Q&A with Tyler Lessard, VP Marketing, Vidyard

MEDIA 7 | June 11, 2020

Philippe Guiheneuc is the Marketing Director at Akio, a company that provides customer experience software platforms. It proposes cross-channel solutions that help you with customer engagement management, voice of the customer analysis and brand reputation monitoring. In this Q&A, Philippe speaks about customer satisfaction, CRM, marketing strategies, challenges, branding, and more. MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into Marketing? PHILIPPE GUIHENEUC: Coming from a family of officials, farmers and painters, I discovered the world of business at the ESSEC business school in Paris. I carefully avoided three subjects: Computer Science, with its flashy green dashboards on a black background, Accounting, for its remarkable ability to make me lose patience, and Selling, because I could not bear to be told no. Consequently, my first job was to sell accounting software! Only fools refuse to change their mind. So I may be half intelligent, because althoughI have discovered a passion for businesswith its three components (communication-marketing-sales) and innovation, to the point of teaching storytelling in business schools, unfortunately I remain insensitive to the poetry of a P&L. That's why I chose to work at Akio. Respect for customers is no longer just a professional obligation but an extraordinary lever for growth. Thanks to the Akio.Cx platform, I contribute a little bit every day to make life easier for customer agents, and that's what makes me happy. M7: What core issue does Akio.Cx software aim to address and what sets it apart from the competition? PG: Akio is the editor of the omnichannel call centre platform Akio.Cx. Our core mission is to turn complexity into simplicity! In the context of increased competition, the quality of the response delivered to clients has become a major stake for all companies. However, the job of a customer advisor is becoming increasingly complex as customers use new channels to interact with companies. With the customer service platform Akio.Cx, the customer service will develop a personalised experience for its clients, regardless of which channel they choose (phone, e-mail, chat, social media, etc.), thanks to unified client knowledge that is reinforced by semantic analysis. In 20 years, Akio has built a solid base of references among the largest French companies (AxaBanque, Banque de France, MGEN, URSSAF, Air France, Interflora, Engie, GrDF; Sarenza, Kiabi, Arkea, BPI France Cora, LPM Dyneff, Grep, Ircem, Photoweb, Sandoz, MTP, VMmag, MSD, CAFAT, CGSS, OPT, Bruneau, AMDM, etc.) Initially, the platform was provided ‘on-premise’, then through a ‘hybrid’ model, and since 2017 it’s provided as a ‘SaaS’ tool. Recently, Akio announced a global partnership with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise that will offer the Akio.Cx platform to all of its 800,000 customers. This alliance is coupled with a project linked to the notion of the "augmented agent", i.e. high-tech tools made available to customer service representatives to facilitate their work and help them gain in efficiency. ...

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Media 7 | February 9, 2021

Christopher Marriott, President and Founder at Email Connect LLC, is a recognized expert in the process of connecting leading brands with the right marketing technology partners and platforms. Before founding Email Connect as a consultancy focused exclusively on the ESP/CRM/CDP vendor selection process, Chris served as a tenured executive at Acxiom, leading and building its Global Digital and Email Agency Services team into one of the industry’s top services providers. He is also a regular columnist on email marketing and the RFP process and is an adviser to several emerging marketing technology companies including AudiencePoint and Shotzr....

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Media 7 | March 23, 2022

Bruno Bin, VP of Marketing at Rocket.Chat takes us through Rocket.Chat's innovate new features and their remote work culture. Read on to know more about his thoughts on the recent paradigm shift in the B2B marketplace, benchmarks of a successful marketing and sales strategy in his latest interview with Media 7....

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Channel Partnerships

PR Newswire | January 04, 2024

ZINFI Technologies, Inc., a company leading the definition and creation of Unified Partner Management (UPM) solutions, today announced that its latest best practices guide —The Ultimate Guide to Channel Partner Management — is now available as a complimentary downloadable eBook. Among the most comprehensive and practical guides to partner management, the guidebook was designed to help organization of all sizes and in every industry learn how to unlock new markets, innovate faster, and deliver better customer experiences. The Ultimate Guide to Channel Partner Management consists of 10 detailed chapters based on common questions from business professionals, including: What Are the Different Types of Channel Partners? How to Find and Recruit Channel Partner What Are the Benefits of Having Channel Partners? How to Choose the Right Channel Partners for Your Business How to Get Started with Channel Partnerships How to Align Partners with Overall Business Strategy What Are the Challenges of Managing Channel Partners? How Do We Evolve Channel Partnerships over Time? What Are the Best Practices for Channel Partnership Management? What Are the Future Trends in Channel Partnerships? "We know that effective partnerships can significantly extend a company's market reach, enhance product distribution and fortify its competitive edge," said Sugata Sanyal, CEO and founder of ZINFI Technologies. "Channel partners are not just another route to market. Indeed, they are a strategic asset that, when managed well, can become a source of sustained competitive advantage. But what exactly constitutes a channel partner, and how can a business harness a robust network of partners to realize its full potential? We created this new guidebook to provide detailed answers to a whole host of questions like these that people ask us every day as they try to understand how to unleash the power of partner relationships and partner ecosystems. The future of channel partnerships is bright, and this guidebook is just what business executives and marketing professionals need to prepare for a world of opportunity." The Ultimate Guide to Channel Partner Management can be downloaded here: https://www.zinfi.com/guidebooks/channel-partner-management-ultimate-guide/ ZINFI has consistently been named a PRM "leader" by G2, the world's leading business solutions review website. ZINFI has earned this distinction over multiple consecutive quarters dating back to 2019, most recently in G2's Winter 2024 G2 Grid® Report for Partner Management Software. G2 scores are based on the responses of real, verified users and data aggregated from online sources and social networks. To access more information about ZINFI's partner relationship management platform or to download a copy of ZINFI's best practices guide on partner relationship management, please visit our website at www.zinfi.com. You can also follow ZINFI Technologies on LinkedIn and at the ZINFI Channel Marketing Best Practices blog. ZINFI offers its potential customers a 30-day free trial (no credit card required) providing access to its entire Unified Partner Marketing (UPM) automation platform. This will allow any prospective buyers to test-drive its industry-leading channel management applications before making a purchase decision. About ZINFI Technologies ZINFI Technologies, Inc., a company leading the definition and creation of Unified Partner Management (UPM) solutions, enables vendors and their channel partners to seamlessly collaborate in a virtual environment to achieve profitable growth on a global SaaS platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, USA, we at ZINFI see an immense opportunity to build high-performing sales channels by deploying a powerful virtual collaboration platform that has been rated #1 by leading analyst firms for simple to complex enterprise channels. ZINFI's state-of-the-art SaaS Unified Partner Management (UPM) automation platform allows brands and their global partner networks to work together remotely throughout the entire partner lifecycle via three core state-of-the-art SaaS applications—partner relationship management, partner marketing management and partner sales management. ZINFI's UPM is super easy to use and affordably priced, and it comes with a complete set of do-it-yourself tools in multiple languages.

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Channel Partnerships

FiscalNote | December 11, 2023

FiscalNote Holdings, Inc. ("FiscalNote"), a leading AI-driven provider of policy and global intelligence, today announced a commercial partnership with Era Global Technologies, LLC (“Era”), a technology-focused investment firm backed by leading, closely-held family enterprises. This marks continued support from an early-stage investor and strategic advisor to the Company who has been closely aligned with FiscalNote for over five years. Era’s dedicated value-creation platform, Era Catalyst, will be a foundational channel partner, providing distribution support for FiscalNote’s recently-announced AI Co-pilot program. Era will provide referral services into their extensive network to accelerate sales and introduce FiscalNote’s proprietary AI products in the legal and regulatory space to several of the world’s largest conglomerates. Through these referrals, FiscalNote will drive further AI innovation augmented by input from Era’s network of family-owned enterprises, including large European and Asia-based multinational chemical and consumer goods conglomerates which operate across 19 countries and 25 industries. The collaboration is expected to enable FiscalNote to accelerate its ongoing growth and expansion strategy, advance new product development, and optimize sales and marketing efforts. In connection with the agreement, Era’s investment vehicle, EGT–East, is investing $5.5 million in FiscalNote in the form of a convertible subordinated promissory note, with the potential for up to an additional $2.0 million. The strategic investment will, in part, fund further capital expenditures and development of FiscalNote’s next generation of AI Co-Pilot capabilities, inclusive of deployments into Era’s network of global companies. The terms of the promissory note are further described in FiscalNote’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 11, 2023. “We are delighted to have Era as a foundational partner in our mission to extend the power of AI-driven policy and global intelligence to businesses and organizations around the world,” said Josh Resnik, President and COO, FiscalNote. “This investment is a testament to the industry-leading and innovative nature of our technology and our potential to transform the way businesses operate by leveraging our longstanding pedigree and leadership in AI. We are especially excited that this investment will galvanize and accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategy for our AI Co-pilot program, which is positioned to revolutionize the legal, regulatory, and legislative domain. Our Co-pilot program marks yet another development in FiscalNote’s ongoing leadership as we innovate and bring to market more AI-enabled solutions aimed at the legal and regulatory sector, while providing incremental growth opportunities to complement our proven, durable base of recurring revenue solutions.” FiscalNote’s AI Co-pilots are new AI solutions customized for policy and risk management professionals to facilitate their day-to-day work such as key tasks related to legislation, advocacy, constituent communications, regulatory responses, and global risk analysis. FiscalNote’s Co-pilots will combine the power of large language models, FiscalNote’s trusted industry leading policy and geopolitical data, and customers’ data, all in a seamless workflow to provide intelligent assistance for the world’s most important decision makers. By deploying FiscalNote’s AI Co-pilots, customers will be able to automate tasks, improve decision-making, and increase productivity and efficiencies – driving value and results across the enterprise. About FiscalNote FiscalNote (NYSE: NOTE) is a leader in policy and global intelligence. By uniquely combining data, technology, and insights, FiscalNote empowers customers to manage political and business risk. Since 2013, FiscalNote has pioneered technology that delivers critical insights and the tools to turn them into action. Home to CQ, FrontierView, Oxford Analytica, VoterVoice, and many other industry-leading brands, FiscalNote serves approximately 5,000 customers worldwide with global offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. To learn more about FiscalNote and its family of brands, visit FiscalNote.com and follow @FiscalNote. About Era Global Technologies Founded by Jasper Lau, Era is a global investment firm backed by leading closely-held family enterprises across 19 countries and 25 industries. Era harnesses the collective knowledge, corporate intelligence, and strategic capital of the firm's families to build and back transformative, category-defining technology companies.

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Channel Partnerships

PR Newswire | January 25, 2024

HiddenLayer, the leading security provider for artificial intelligence (AI) models and assets, today announced a new partner program to empower enterprises with complete AI protection including rapid threat detection and security across the entire MLOps lifecycle. "Our Channel Partner Program is designed to drive innovation by allowing partners to introduce security for AI to their customers, helping to educate more businesses about a new threat landscape," said Rebecca Cahak, Head of Channel, HiddenLayer. "By leveraging this new offering, partners will ensure margin and deal protection, leverage incentives, access flexible and easy-to-use training tools, demo environments, and proof of value tools to drive success." The Channel Partner Program allows partners to seamlessly onboard while providing predictable, transparent pricing and flexible licensing models, and a first-of-its-kind unobtrusive, automated, scalable Artificial Intelligence Security (AISec) Platform. Partners will be able to educate customers on a new threat landscape and provide the solutions they need to protect their AI, and competitive edge, build stronger relationships, and establish their team as AI leaders for their customers. "The HiddenLayer line of products is an important component in our AI security service offerings," said Matt Keating, Head of AI Security at Booz Allen Hamilton. "We are excited to continue to strengthen our strategic partnership with the HiddenLayer team, furthering our ability for joint strategy and co-solutioning." HiddenLayer aims to optimize its current partner network, enhancing it through streamlined support and collaborative offerings. There will be three tiers for the program, Covert, Concealed, and Clandestine, so customers can work together with HiddenLayer to achieve the best-shared outcome. Each tier includes pricing discounts, free online training for sales, and technical enablement and security for AI marketing partnerships. Concealed includes free on-site training and performance incentive programs for extra financial success. Clandestine includes everything previously mentioned, with the addition of account mapping, executive security research briefings, and more. "By joining HiddenLayer's partner program, we're enabling customers to safeguard against constantly evolving cybersecurity risks," said Rick Echevarria, Vice President and General Manager, Intel Security Center of Excellence. "We are now able to provide a scalable security solution for AI and help more businesses foster the acceleration of safer AI adoption." Additionally, HiddenLayer recently announced that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, named HiddenLayer to its 2023 Stellar Startups list. This annual list, previously known as CRN Emerging Vendors, recognizes fast-rising technology manufacturers committed to delivering leading-edge solutions that propel innovation and growth in the IT channel. Learn more about HiddenLayer's Channel Partner Program here. About HiddenLayer HiddenLayer, a Gartner-recognized AI Application Security company, helps enterprises safeguard the machine learning models behind their most important products with a comprehensive security platform. Only HiddenLayer offers turnkey security for AI that does not add unnecessary complexity to models and does not require access to raw data and algorithms. Founded in March of 2022 by experienced security and ML professionals, HiddenLayer is based in Austin, Texas. For additional information, including product updates and the latest research reports, visit www.hiddenlayer.com.

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