Archive for June 2, 2021

Salesforce Unveils New Digital 360 Innovations

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 2, 2021 by itnerd

Salesforce today announced new innovations across Digital 360, helping companies go digital faster and deliver the next generation of marketing, commerce and digital experiences. Salesforce will debut these new technologies and more at the Connections opening keynote today at 9:00 a.m. PT. 

As consumers continue to push the limits of what it means to be digital first — from buying cars and groceries online to applying for mortgages on their phones — businesses’ marketing budget is following suit, with online sales reaching over $4 trillion and digital expected to hit half of all global ad spend this year. Salesforce is helping companies stay ahead of these shifts, powering an average of more than 100 billion Einstein predictions, sending 682 billion emails and delivering a daily average of three million commerce transactions in 2020. 

To get more from digital, companies need to create connected experiences and have a complete understanding of their customers’ preferences, passions and needs. New technologies from Salesforce combine data and digital to make this possible — bringing together marketing, commerce, sales and service, so companies can put customers at the center of their digital strategy.

Marketing Cloud 360: The next generation of marketing With the next generation of Marketing Cloud, marketers can get to know their customers through a single source of truth to engage with relevancy, humanize every moment at scale with AI-powered personalization to inspire action and loyalty, and optimize overall marketing impact with unified analytics.

Salesforce CDP: An enterprise customer data platform, Salesforce CDP supercharges customer interactions everywhere. Companies can bring together data from the world’s #1 CRM — across sales, service, marketing, loyalty and commerce — and use it to deliver powerful marketing, advertising and personalization that grows relationships and revenue. Today, Salesforce CDP is integrating two technologies to help companies quickly deliver a more dynamic experience at any moment:

  • Interaction Studio analyzes cross-channel brand interactions and applies Einstein to instantly determine and send a message, product offer or content recommendation.
  • Loyalty Management gives companies real-time audience segments of their best customers, including membership status, loyalty tier and points balance to nurture relationships and create lasting loyalty.
  • Google and Salesforce: Customers today increasingly interact with brands digitally and have rising expectations for their online privacy. The strategic partnership between Google and Salesforce helps marketers better understand their customers, in a way that respects privacy and maintains trust, by using first-party data to achieve smarter measurement and activation, including Customer Match, across marketing and advertising. The companies will continue to invest in solutions that make it easier to use customer insights from Salesforce products, including the Salesforce CDP, for activation across advertising on Google.
  • Datorama Reports for Marketing Cloud: Powered by Salesforce Datorama, Marketing Cloud’s analytics offering, marketers now have direct access to new email, mobile and journey reports to analyze and optimize performance — all within the Marketing Cloud interface. 
  • Marketer Career Path on Trailhead: Now, there is a single destination in Trailhead — Salesforce’s free online learning platform — with resources for anyone looking to start or build their marketing career. With over two million marketing badges earned to date, Trailhead is providing anyone with access to job-specific learning, a community of expert marketers, and custom learning paths to upskill for marketing career paths in email, demand generation, marketing analytics, data science and CMO leadership.
  • Snapchat Audience Match: Marketers can now use their first-party data stored in Salesforce to create targeted, personalized advertising audiences for Snapchat. Companies can use what they already know about their customers to engage customers with tailored, 1-to-1 content on the platform, and grow customer lists by identifying new targets with similar characteristics to existing customers using lookalikes. 
  • WhatsApp Integration: Companies can use Marketing Cloud’s WhatsApp Business Solution to increase customer engagement with keyword detection, transactional messages and more. Now, companies can communicate with customers on WhatsApp directly, easily setting up an account, channels and message templates.


Commerce Cloud 360: The next generation of customer-centric commerce
Commerce Cloud helps companies move beyond a single transaction and create lifelong relationships. New technologies will help companies identify business trends, personalize customer experiences, and simply connect the end-to-end commerce journey, from the online storefront to order management and beyond. 

  • Salesforce CDP for Commerce: With Commerce Cloud data integrated into Salesforce CDP out-of-the-box, companies get a complete view of first-party customer data across every touchpoint, providing a true single source of truth and the ability to use commerce data in cross-channel marketing. 
  • B2B2C Commerce: With the new B2B2C Commerce app, B2B companies can quickly launch a connected, direct-to-consumer (D2C) ecommerce storefront with clicks, not code. Now, companies that sell through distributors and retailers can capture that first-party data, enabling them to better understand their full customer base, connect directly with marketing, sales and service and in turn unlock a new revenue stream. 
  • Salesforce Order Management: Salesforce Order Management powers companies beyond the buy button — through fulfillment, delivery and loyalty. With Omnichannel Inventory and Distributed Order Management, companies can see real-time inventory across an entire network of stores and fulfillment centers, allowing them to turn their stores into distribution centers and provide customers with a choice in how they receive their items — same-day delivery, buy online pickup in store and more. With the addition of Order Management for B2B, business buyers will have more transparency and control over their orders with self-service fulfillment tracking, cancellations, order modifications and more. 
  • Headless PWA Kit and Managed Runtime: With the new Progressive Web Application (PWA) Kit and Managed Runtime, developer teams can quickly and cost-efficiently decouple front-end and back-end technologies to create highly customized consumer-facing experiences — also known as headless commerce. Traditional commerce solutions take months to implement and are disconnected from the full customer journey. With Salesforce, developers can spend less time maintaining infrastructure and more time creating interactive and innovative customer experiences. 


Availability:

  • Salesforce CDP for Loyalty Management, Datorama Reports for Marketing Cloud, WhatsApp Integration, Distributed Order Management and Omnichannel Inventory are all generally available today. 
  • B2B2C Commerce, Salesforce CDP for Interaction Studio and Snapchat Audience Match are expected to be generally available in June 2021. 
  • Salesforce Headless PWA Kit and Managed Runtime are expected to be generally available in August 2021. 
  • Order Management for B2B and Salesforce CDP for Commerce Cloud are expected to be generally available in October 2021. 

Leave a comment »

QuickBooks Survey Reveals Nearly 2 Million Canadians Launched A Business In The Last 12 Months

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 2, 2021 by itnerd

Today, Intuit QuickBooks Canada launched The Future of Entrepreneurship in Canada Report, capturing findings from Canadians including current and aspiring entrepreneurs. 

The report reveals that among Canadian entrepreneurs, one in five (21%) started their business within the past year. This represents close to two million Canadians (1.9M) – more than the population of Calgary, one of Canada’s largest metropolitan areas.  

Despite a challenging year, the majority of Canadian entrepreneurs (73%) and aspiring entrepreneurs (76%) say they are optimistic for the future. Confidence from entrepreneurs is a positive sign for the country’s immediate post-pandemic recovery.  

Other notable findings include: 

  • Digital is the future: While 41% of Canadian entrepreneurs sell exclusively offline, more sell online, and 22% sell through both channels. Among the businesses started up over the past year, 3 in 4 sell online, and over half sell exclusively online. 
  • Financial management gap: Managing finances is one of the largest challenges for entrepreneurs, yet only one-third of Canadian entrepreneurs (33%) are using an accounting service or professional for support. 
  • Canadian entrepreneurs need support to succeed: Three-quarters (76%) say that running their own business is stressful and half (49%) agree there are not enough mental health resources for entrepreneurs. 
  • Canadians are resilient: 72% of Canadians who launched a new business in the last year say they started theirs as a “side hustle” in the wake of COVID-19. 
  • What’s driving entrepreneurship now: While money is the number one driving force for entrepreneurship, freedom and flexibility also push entrepreneurs. Key motivators from entrepreneurs include: 
    • Being your own boss (58%)  
    • Setting your own hours (56%) 
    • Doing something meaningful (50%) 

The full report is available here.

Leave a comment »

Guest Post Atlas VPN Study Reveals That Consumer Threats Jumped By 83% In 2020

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 2, 2021 by itnerd

According to an Atlas VPN analysis, consumer threats jumped by 82.84% in 2020. The most concerning fact is that a few extremely dangerous and multi-purpose malware types sky-rocketed to never-before-seen heights.  For example, malicious software detections called Dridex soared by 1,890%. It is a form of malware that specializes in stealing bank credentials via macros from Microsoft Word.   

Cybersecurity researcher and publisher at Atlas VPN, Edward Garb, shares his thoughts on the consumer threat landscape: “It is essential to stay up-to-date on what is happening in the cybercrime landscape. If you know what threats are currently booming, then you know what to watch out for. As many people started to WFH, they opened up many new pathways for fraudsters, so cybersecurity knowledge has never been as important as today.”

Screenlockers grew in popularity by 312%, from 210 thousand detections in 2019 to 867 thousand in 2020.  Here, users either encounter a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) or a warning that they have been using illegal software and need to enter a registration key to unlock their computer.  

Somewhere on the screen, the victims see a phone number or a link that they can follow to contact the support team that will supposedly help them solve the problem. In fact, they usually solve the issue, but they hide the fact that their malware caused the problem. Of course, the solution is paid and overpriced. 

Next up is Glupteba, a malware type first detected in 2019, which exploded in popularity from 406 detections in 2019 to 840,754 in 2020, amounting to a 206,982% increase. Glupteba is one of those dangerous, multi-purpose malware families that we mentioned earlier. In short, Glupteba is a software bot that can be controlled from afar by the hackers who wrote it.  

To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/consumer-threats-jumped-by-83-in-2020-recent-findings-reveal

Leave a comment »

EnGenius Cloud Launches Facebook Wi-Fi Integration For SMBs

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 2, 2021 by itnerd

EnGenius Technologies announced today that it has integrated Facebook Wi-Fi into its EnGenius Cloud Solution. Facebook Wi-Fi helps small and medium-sized businesses provide an easy guest Wi-Fi experience while increasing customer engagement and awareness. From coffee shops to event venues, customers can easily connect to the business’s Wi-Fi, provided by the business’s internet service provider, using their Facebook or Instagram accounts to sign-in, and to engage with the business on social media.

EnGenius is integrating Facebook Wi-Fi on its license-free Cloud networking solution. SMBs can use the EnGenius Cloud To-Go app to install the easy plug-and-play access point and enable the Facebook Wi-Fi feature in minutes. In addition to helping people easily connect to a business’s Wi-Fi, Facebook Wi-Fi helps SMBs increase customer engagement and awareness by giving customers the option to engage with the business on Facebook and Instagram. 

Benefits of Facebook Wi-Fi for SMBs

Seamless Guest Wi-Fi Experience: Facebook Wi-Fi makes it easy for a customer to connect to a business’s Wi-Fi through a captive portal, using their Facebook or Instagram logins. Businesses have the ability to customize the connection length and integrate their Facebook page and Instagram profile for users to engage with. 

Better Customer Engagement: By making it easy for customers to engage with a business’s online presence, whether by checking in on Facebook or following their Instagram profile, Facebook Wi-Fi gives businesses an opportunity to increase their organic social engagement with their customers and their friends. 

Business Insights: Facebook Wi-Fi provides business owners with insight, based on aggregate data, into the total number of check-ins from Facebook Wi-Fi, broken down by new, one-time and returning visitors. 

Download the license-free EnGenius Cloud To-Go app and try Facebook Wi-Fi now. For more information, please visit the EnGenius Cloud website https://www.engeniustech.com/facebook-wifi-with-engenius-cloud.html

Leave a comment »

Boy George is Here to Guide Your Ride with Pride

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 2, 2021 by itnerd

This month marks the beginning of annual Pride celebrations around the world. It’s a time to recognize the progress and ongoing fight for visibility, acceptance, and legal protections of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. And a reminder to all that everyone should have the freedom to live openly because love is love. In honour of this moment, we’re excited to welcome Boy George to Waze. 

A music and fashion icon who has, for decades, represented what it means to live authentically and unapologetically, Boy George uses his signature voice to create not only instant classics, but also impassioned songs that shine a light on the movement to secure the rights and liberties of the LGBTQIA2S+ community around the world. And now, for the first time, he’s using this recognizable voice to navigate Wazers as they drive, giving us all a chance to feel what it’s like to have Boy George in the passenger seat.

Enjoy Tea Time with Boy George on WazeBoy George is here to make your daily drives a little more fun, and a lot more thought-provoking. The man of many hats—literally and figuratively—fulfills every fan’s dream of sitting down to a nice cup of tea and a chat. He’ll also tell you where to turn, give you a heads up on hazards ahead, and impart words of wisdom, like reminding you that life is about learning to be yourself. When you activate his voice navigation in the latest version of your Waze app, along with your choice of Mood and car, you can get the full Boy George experience each time you hit the road, no matter where you are in the world.

Stream Boy George’s Own Pride Playlist To make your tea time even sweeter, Boy George has also curated a special Pride playlist you can stream seamlessly as you drive through the Waze Audio Player. Just sync your audio and Waze apps and you’ll never miss a beat (or a turn).

Each track has been selected to celebrate acceptance, freedom of expression, and love, while following Boy George’s golden rule: “listen to the music you love; passion always eclipses what’s fashionable.” 

So make sure you’ve got the latest Waze app, brew a cup of tea, cue up the “Drive with Boy George” playlist, hit the road, and enjoy riding with Boy George.

Leave a comment »

Fraudulent Text Messages About COVID-19 Test Results Making The Rounds In Toronto

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 2, 2021 by itnerd

Yesterday I noted something on my Twitter feed that was frankly disturbing. It was a series of Tweets from Toronto Public Heath:

Now, here’s some facts so that you don’t fall victim to this scam. (Kudos to a friend of mine who works for Toronto Public Health for this info). Text messages from Toronto Public Health will be from 77000. So if you get a text claiming to be from Toronto Public Health from any other number, it’s likely fake. And if you do get a text like this, don’t share any information at all.

I am not sure what low life scumbag is doing this. But this is unacceptable and I hope that the police hunt them down and throw them into the deepest darkest hole that they can find.

Leave a comment »