The MarTech Minute: Amazon’s AI for speech analytics, Cloudinary’s Adobe Creative Cloud Connector

MarTech Minute briefs always appear first in our daily newsletter throughout the week. Click here to subscribe. The following is our compilation of the past week’s briefs from those newsletters.

MarTech in Motion

IntentData.io brings contact-level intent data to users. The newly accessible data sets can be used by marketers, account-based marketing teams and sales users who are looking for additional sales insights, deal intel and reduce churn rates. By identifying active contacts, users report outcomes including an 82% reduction in length of the sales cycle and a 50% close rate.

Optimizely secures $105 million led by Goldman Sachs. The latest Series D funding round, led by Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing also included Accenture Ventures and brings the company’s total funding to $200 million. “Optimizely is recognized as a leader in the experimentation space and the solution of choice for numerous global brands. We’re pleased to have Accenture onboard as a co-investor in the Series D. We see a substantial market opportunity ahead for Optimizely, and we are excited to help fuel their continued growth,” said Michael Kondoleon, vice president at Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing.

Amazon launches AI-powered speech analytics for Amazon Connect. The solution aims to bring real-time customer insights to help organizations quickly resolve customer service issues and drive improved customer experiences. It uses Amazon Transcribe, Amazon Comprehend and Amazon translate to help users better understand customers and their interactions with them.

Dun & Bradstreet survey shows impact of mismanaged data. 41% of respondents said that no one in their organization is responsible for managing data, according to the survey, which could be why 52% of business leaders surveyed said they haven’t had the budget to implement data management practices across their organizations. 

IBM and Cloudera partner up. IBM and Cloudera will now re-sell one another’s solutions to their customers as part of the strategic partnership. “By teaming more strategically with IBM, we can accelerate data-driven decision making for our joint enterprise customers who want a hybrid and multi-cloud data management solution with common security and governance,” said Scott Andress, vice president of global channels and alliances at Cloudera. The programs are aimed at delivering data and AI solutions to customers within the Apache Hadoop environment. 

Adstream launches mobile app for TV advertisers. The mobile companion app, Adstream ONE, consolidates asset management and global delivery into one platform for advertisers. “Sometimes every second counts. By providing visibility, control and notifications in one easy to use app, our customers gain efficiency and the ability to execute time-sensitive changes to their TV ads and assets instantly from anywhere,” said Hamza Mudassir, chief product officer at Adstream.

Takumi expands across Europe. Influencer marketing service Takumi has announced plans to expand in five new European markets. “Now more than ever before, Instagram influencers are under scrutiny. Brands and their creative partners need to ensure that their creative is being executed effectively, authentically and legitimately,” said Adam Williams, CEO of Takumi. “Takumi has worked with international brands since its inception. At this pivotal moment, I’m delighted to offer our managed services across Europe – building real relationships between brands, influencers and consumers.”

Forrester study shows 88% of marketers use AI technology. Despite the widespread usage, survey respondents indicated that they still don’t feel fully enabled to use the technology. Only half of those surveyed indicated that they feel supported by the technologies comprising their martech stacks.

LiveRamp acquires Data Plus Math. The $150 million deal aims to help advertisers buying and analyzing targeted ads on traditional and streaming television services. “Ultimately the business is all heading this direction. The clients are under pressure to prove every penny they spend performed,” said Peter Olsen, executive vice president for ad sales at A+E Networks Group. The Data Plus Math technologies bring together viewership data and with other demographic and propensity data to help advertisers measure campaign effectiveness. 

Cloudinary unveils Adobe Creative Cloud Connector. The integration allows Cloudinary Digital Asset Management users and Creative Cloud users to streamline media workflows. “The Cloudinary DAM solution enables brands to craft dynamic media experiences that support greater user engagement and improved bottom-line impact,” said Ariel Shiran, senior director of product at Cloudinary. “Our integration with Creative Cloud makes the entire media management process even more seamless, facilitating deep productivity improvements and improved workflows across teams.”

MarTech Movers

Experience design agency Launch has hired Jerry Hudson, Moxie’s former VP of future experiences, as head of innovation and growth. Hudson will partner with Launch’s co-founders to drive internal and external growth strategies. “Jerry has an uncanny ability to assess technologies and processes and predict which will deliver the most impact,” said Santana. “His experience and foresight bring enormous value to our clients and our company, and we’re thrilled to have him on the Launch team.” Prior to accepting his role at Launch, Hudson served as principal of Meta56Labs where he provided strategic solutions for emerging and future tech in media. He also spent five years at Moxies where he established the FutureX conference series.

Sophie Pibouin joins Resulticks, an AI-powered segmentation and behavior analysis platform, as executive VP of sales of the Americas. “The addition of Sophie to our executive team comes as we see strong opportunities across the region, which will play a significant role in Resulticks’ forward growth strategy,” said CEO and co-founder Redickaa Subrammanian. “Bringing deep marketing and global technology experience that complements our existing capabilities, she is well-positioned to be an integral asset to our U.S.-based clientele.” Sophie brings two decades of experience to her new position, including leadership roles at IBM, SDL, Chronicle Solutions and CA Inc. 

Crisp is bringing in two senior leaders to help spearhead the company’s expansion into the U.S. Vikram Sharma will join as president and Rishad Tobaccowala, chief growth officer of Publicis Groupe,  will serve as strategic advisor. “This is a pivotal time in the evolution of Crisp and we have no doubt that Vikram and Rishad will enable us to continue to serve as the leader in Social Media Safety for brands around the world and grow more broadly in our space,” said Adam Hildreth, CEO and founder of Crisp. “Their marketing and advertising know-how, coupled with the potential for growth in the U.S. is a powerhouse opportunity to educate and help more enterprises.” Sharma previously served as CEO and president of G/O Digital among other digital leadership positions. 

InMobi Group announced the appointment of Harvard professor Tarun Khanna as an independent director of the firm. “We are very excited to have Tarun Khanna join our Board,” said Naveen Tewari, Founder and CEO of InMobi Group. “All our businesses – InMobi Unified Marketing Cloud, Glance and TruFactor are scaling globally. The breadth and depth of his insights from academia and his expertise as an entrepreneur and board member across varied industries across the globe will stand us in good stead on this journey.”

Ready to make your own move in martech? We’ve gathered a few job postings to help with your search.

• Vice President, Enterprise Digital Marketing – 1-800-FLOWERS, Carle Place, NY
• Director, Digital Experience – Twitter, San Francisco, CA
• Director of Marketing Data – Capital One, Mclean, VA
• Director, Digital Product Analytics & Insights – American Express, New York, NY
• Director, Marketing Analytics – Casper, New York, NY
• Martech Specialist – Lenovo, Raleigh, NC
• Senior Associate, Digital Marketing Strategist – Capital One, Wilmington, DE
• Solutions Director – SaaS, MarTech, Implementations – CyberCoders, Boston, MA