digital Video Agency of the year in 2017. Gahan is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Guardian, Ad Age, and CNBC for his expertise in social media and influencer marketing expertise.

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Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, CEO of Hawthorne Advertising, fosters long-standing client relationships with the company's expansive base of Fortune 500 brands to develop highly strategic and measurable advertising campaigns, designed to ignite immediate consumer response. From strategy, creative and production to media and analytics, Jessica is committed to premium quality and innovation throughout all agency disciplines. Jessica is a contributor for various industry publications and speaks on panels offering insights on key industry trends. She has published hundreds of articles with Forbes, AdAge, AdWeek, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, and many more. She has received many awards for her career accomplishments including the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur Of The Year” in the Transformational Leader category, and Los Angeles Times B2B Publishing “CEO Leadership Award” Winner. Prior to joining Hawthorne Advertising, Hawthorne-Castro was a successful TV literary agent with William Morris Endeavor (formerly Endeavor), one of Hollywood's top, full-service talent agencies representing writers, directors and producers for television. Jessica is the Chapter Chair for YPO Los Angeles and on the YPO Pacific U.S Regional Executive Board and YPO Global Editorial Advisory Board. In addition, Jessica is on the Board of the ANA/Association of National Advertisers ECHO Awards, the L.A. Chamber of Commerce’s CEO Council and social justice Boards including Dignity Moves Homelessness Board and is a Climate Change Reality Ambassador.

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Stagwell (STGW) and MNTN Partner to Forge a Unified Performance Marketing Ecosystem for Brands

PR Newswire | January 12, 2024

Stagwell (NASDAQ: STGW), the challenger network built to transform marketing, is partnering with connected TV (CTV) advertising leader MNTN to broaden the market of performance advertising for brands. With the partnership, brands will now have access to a comprehensive set of buying solutions that combine the best of MNTN's Performance TV platform with Stagwell Marketing Cloud products, providing added streaming, performance PR and performance influencer capabilities in a one-stop shop. Stagwell and MNTN's strategic partnership allows for a more unified approach to brand and performance media, offering brands access to advanced technologies and a comprehensive suite of tools enabling brand campaigns on television to now seamlessly coexist with other digital channels. "For too long, brand and performance media have battled to co-exist in an industry that worships creative ideas and measurable metrics separately," said MNTN President and CEO Mark Douglas. "Now Stagwell's performance-focused clients can see their brand campaigns at work through MNTN Performance TV and not only qualify but quantify results of traditionally less measurable media." "Stagwell believes all media is performance media, and our partnership with MNTN is our next step in creating an integrated ecosystem of technology and media solutions that enable speed to market, improved outcomes, and ultimately, scaled brand performance for clients," said Stagwell Chairman and CEO Mark Penn. "In combination with SMC tools, including social, streaming, and PR capabilities, brands can now attach metrics to their big marketing ideas in a granular way." Meeting Client Demands The partnership between Stagwell and MNTN Performance TV addresses the growing importance of performance advertising for modern brands, offering a comprehensive suite of buying solutions that feature cutting-edge targeting, measurement, and automated optimization technology. The collaboration introduces an innovative approach to television advertising, offering brands metrics that matter together – reach and revenue. Expanded Toolset MNTN clients will now benefit from an enhanced suite of tools, incorporating products from the Stagwell Marketing Cloud. This includes: PRophet, a generative and predictive AI platform for PR professionals Koalifyed, an influencer discovery and campaign management platform ReachTV, the largest streaming television network targeting travelers in airports Together, Stagwell and MNTN aim to meet the evolving needs of modern brands in a performance-driven landscape. Stay tuned for insights from Stagwell's Mark Penn and MNTN's Mark Douglas at CES next week, where they will discuss the power of this collaboration. Brands and/or journalists interested in connecting on the ground should contact ces2024@stagwellglobal.com for more information. About MNTN MNTN is the Hardest Working Software in TV, bringing unrivaled performance and simplicity to Connected TV advertising. Our self-serve technology makes running TV ads as easy as search and social and helps brands drive measurable conversions, revenue, site visits, and more. MNTN is one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2023 and was recently named one of the Next Big Things in Tech for its upcoming VIVA creative suite. For more information, please visit https://mountain.com/. About Stagwell Stagwell (NASDAQ: STGW) is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world's most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our 13,000+ specialists in 34+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.

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Gupshup brings Vertex AI-powered AI chatbots into RCS conversations

PR Newswire | February 26, 2024

Gupshup, the world's leading Conversation Cloud platform today announced that brands on its platform can now offer AI chatbots for RCS conversations, opening up a whole new advanced and interactive experience for their users. Gupshup's Conversational AI product suite, spanning Auto Bot Builder and ACE LLM, are now using Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform to bring the benefits of Google's large language models (LLMs) to Gupshup's customers globally. The integration will enable businesses to deliver more precise and human-like interactions with speed and scale and offer a more personalized and responsive experience. Further, AI assistants on RCS will be able to intelligently respond to unstructured queries, assisting customers across various stages–from product discovery, lead generation to troubleshooting and customer support. "Generative AI is transforming the RCS industry, and we're thrilled that Gupshup is utilizing our latest LLMs on Vertex AI to further personalize and enhance how businesses engage with customers through AI-driven conversations," said Warren Barkley, Senior Director of Product Management, Vertex AI at Google Cloud. "Vertex AI provides partners like Gupshup with a unified AI platform to leverage state-of-the-art foundational models, and we look forward to seeing the ways Gupshup continues to innovate with this technology." "We've always leveraged the latest cutting-edge AI technologies to offer a superior customer engagement platform to our brands. With our Auto Bot Builder and domain-specific ACE LLM now leveraging Google's LLMs, business messages on RCS are set to get a massive facelift, leading to better ROI for enterprises. We are excited to work with Google Cloud to help our brands bring intelligent conversations on RCS that will redefine customer engagement," said Beerud Sheth, Founder and CEO, Gupshup. Gupshup is a pioneer in leveraging domain-specific, fine-tuned large language models (LLMs) to automate the creation of enterprise-grade chatbots with appropriate guardrails. In January 2023, it launched Auto Bot Builder, a tool that leverages LLMs to automatically and effortlessly build advanced chatbots for enterprises. Gupshup's Conversational AI solutions are already live with several clients in India and abroad. The advanced chatbot for Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) - Dubai's largest utility, is powered by Gupshup. In India, several brands such as Tata Capital and Chaayos are using it for brand engagement, product discovery, employee training, and consultative selling.

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SugarCRM Announces 2024 Customer Breakthrough Award Winners

Business Wire | January 24, 2024

SugarCRM, provider of the award-winning AI-driven sales automation platform, today announced the global winners of the 2024 SugarCRM Customer Breakthrough Awards. Winners are: Customer Experience Breakthrough Award – Empresas ADOC, a Central American retail company, is recognized for using SugarCRM to drive business growth and improve customer engagement. Using SugarCRM, the company significantly improved customer service quality and customer retention, reduced customer churn while establishing its “Puntos ADOC” loyalty program that attracted over 600,000 members, representing more than 20 percent of total sales. ADOC has a rich history of using high-quality materials and specialized techniques to produce outstanding products that meet the needs of its customers. ADOC is a customer-driven business supported by a culture dedicated to enhancing customer satisfaction and building strong, lasting customer relationships. In addition to its own branded footwear, ADOC also has partnered with international brands, including Hush Puppies, The North Face, CAT, and Steve Madden, to create a complete shopping experience for its customers. Industry Excellence Breakthrough Award – Reusable Transport Packaging, a leader in sustainable transport packaging solutions, is recognized for using SugarCRM to improve its bottom line, unify customer data, streamline processes, and increase sales efficiency, resulting in a 20 percent revenue growth year over year. A key strategy in its growth is the use of Sugar Market for regular email communications, which keeps customers, distributors, and leads informed about new products, pricing updates, and other relevant industry news. Marketing Excellence Breakthrough Award – The Swedish Institute (SI), a Swedish government agency, is recognized for its innovative approach to data management and customer engagement. The Sugar Sell and Sugar Market platform integration centralizes data, segments audiences, and automates responses, significantly enhancing marketing efficiency and improving engagement with international students and alumni. The Swedish Institute saw an increase of over 31 percent in lead volume since implementing SugarCRM and boasts a best-in-class 40-to-50 percent open rate on marketing emails. Sales Excellence Breakthrough Award – J&J Ventures Gaming, LLC, a leader in gaming and amusements and one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., is recognized for implementing Sugar Sell to consolidate customer accounts and interactions into a centralized communication hub across sales, marketing, and account management. Streamlined sales processes have established a new model for sales excellence for the J&J team and its growth in the gaming industry. Service Excellence Breakthrough Award – Super General Company of the Albatha Group in the UAE is recognized for revolutionizing its service operations with Sugar Serve. Working with Sugar partner Ambit Software, Super General successfully implemented a repair and maintenance service platform, including a field management application for efficient case handling and simplified technician dispatching. Due to increased efficiency and workload management, the number of cases per technician has surged by up to 26 percent, alongside a 10 percent increase in first-time fix rates. Other notable achievements include a significant increase in call closure rates and substantial improvements in customer satisfaction scores. Customer of the Year Breakthrough Award (Asia Pacific) – zazen Water, a provider of alkaline water solutions in Australia, is recognized for its use of SugarCRM to support business growth and customer satisfaction. Through strategic integrations, zazen Water automated its business and customer service operations to streamline high-order volume processing. Notably, during its Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023 campaign, zazen Water managed a significant order peak, accomplishing its same-day dispatch promise, which, prior to automation and integration projects, would have required 16 employees. Customer of the Year Breakthrough Award (EMEA) – FAMO GmbH & Co. KG, a German wholesaler of electrical and plumbing products, is recognized for its collaboration with Sugar partner Insignio to deploy SugarCRM for advanced customer data management and opportunity nurturing, the Sugar mobile app with enterprise resource planning (ERP) data integration for field sales support, and Sugar Market for automated newsletters and targeted communications. Customer of the Year Breakthrough Award (Latin America) – Mac Construtora e Incorporadora (MAC), a leader in construction and development in São Paulo, is recognized for the creative use of SugarCRM in the dynamic real estate market. Technology adoption significantly improved lead management and customer engagement, enhancing marketing approaches and project sales, resulting in a substantial increase in sales, ranging from 50 to 94 percent of its real estate agency. This has led to MAC substantially reducing its dependence on partnering with other real estate agencies. Customer of the Year Breakthrough Award (North America) – Alto-Shaam, providing foodservice equipment solutions to more than 90 countries globally, is recognized for use of SugarCRM to significantly enhance opportunity close rates by 61 percent while achieving up to 600 hours of time savings in marketing and sales efforts to forecast customer needs. The integration of Sugar Sell with Sugar Market has streamlined key processes, improved lead management, and enhanced operational efficiency and global communication. ISV Technology Partnership Breakthrough Award – FSIoffice, a leading independent office supply company, together with sales-i, are recognized for transforming FSIoffice’s CRM strategy from data repository to sales powerhouse, with 40 percent improved sales efficiency. Supported by Sugar partner CRM International, FSIoffice is driving remarkable revenue growth and enhancing customer engagement with Sugar Sell Premier and sales-i for predictive business-to-business sales intelligence. Reseller Technology Partnership Breakthrough Award – The Joint Corp., the nation’s largest provider of chiropractic care through The Joint Chiropractic® network, in partnership with Sugar partner Faye, are recognized for driving significant improvements in healthcare operations after transitioning to SugarCRM and Amazon Web Services, with a 40 percent increase in web transaction speed. This transformation allowed The Joint to focus on integrating AI to elevate SugarCRM from a functional tool to a strategic platform for competitive differentiation in the chiropractic care sector. Judges’ Choice Award – RTCR, the public transit provider in La Rochelle, France, operating under the Yélo brand, is recognized for significantly enhancing customer service with Sugar Serve, with implementation support by Sugar partner Synolia. The deployment has led to a minimum three percent increase in customer satisfaction and streamlined complaint management, saving agents’ time by 50 percent through improved response structuring. “We’re pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 SugarCRM Customer Breakthrough Awards,” said Chris Pennington, Chief Customer Officer, SugarCRM. “These customers and partners are recognized for excellence and innovation in letting Sugar’s AI-driven CRM platform do the work to make the hard things easier for sales, marketing and service professionals, and for driving breakthrough success and exceptional customer experiences.” About SugarCRM SugarCRM is a CRM software that helps marketing, sales, and service teams reach peak efficiency through better automation, data, and intelligence so they can achieve a real-time, reliable view of each customer. Sugar’s platform provides leading technology in the sales automation, marketing automation, and customer service fields with one goal in mind: to make the hard things easier. Thousands of companies in over 120 countries rely on Sugar by letting the platform do the work. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sugar is backed by Accel-KKR.

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Stagwell (STGW) and MNTN Partner to Forge a Unified Performance Marketing Ecosystem for Brands

PR Newswire | January 12, 2024

Stagwell (NASDAQ: STGW), the challenger network built to transform marketing, is partnering with connected TV (CTV) advertising leader MNTN to broaden the market of performance advertising for brands. With the partnership, brands will now have access to a comprehensive set of buying solutions that combine the best of MNTN's Performance TV platform with Stagwell Marketing Cloud products, providing added streaming, performance PR and performance influencer capabilities in a one-stop shop. Stagwell and MNTN's strategic partnership allows for a more unified approach to brand and performance media, offering brands access to advanced technologies and a comprehensive suite of tools enabling brand campaigns on television to now seamlessly coexist with other digital channels. "For too long, brand and performance media have battled to co-exist in an industry that worships creative ideas and measurable metrics separately," said MNTN President and CEO Mark Douglas. "Now Stagwell's performance-focused clients can see their brand campaigns at work through MNTN Performance TV and not only qualify but quantify results of traditionally less measurable media." "Stagwell believes all media is performance media, and our partnership with MNTN is our next step in creating an integrated ecosystem of technology and media solutions that enable speed to market, improved outcomes, and ultimately, scaled brand performance for clients," said Stagwell Chairman and CEO Mark Penn. "In combination with SMC tools, including social, streaming, and PR capabilities, brands can now attach metrics to their big marketing ideas in a granular way." Meeting Client Demands The partnership between Stagwell and MNTN Performance TV addresses the growing importance of performance advertising for modern brands, offering a comprehensive suite of buying solutions that feature cutting-edge targeting, measurement, and automated optimization technology. The collaboration introduces an innovative approach to television advertising, offering brands metrics that matter together – reach and revenue. Expanded Toolset MNTN clients will now benefit from an enhanced suite of tools, incorporating products from the Stagwell Marketing Cloud. This includes: PRophet, a generative and predictive AI platform for PR professionals Koalifyed, an influencer discovery and campaign management platform ReachTV, the largest streaming television network targeting travelers in airports Together, Stagwell and MNTN aim to meet the evolving needs of modern brands in a performance-driven landscape. Stay tuned for insights from Stagwell's Mark Penn and MNTN's Mark Douglas at CES next week, where they will discuss the power of this collaboration. Brands and/or journalists interested in connecting on the ground should contact ces2024@stagwellglobal.com for more information. About MNTN MNTN is the Hardest Working Software in TV, bringing unrivaled performance and simplicity to Connected TV advertising. Our self-serve technology makes running TV ads as easy as search and social and helps brands drive measurable conversions, revenue, site visits, and more. MNTN is one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2023 and was recently named one of the Next Big Things in Tech for its upcoming VIVA creative suite. For more information, please visit https://mountain.com/. About Stagwell Stagwell (NASDAQ: STGW) is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world's most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our 13,000+ specialists in 34+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.

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Gupshup brings Vertex AI-powered AI chatbots into RCS conversations

PR Newswire | February 26, 2024

Gupshup, the world's leading Conversation Cloud platform today announced that brands on its platform can now offer AI chatbots for RCS conversations, opening up a whole new advanced and interactive experience for their users. Gupshup's Conversational AI product suite, spanning Auto Bot Builder and ACE LLM, are now using Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform to bring the benefits of Google's large language models (LLMs) to Gupshup's customers globally. The integration will enable businesses to deliver more precise and human-like interactions with speed and scale and offer a more personalized and responsive experience. Further, AI assistants on RCS will be able to intelligently respond to unstructured queries, assisting customers across various stages–from product discovery, lead generation to troubleshooting and customer support. "Generative AI is transforming the RCS industry, and we're thrilled that Gupshup is utilizing our latest LLMs on Vertex AI to further personalize and enhance how businesses engage with customers through AI-driven conversations," said Warren Barkley, Senior Director of Product Management, Vertex AI at Google Cloud. "Vertex AI provides partners like Gupshup with a unified AI platform to leverage state-of-the-art foundational models, and we look forward to seeing the ways Gupshup continues to innovate with this technology." "We've always leveraged the latest cutting-edge AI technologies to offer a superior customer engagement platform to our brands. With our Auto Bot Builder and domain-specific ACE LLM now leveraging Google's LLMs, business messages on RCS are set to get a massive facelift, leading to better ROI for enterprises. We are excited to work with Google Cloud to help our brands bring intelligent conversations on RCS that will redefine customer engagement," said Beerud Sheth, Founder and CEO, Gupshup. Gupshup is a pioneer in leveraging domain-specific, fine-tuned large language models (LLMs) to automate the creation of enterprise-grade chatbots with appropriate guardrails. In January 2023, it launched Auto Bot Builder, a tool that leverages LLMs to automatically and effortlessly build advanced chatbots for enterprises. Gupshup's Conversational AI solutions are already live with several clients in India and abroad. The advanced chatbot for Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) - Dubai's largest utility, is powered by Gupshup. In India, several brands such as Tata Capital and Chaayos are using it for brand engagement, product discovery, employee training, and consultative selling.

Read More

Ad Tech and Martech

SugarCRM Announces 2024 Customer Breakthrough Award Winners

Business Wire | January 24, 2024

SugarCRM, provider of the award-winning AI-driven sales automation platform, today announced the global winners of the 2024 SugarCRM Customer Breakthrough Awards. Winners are: Customer Experience Breakthrough Award – Empresas ADOC, a Central American retail company, is recognized for using SugarCRM to drive business growth and improve customer engagement. Using SugarCRM, the company significantly improved customer service quality and customer retention, reduced customer churn while establishing its “Puntos ADOC” loyalty program that attracted over 600,000 members, representing more than 20 percent of total sales. ADOC has a rich history of using high-quality materials and specialized techniques to produce outstanding products that meet the needs of its customers. ADOC is a customer-driven business supported by a culture dedicated to enhancing customer satisfaction and building strong, lasting customer relationships. In addition to its own branded footwear, ADOC also has partnered with international brands, including Hush Puppies, The North Face, CAT, and Steve Madden, to create a complete shopping experience for its customers. Industry Excellence Breakthrough Award – Reusable Transport Packaging, a leader in sustainable transport packaging solutions, is recognized for using SugarCRM to improve its bottom line, unify customer data, streamline processes, and increase sales efficiency, resulting in a 20 percent revenue growth year over year. A key strategy in its growth is the use of Sugar Market for regular email communications, which keeps customers, distributors, and leads informed about new products, pricing updates, and other relevant industry news. Marketing Excellence Breakthrough Award – The Swedish Institute (SI), a Swedish government agency, is recognized for its innovative approach to data management and customer engagement. The Sugar Sell and Sugar Market platform integration centralizes data, segments audiences, and automates responses, significantly enhancing marketing efficiency and improving engagement with international students and alumni. The Swedish Institute saw an increase of over 31 percent in lead volume since implementing SugarCRM and boasts a best-in-class 40-to-50 percent open rate on marketing emails. Sales Excellence Breakthrough Award – J&J Ventures Gaming, LLC, a leader in gaming and amusements and one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., is recognized for implementing Sugar Sell to consolidate customer accounts and interactions into a centralized communication hub across sales, marketing, and account management. Streamlined sales processes have established a new model for sales excellence for the J&J team and its growth in the gaming industry. Service Excellence Breakthrough Award – Super General Company of the Albatha Group in the UAE is recognized for revolutionizing its service operations with Sugar Serve. Working with Sugar partner Ambit Software, Super General successfully implemented a repair and maintenance service platform, including a field management application for efficient case handling and simplified technician dispatching. Due to increased efficiency and workload management, the number of cases per technician has surged by up to 26 percent, alongside a 10 percent increase in first-time fix rates. Other notable achievements include a significant increase in call closure rates and substantial improvements in customer satisfaction scores. Customer of the Year Breakthrough Award (Asia Pacific) – zazen Water, a provider of alkaline water solutions in Australia, is recognized for its use of SugarCRM to support business growth and customer satisfaction. Through strategic integrations, zazen Water automated its business and customer service operations to streamline high-order volume processing. Notably, during its Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023 campaign, zazen Water managed a significant order peak, accomplishing its same-day dispatch promise, which, prior to automation and integration projects, would have required 16 employees. Customer of the Year Breakthrough Award (EMEA) – FAMO GmbH & Co. KG, a German wholesaler of electrical and plumbing products, is recognized for its collaboration with Sugar partner Insignio to deploy SugarCRM for advanced customer data management and opportunity nurturing, the Sugar mobile app with enterprise resource planning (ERP) data integration for field sales support, and Sugar Market for automated newsletters and targeted communications. Customer of the Year Breakthrough Award (Latin America) – Mac Construtora e Incorporadora (MAC), a leader in construction and development in São Paulo, is recognized for the creative use of SugarCRM in the dynamic real estate market. Technology adoption significantly improved lead management and customer engagement, enhancing marketing approaches and project sales, resulting in a substantial increase in sales, ranging from 50 to 94 percent of its real estate agency. This has led to MAC substantially reducing its dependence on partnering with other real estate agencies. Customer of the Year Breakthrough Award (North America) – Alto-Shaam, providing foodservice equipment solutions to more than 90 countries globally, is recognized for use of SugarCRM to significantly enhance opportunity close rates by 61 percent while achieving up to 600 hours of time savings in marketing and sales efforts to forecast customer needs. The integration of Sugar Sell with Sugar Market has streamlined key processes, improved lead management, and enhanced operational efficiency and global communication. ISV Technology Partnership Breakthrough Award – FSIoffice, a leading independent office supply company, together with sales-i, are recognized for transforming FSIoffice’s CRM strategy from data repository to sales powerhouse, with 40 percent improved sales efficiency. Supported by Sugar partner CRM International, FSIoffice is driving remarkable revenue growth and enhancing customer engagement with Sugar Sell Premier and sales-i for predictive business-to-business sales intelligence. Reseller Technology Partnership Breakthrough Award – The Joint Corp., the nation’s largest provider of chiropractic care through The Joint Chiropractic® network, in partnership with Sugar partner Faye, are recognized for driving significant improvements in healthcare operations after transitioning to SugarCRM and Amazon Web Services, with a 40 percent increase in web transaction speed. This transformation allowed The Joint to focus on integrating AI to elevate SugarCRM from a functional tool to a strategic platform for competitive differentiation in the chiropractic care sector. Judges’ Choice Award – RTCR, the public transit provider in La Rochelle, France, operating under the Yélo brand, is recognized for significantly enhancing customer service with Sugar Serve, with implementation support by Sugar partner Synolia. The deployment has led to a minimum three percent increase in customer satisfaction and streamlined complaint management, saving agents’ time by 50 percent through improved response structuring. “We’re pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 SugarCRM Customer Breakthrough Awards,” said Chris Pennington, Chief Customer Officer, SugarCRM. “These customers and partners are recognized for excellence and innovation in letting Sugar’s AI-driven CRM platform do the work to make the hard things easier for sales, marketing and service professionals, and for driving breakthrough success and exceptional customer experiences.” About SugarCRM SugarCRM is a CRM software that helps marketing, sales, and service teams reach peak efficiency through better automation, data, and intelligence so they can achieve a real-time, reliable view of each customer. Sugar’s platform provides leading technology in the sales automation, marketing automation, and customer service fields with one goal in mind: to make the hard things easier. Thousands of companies in over 120 countries rely on Sugar by letting the platform do the work. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sugar is backed by Accel-KKR.

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