Category: Technology companies

5 Top Software Vendors in Omnichannel Commerce in 2021

It’s not easy connecting all your sales channels. Making sure that brick and mortar stores, the online store, live shopping channels and others are all in sync can become complicated. Retailers need to get all departments, all sales channels, suppliers and fulfilment operations on the same page. That’s why I’ve put together a list of the top software vendors in omnichannel commerce – to help you skip the software sourcing part.

It’s not an easy task to connect an omnichannel software vendor to existing systems.  Fortunately, some companies are really good at it. Others – just good at saying they are.

And here come the knights in shiny digital armor to rescue the day. The following 5 vendors have built omnichannel retail capabilities ready to be plugged into existing retail ecosystems. They are now the go-to elite for large retailers in need of upgrading their IT infrastructure.

5. Kibo – unified commerce.

Number 5 on our top software vendors in omnichannel list is Kibo. In 2015 former Shopatron became Kibo. The company now sports an API-first, microservices based platform that enables B2B and B2C ecommerce as well as order management, inventory systems and point of sale solutions.

Kibo – unified cloud commerce – number 5 on top omnichannel software vendors

The company was founded in September 2000 by Ed Stevens and Sean Collier. Since then, it has evolved into an integrated SaaS platform that connects offline and online orders management, making it easier for customers to purchase from retailers.

The company offers specific omnichannel solutions, most important being:

  1. in-store pick-up
  2. ship from store
  3. inventory lookup
  4. vendor dropship

Shopatron targets midsize retailers and its main benefit is the advanced order routing. The platform combines online and offline sales and claims inventory visibility across channels.

Pros:

  • great fit for midsize companies
  • developer friendly and easily integrate-able due to its API-first architecture
  • headless commerce structure – enables building disconnected systems on existing software structure
  • good fit for larger retailers that look for a quick roll-out for the solutions listed above
  • can connect multiple sales channels and direct orders to the right fulfilment point
  • works for both B2B and B2C commerce
  • reduced costs and quick roll out

Cons:

  • implementations can become costly due to development costs
  • backend can seem outdated or complicated
  • analytics may not be its strong point

4. NetSuite Suite commerce

NetSuite was already rocking a great SaaS ERP product and a fully flavored ecommerce solution when it acquired OrderMotion in 2013. Now the company can provide inventory management across channels, a single customer view, business intelligence data and omnichannel order management. In the past years the product has made the company one of the top software vendors in omnichannel with its SuiteCommerce collection of products.

Suite is no. 4 on our top software vendors in omnichannel commerce list

The company, among the first to bet on SaaS platforms, was acquired by Oracle in 2016 for $9.6 billion and its multi-channel software became the go-to option for its 23 000 Oracle customers.

NetSuite started as NetLedger, envisioned as an online accounting tool, that later turned to an wider array of company management tools.

Prior to its Oracle acquisition, Netsuite was very active in acquiring companies itself. In 2013 it acquired Retail Anywhere, a POS solutions company that became its POS commerce solution. In 2014 it acquired both Venda, an ecommerce SaaS company, and eBizNet Solutions, a company focused on WMS (warehouse management system) solutions.

Netsuite has decided omnichannel is a perfect mix when it connects companies focused o separate blocks in the retail chain.

Pros:

  • Extensive know how of retail operations management
  • Integrated SaaS solutions
  • Great record of acquisitions
  • Single view of customer across channels
  • Multi-channel channel inventory view and order management
  • Extensive list of customers, a lot of them enterprise Oracle customers
  • Great uptime

Cons:

  • NetSuite is “broadly focused”: its solutions work with healthcare, finance, manufacturing and many, many others. That leaves little room for actual retail innovation
  • Expeeeensive
  • The solution is targeted at enterprise customers or midsized to large companies, a lot of them Oracle customers
  • Complicated to operate and train staff on
  • Complex pricing and licensing structure

3. New in the top software vendors for omnichannel: VTEX

VTEX was nowhere to be seen on this list 5 years ago. The company started in Brasil as an ecommerce company catering to the local market. It’s innovative technology caught the attention of Walmart as it entered the Brasil retail market. They’ve created a solid presence for the company in the country and expanded regionally in LATAM.

Companies such as Sony, Samsung, Adidas and many others has chosen VTEX as their B2C and B2B multi-channel software suppier.

From all the other companies on this list VTEX is the best in many fields, chief of which is its modern infrastructure, matched only by the likes of Shopify, which is more aimed towards ecommerce rather than multi channel sales.

Pros:

  • Great user experience
  • Headless, API-based ecommerce
  • Microservices based
  • Available globally
  • Apps marketplace and third party developers
  • Great developer support
  • Fast time to market implementations

Cons:

  • Not much customisation can be done on the core platform. It’s a multi-tennant cloud platform.
  • The platform can be sometimes slow

2. SAP Commerce

SAP commerce was once a thriving, innovative company called Hybris. Afterwards SAP purchased it and there’s almost no way to find out how you can implement the software. Just trolling. The solution is good and it used to be number one on this list. Not anymore.

This omnichannel solution is scalable and built on a modern and flexible architecture, that allows interaction with all interfaces. Its order management solution, inventory and commerce application are built to work together seamless and easily connect with other systems.

SAP commerce’s solutions work both B2B and B2C and can handle inputs from multiple inventory sources and outputs on multiple sales channels. Moreover, the solution features a central content management system that enables retailers to push content across a multitude of interfaces.

Pros

  • scalable solution
  • feature packed
  • fully integrated solutions
  • works B2B and B2C
  • modern architecture
  • supports multiple interfaces
  • works online, offline and on multiple other channels
  • flexible enough to work with open source technologies

Cons

  • training may be expensive
  • professionals able to implement and train are hard to find, due to an increase of platform demand
  • customization and setup can be time and resource consuming
  • it’s part of SAP

1. Shopify Plus

Shopify is an amazing company and its communication, style, products and company culture really stand out. It used to be the small kid on the block but now, in term of product, market reach and its huge growth in 2020 it really shines.

It makes sense that its core enterprise product can work on multiple channels. It’s incredibly stable as an ecommerce platform, migration is extremely fast, works as a point of sale solution and you can integrate all logistics on it. Plus, it comes with the experience of having more stores on its platform than any other company.

Shopify Plus takes the crown on my list of top vendors for omnichannel software, 5 years after it was not even included here. Kudos, Shopify.

So that’s it – these are the best of breed. Of course, there are more out there that deliver great products and I could name Intershop or SalesForce Cloud . They, however are less inclined to omnichannel or have a really new found love for omnichannel retail. The vendors mentioned above are leading the pack in omnichannel retail implementation, especially for large customers.

Advertising versus Commerce based business models

If you look at the top 10 Forbes tech companies you can see several interesting things. Here’s the list below. See what you can spot:

Top 10 Forbes tech companies
Source: Top 10 Forbes tech companies

The first obvious thing is that most of them are from the US. Second – in the US, most are relatively young companies, with the likes of Alphabet (Google) and Facebook being very young. The youngest companies also have something else in common: their business model is based on advertising. Simply put – they capture their users’ attention and profile and then show ads.

The other companies – not so much, outside of Tencent.

Advertising has been the go-to business model for tech companies for quite some time

Now – no one can say that advertising based models are bad – it seems that two companies managed to get most of the advertising budgets in less than two decades, displacing large media and advertising conglomerates.

The picture, however, is a whole lot different if you look at the top 10 companies, independent of whether they are a tech company or not.

Source

There’s not one single advertising based company in the top 10.

The anomalies that stand out are Berkshire Hathaway (investment) and AT&T(telecom). The other companies are all retailers of something. Their own products, drugs, oil you name it. Even the two anomalies are related to commerce. If you look at Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio you will notice that it resembles the list above quite a lot. AT&T is technically a retailer of telecom services with a quasi-monopoly on the US market.

Commerce based business models are the future of tech companies

I’ve noticed this idea in two key areas:

  • most of the new business models that are emerging in China are not advertising but commerce based. This is due to the fact that China’s VC scene is more grounded in a historic perspective of trade rather than advertising.
  • Shopify’s growth has been largely ignored by Sillicon Valley due to them not being related to the crowd consensus. Its stock trades at 40 times the list price 3 years ago
Shopify not fitting in with the cool tech crowd.

My guess is that the future of tech businesses is more commerce related than advertising, payment or any other niche model. Commerce is at the basis of our society and as long as we’ll have a functioning global society (not guaranteed, btw), commerce will make our world better.

Are Google and Walmart going into Live Stream Shopping?

It appears that both Google, through YouTube and Walmart are approaching the idea of live stream shopping, each from a different angle.

YouTube has disclosed plans to turn its large video platform into a shopping venue. It’s already used as one of the largest how-to and influencer lead marketing platforms so it’s only natural that they would consider it.

Why does YouTube live shopping make sense?

Video is big in ecommerce and live video is going to be even bigger. With its following Shopify integration, YouTube will simplify video-lead purchases.

What are the cons?

YouTube is an advertising powered platform. Simply put – it’s pay to play. Let’s say Sephora wants to market their products through YouTube. They would use influencers or their own associates. This leads towards the question – who owns the data? Not the buyer data, which will have to end up with Sephora, so they could at least fulfil the orders but the visitor data. This sits with Youtube/Google. This might have worked 10 years ago but it’s a bit of a no-no with any rational retailer. It still is a great choice for small retailers and this makes Shopify a great choice as a partner.

Walmart buys a 7.5% stake into TikTok. Why?

Oracle and Walmart have received the “blessing” for a 20% acquisition into the hottest media discovery app / social tool TikTok. It kind of makes sense for Walmart to do it but why Walmart? Are they trying to reach an younger audience and look dope?

Nope.

They want to get into live shopping. They’ve previously missed the wagon on a few ecommerce opportunities that took them a decade to get back. Now they’ve noticed the live stream shopping trend in Chine, see the need for it in the North Americas, especially US, and want onboard.

Why it makes sense for Walmart to go into Live Shopping?

Well.. duh. They are the largest retailer in the US, see a great change happening and want on board. Appealing to younger generations is a great plus. But …

What are the cons of Walmart buying into TikTok?

Walmart, as all large companies are very hard to steer. They are a behemoth of a company that takes decades to move. Yes, when they do, they crush opposition, mostly given their logistics supply chain and distribution, which is unbeatable.

Yes, they have amazing staff with amazing ideas (which the TikTok shares purchasing is). But this is still the company that beat Amazon to the ecommerce launch only to forget about the whole ecommerce thing for 10 years, because “that’s not where our customer base is”. So … You might not get a Walmart Live soon.

Top 5 Ticketing and Event Management Companies in 2021. Have a look behind the curtains.

top5ticket_thmbLong gone are the days people would wait in line to buy tickets. Conferences, plays, movies, sports events – they all have one thing in common – the business model implies selling tickets and organising the event. With innovative solutions event managers and venue owners can now leverage the power of cloud solutions, CRMs, mobile apps and a bunch of other buzzwords.

2020 Update: Click here to see the Top 5 Virtual Event Platforms as reviewed on Netonomy.

In this post you’ll get a look at the champion and the challengers. The market is split between marketplaces (such as StubHub), ticket retailers (some of which are rather large – see Ticketmaster) and solutions providers, such as Xing Events.

SEE ALSO: Ticket Sales Business Models – The Retailer, The Marketplace, The “Enabler” Platform »

Let’s start with number 5 and count down to the king of the hill:

5. Oveit

Oveit is an innovative take on ticket sales and event management. It is feature packed and allows event planners to publish events and sell tickets on their own website.

By using an embedded technology, Oveit allows event organizers to work with a fully functional ticketing and event management app in minutes, right on their website. Some of its features are:

  • simple event setup and implementation – copy-paste implementation or click to publish to Facebook
  • direct payments (connecting a PayPal account allows event organizers to receiving payments instantly)
  • free service for free events
  • customized registration forms
  • interactive badge design application
  • seating design 
  • multiple options packed in one ticket (entry, beverages, tshirts – you name it)

Tickets are automatically issued on purchase and they are scanned using mobile apps (so no need for costly scanners). One particular piece of technology is what Oveit calls multiple access. It makes it simple to sell multi-day tickets, pack multiple perks and synchronise data between mobile scanning apps.

Oveit key takeaways

  • Oveit allows event planners to install ticket sales on their own websites or Facebook pages by just copy-ing and pasting an embed code
  • Payments flow from attendee to the organizers. No interruption needed, right?
  • It packs all the right tools in one simple to use interface
  • Though still a startup, it is the best choice on this list for mid-sized event organizers. By the way – creating a free account takes around 5 seconds.

4. Xing Events (Former Amiando)

The company formerly known as Amiando was purchased in 2010 by Xing. Later on it was rebranded Xing Events. It’s worth mentioning that it was probably not a great exit for the company. Rumor has it that the €10 million paid for Amiando was not at all satisfying for early investors. Then again the company seems to be doing great in the last three years since the purchase.

Le Web partners with Amiando to manage events / sell tickets
Le Web partners with Amiando to manage events / sell tickets

Xing itself is not an overly popular company. It is a competitor to LinkedIn and that is a tough spot to be in. Being a german company they are doing pretty well in Germany. Zee Germans make up for 76% of Xing’s traffic. 90% of it’s traffic comes from german speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland).

It seems the joint venture took the best of worlds. In the last three years since the acquisitions, Xing, the social network, has been providing less value to Amiando than Amiando has been providing to Xing. Some fairly popular conferences organize their events and ticket sales using Amiando /Xing Events. One of them is Le Web, one of the most popular tech conference in Europe.

Xing Events’ best features are its integrated ticket sales / mobile app / entry management  solution. It allows its users to create event websites, customized ticket shops and process payments.

The product is now an end-to-end solution for event management and ticket sales and it’s growing fast, allowing Xing to expand its presence outside Europe.

Amiando Key Takeaways

  • Amiando was purchased by Xing in 2010 and has been growing steadily
  • It is now an end-to-end solution for event planning and ticket sales
  • The company acts as a payment processor / collector for ticket sales and charges a standard fee of approximately €1 / visitor + ~6% of ticket cost (registration fee + payment processing fee)

SEE ALSO: Ticket Sales Business Models – The Retailer, The Marketplace, The “Enabler” Platform »

3. StubHub

StubHub_logoStubHub, now a subsidiary of Ebay, is the world’s largest marketplace for secondary market tickets. It was founded in 2000 by Eric Baker and Jeff Fluhr, former investment bankers.

From the largest ticket marketplace in the US it quickly grew into world’s largest ticket marketplace, now serving US, UK and Canada. It is now the go to place for anyone looking into selling and buying tickets for sports events , concerts, theater and entertainment events.

After being featured in 2006 in Fortune 500’s fastest growing companies, StubHub was quickly purchased by Ebay for a reported $310 million . The company has now over 1250 employees and it’s expanding its operations quickly to keep up with growth. The mothership, Ebay, is actually forwarding ticket sellers to StubHub, in an effort to consolidate the market.

Interestingly, on of StubHub’s competitor, Viagogo, a company that has so far raised $65 million, was founded in 2005 by Eric Baker. Sounds familiar? It should. He’s one of the two guys that founded StubHub.

StubHub Key Takeaways

  • StubHub is the largest ticket marketplace for sports events, theaters, concerts and entertainment events
  • It was founded in 2000 and acquired in 2007 by Ebay for $310 million
  • It’s present in the US, UK and Canada

2. Eventbrite

Eventbrite Founders. Left to right: Julia Hartz, Kevin Hartz, Renaud Visage
Eventbrite Founders. Left to right: Julia Hartz, Kevin Hartz, Renaud Visage

Eventbrite is a self-service platform for managing and marketing events, selling tickets promoting events across social networks. It allows event managers to promote events and attendees to find these events and buy tickets.

The company was founded by Kevin Hartz and Julia Hartz back in 2006. Legend has it that after the two got engaged (notice the “Hartz”?) Julia moved to the Bay Area and helped setup the company . The platform was developed by Renaud Visage, current CTO and third co-founder. At the time the company was just a startup, Renaud was the only developer so for one year he developed, designed and maintained the platform.

Years later Renaud is still the CTO of Eventbrite. He is generous enough to provide those in the lookout for a roadmap to an $1billion company. Technically speaking. Here it is bellow:

[slideshare id=15031913&doc=dublinwebsummitpresentationrenaudvisage-121105083638-phpapp02]

Eventbrite did pretty well in 2013. 25% of its total sales up to date happened in the last 6 months.
Eventbrite did pretty well in 2013. 25% of its total sales up to date happened in the last 6 months.

In 2013 the company reported a total of $2 billion in total ticket sales, with $500 millions in the last 6 months. The company actually sold more in the past 6 months than it did in its first five years.

How did that happen – how could such a growth happen so fast? Two words: global expansion. Eventbrite started in the US but it’s now available in 7 languages and used in 179 countries.

“We… are ready to put even more power into our global presence” said Julia Hartz – Eventbrite President

Eventbrite has also acquired some companies on its way to the big payday (expect something big with this company). Eventioz and London-based Lanyrd were both acquired in 2013, after Eventbrite secured a $60 million investment, led by Tiger Investment Global.  The reason? Same as above – Global Expansion. Both companies listed above are doing great in the global presence department. Eventioz is an event planning and ticket sales leader in South-America. Lanyrd is a great resource for anyone looking into adding small and medium events such as “conferences, workshops, unconferences, evening events with talks, conventions, trade shows and so forth“.

Eventbrite Key Takeaways

  • Eventbrite is now the fastest growing mid-size events management platform
  • Its growth has been vastly accelerated in the past year
  • 25% of its total sales up to date happened in the last 6 months
  • Given the new investment, its fast growth and global expansion – expect something big coming up in 2014-2015. My bets are on an IPO/large acquisition deal. Maybe even trying to take on …

1. The King of the Ticket Hill: Ticketmaster

Ticketmaster is the granddaddy of all ticket sales and event marketing companies. It’s been founded in … get this … 1976. It’s the oldest and biggest company on the list. It has paid $388million for its three latest acquisitions, Front Line Management, SLO Ltd and Ticketsnow . That figure is 2.7 times bigger than Eventbrite’s total funding to date ($140million).

The company is the king of the hill when it comes to ticket sales for concerts. In 2010 it merged with Live Nation to create Live Nation Entertainment. Maybe you haven’t heard about the company but you’ve definitely heard about its operations. Besides its creepy “One nation under music” tagline, the company sports some of the most popular artists in the world.

Ticketmaster is a pretty big part of Live Nation Entertainment.
Ticketmaster is a pretty big part of Live Nation Entertainment.

The company manages artists, merchandise, tours and ticket sales for a bunch of artists you may have heard of: Jay-Z, Madonna, Beatles, U2, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus and more.

"That's Mr. King of the Hill". There's no picture of Mr. Maffei not smiling but then again I think he's not the guy you want frowning.
“That’s Mr. King of the Hill to you!”.
There’s no picture of Mr. Maffei not smiling but then again I think he’s not the guy you want frowning.

On the company board sits mr. Greg Maffei, a seemingly not very important person, as he seems not worthy enough for his own Wikipedia page. He is, however, worthy of being the chairman of Live Nation Entertainment AND president of Liberty Media. Just as with LNE – you might not be very familiar with the company – but you do know its subsidiaries. Among them: Associated Press, Barnes & Noble, Time Warner, Viacom and others. Mr. Maffei seems to also be a pretty hard working guy: In 2012 he was the 3rd best payed executive in the US Media ($391mill). You may want to have a look at his payment sources (see previous link).

So that’s where Ticketmaster hangs around. With the big guys. It has the backing it needs, it has its ticket sales outlets, it has two fulfilment centers in  Texas and West Virginia. It has it all. So much that in 1995 Perl Jam accused Ticketmaster of excersing “a monopoly over ticket distribution and used its market power to gouge consumers with excessive service fees.“ [see source]. The Justice Department, of course, cracked down on Ticketmaster’s unlawfully practices … oh wait… it didn’t. 

The Justice Department abruptly dropped the investigation without further notice. Of course that was a great decision for Ticketmaster. At the time the JD had its Antitrust resources stretched thin as it was investigating another company – Microsoft. Guess who owned 80% of Ticketmaster at the time? Well if it wasn’t Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

Ticketmaster is still the leader after a not so glorious past. Its practices are often frowned upon. Scratch that – Ticketmaster is actually one of the most hated companies in the US, its competitors are catching up and the company hadn’t had a stellar year in 2013. The company is a leader in its field. A hated, feared, sieged leader and it is a matter of time until it loses supremacy.

SEE ALSO: Ticket Sales Business Models – The Retailer, The Marketplace, The “Enabler” Platform »

Ticketmaster Key Takeaways

  • Ticketmaster is the largest company in ticketing and event management
  • It’s part of a very large conglomerate of businesses
  • It has a shady past and a gloomy future
  • Competitors will soon catch up

So these are the top 5 ticket sales and event management companies. There are, of course, others out there but this is a pretty good place to start if you want to get an understanding of ticket sales and event management industry.

There are also worthy mentions, interesting companies such as Ticket Tailor or Accelevents.

SEE ALSO: Ticket Sales Business Models – The Retailer, The Marketplace, The “Enabler” Platform »

If in need for a more graphic overview on this post – click here to have a look at the “Ticket Sales Companies Infographic – Who’s Who”.

ticket-sales-infographic-thumb

Top 5 Virtual Event Platforms – Pros and Cons

As the world is increasingly consuming more and more streamed content, events have shifted towards the virtual world as well. To make virtual events happen, professionals need virtual event platforms. Here’s the top 5.

As the world is increasingly consuming more and more streamed content, events have shifted towards the virtual world as well. To make virtual events happen, professionals need virtual event platforms.

As demand has increased – so has the supply. With so many solutions out there, we’ve tested the most popular ones and came up with a short list of 5 that we recommend. Below you’ll find the top 5 recommendations, with a brief intro, pros and cons.

Let’s start with…

1. Zoom

With many of us working from home, there is no wonder why Zoom became such a popular video conferencing tool. It is one of the leading video conferencing software apps on the market. It allows employees to virtually interact with their colleagues when in-person meetings are limited or restricted. It has an integrated live chat feature and it allows users to record video and audio sessions to view later. Zoom is considered the most popular video conferencing solution for companies with 500 employees or fewer, and the second-most popular solution for businesses with over 500 employees.

Advantages

  • Unlimited one-on-one meetings – Users can spend as much time as they want, without any costs involved when conducting one-on-one meetings
  • Screen sharing feature – This built in function enables users to share their own screen during live calls. This way, participants can easily understand what is presented.
  • Participants don’t have to create an account – In order to join a meeting, a Zoom account isn’t required. The only person that needs an account is the one sending the invitation links to other participants. However, it’s still important to have your own account in order to keep track of appointments and begin to host your own meetings.

 Disadvantages

  • Unpredictable video quality – According to many users, at times, the video quality on Zoom can be blurry and pixelated.
  • 40 Minute free video chat limit on group meetings – If you plan to host a meeting with more than two participants, the duration of the call is limited to 40 minutes. To avoid that, users need to subscribe and pay a monthly fee.
  • Security vulnerabilities – Even if Zoom employees are currently doing their best to solve this issue, it still seems to be disturbing for many users. It seems that random people would show up during video conferences, disrupting attendees with offensive content. Users with free Zoom accounts can avoid this by using a password for all meetings.

2. Streams.live

Streams.Live video intro

Streams.live is an innovative video-streaming platform designed to transform social distancing into an opportunity. it works great as a virtual event platform. It brings in features of traditional event management software and it enables content creators and entrepreneurs to easily monetize their work in a virtual environment. The cross-platform functionality enables hosts and viewers to access their passions from any device. The video stream can be fully customized from a simple logo detail to full background customization and viewers can participate in two-way conversations, thanks to the available engagement tools (claps, live chat, live polls and direct messaging).

Advantages

  • Paid access to streams – This feature might be the key differentiation between other streaming solutions. Content creators can simply monetize their hard work virtually. By purchasing a ticket, virtual attendees can simply input the ticket code and get instant access to paid content.
  • Live Stream Shopping – This feature is designed for businesses that seek to sell their list of offerings in a fun and interactive manner. Viewers can purchase presented products, without leaving the streamed event. Also, the chat room enables viewers to ask product related questions in real time.
  • Instant payments – With more than 135 currencies and 57 cryptocurrencies accepted, content creators don’t need to wait for their money. Streams.live has well-established partnerships with Stripe, PayPal and Crypto.com.

 Disadvantages

  • Only the host can stream video – Since this is a solution designed for content creators, as a viewer, streaming your own video is not an option. However, the engagement features (live chat, polls, direct message) allow viewers to interact with one another.
  • Onboarding process – Some users might need to go through an onboarding process to fully understand the variety of features available. However, online and phone support is available 24/7.

3. Adobe Connect

Part of the Adobe Acrobat family, Adobe Connect is a web conferencing software used for organizing virtual meetings, webinars and training sessions. Meeting rooms are organized into ‘pods’ and each pod is designed to perform a specific role (chat, whiteboard, note, etc.). Adobe Connect is meant for Learning, Webinars and for Meetings.

Advantages

  • Audience engagement tools – During conferences or online meetings, participants have several features that allow them to interact with one another. Among these features, this solution come with things such as live chat, integrated survey/quiz tool, a digital whiteboard and viewers can also share files during a call.
  • Participants can record calls – This build in function enables viewers to record calls (audio/video sync is lost if exported to MP4) with the host’s permission.
  • Virtual room design – This feature enables organizers to design their own virtual room for a more realistic experience. It can be customized with layouts, pods and content and it can be saved for further meetings.

 Disadvantages

  • Complex software with no personality – Some users consider that further support is needed to use the software at its maximum capacity. Besides that, the interface feels very corporate and impersonal, with white and grey colors.
  • It’s a bit pricey – Pricing information is limited on their website, but users seem to consider this solution a bit overpriced.

4. Cisco Webex

Cisco Webex products deliver collaboration tools, such as online meetings with integrated chat and file sharing features. This cloud-based suite of productivity tools consists of WebEx Teams, WebEx Meetings and WebEx devices. It is used for both small group collaborations and enterprise-wide deployments. For a clearer idea, here are the key offerings provided by WebEx: video conferencing, webinars (up to 3000 attendees), training sessions (instruct through a digital whiteboard and charge for your training), remote support (real-time service for customers in need) and cloud calling.

Advantages

  • Cross-platform functionality – Users can attend meetings from any device. Being a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone, participants can connect from anywhere as long as internet connection is not an issue.
  • Branded devices – The Webex devices are optional and include tools designed for a more efficient team collaboration. For example, the Cisco Webex Board is an all-in-one conference device capable of sharing live presentations with a broad audience.
  • Large-scale virtual events – This feature enables users to host large-scale virtual events for geographically dispersed audiences. It supports up to 3000 attendees in a single event and up to 1000 on video.

 Disadvantages

  • Limited customer support – For the free and starter plans, customer support is limited. The free plan only provides online customer service options, while the Starter plan requires users to call a representative during regular business hours for support.
  • Internet Explorer as default browser – Webex is designed to work at its maximum capacity on Internet Explorer as a browser. For those that would rather use Firefox or Chrome, additional setting are required before clicking on a link shared through their software.

5. WorkCast

WorkCast is a platform that provides solutions for webinars, webcasts, and virtual events. This cloud-based technology enables organizers to accommodate up to 50,000 attendees. It has a good reputation for its branding capabilities, designed to have an end-to-end event experience that looks just as good as a website. Since its foundation in 2008, WorkCast has run over 8,000 events for more than 1 million attendees across 20 countries.

Advantages

  • Excellent support – Users are very pleased with the responsiveness of the WorkCast team and their innovative solutions to accommodate special request.
  • Easy to customize and onboard sponsors – The branding and customization features are user friendly and enable sponsors to get the right amount of exposure in a virtual environment.
  • Virtual open days – This feature enables educational institutions to present their university grounds to prospective students.

 Disadvantages

  • Regular updates – Even if these updates are made to deliver better experiences, users need to get in touch with a representative to find out how new features work.
  • Test events before going live – Users testify that they were better off with a couple test events in advance.

Ruble Trouble: Apple Shuts Down Online Sales in Russia, Before it’s Forced to Do So

Apple announced online sales in Russia will stop due to the ruble’s volatility. Indeed, the Russian currency has taken a blow recently as it plummeted to an all-time low against the dollar.

The Russian Apple online store has been taken offline while prices are reviewed and commercial activity on iPhones, iPads and other Apple products has been halted.

But how did Apple went from more than $1 billion in sales in Russia in 2013 to pulling out in 2014?

Tim Cook, 2013: “Our activations in Russia for iPhone set a record last quarter — our highest quarter ever. We’re really happy.”

The Gold Putin iPhone, a really shinny gadget.
The Gold Putin iPhone, an object of desire for any oligarch. Source.

In 2013 Apple failed to reach an agreement to local mobile operators so it went straight to retail chains and selling online. It didn’t go too bad. iPhone sales doubled to 1.57 million units. After seeing huge spikes in demand, the local operators finally gave in and agreed to Apple’s terms. Nevertheless, almost 80% of all sales came directly from retail, skipping carriers.

So basically Apple sold $800 million worth of unsubsidized products without any help from local carriers, a surprisingly good result for the Russian market. “We’re really happy“, said Tim Cook in 2013.

Yes, the ruble drop may be a problem for Apple. But why close the store? Why block sales? Why not just switch to foreign currencies only? Why leave such a huge market? Sure, Russia is struggling with an economic a crisis but on a smaller scale – so is Europe. You don’t see Apple stopping sales there.

It may be that Apple was bound to leave Russia anyway and it figured this is the best moment to do so without worrying investors.

What happens in Russia, stays in Russia

Starting January 2015, Russia will pass a law forcing tech companies to keep Russian users’ data in Russia. That means Apple will have to move some of its servers to Russia and keep them there.

Now this is obviously an unacceptable situation. With tensions between Russia and the US, privacy and data security concerns will force the company outside anyway.

It may be that the ruble collapse is the best Apple can go about a bad situation: leaving a billion dollar market and still look like its saving the day.

Twitter launches “Twitter Offers”, A Way to Drive Social Media Traffic Offline

Twitter seems bullish about its place in the omnichannel retail arena. After hiring Nathan Hubbard, former Ticketmaster president, the company started seriously developing ecommerce features for its users.

It all started with rumors leaked online about Twitter dipping its toes in ecommerce. The news were soon followed by a “buy now” button tested for a while and a few months back the “#AmazonCart” partnership was announced. The Amazon Cart project allowed customers to add Amazon products to their carts by linking their accounts and adding them to their carts via Twitter.

Twitter now launched Twitter Offers, a way for advertisers to drive social media traffic directly to brick and mortar stores. The process is pretty straight forward or Twitter users: they link their credit cards to Twitter, claim rewards from advertisers and then redeem said offers in store.

Twitter offers
Twitter offers

As it seems Twitter sees commerce not just online but offline as well. The vision includes online and offline shopping, social media, Amazon accounts linked to Twitter and … payments.

Long story short: everything Twitter has done so far is outlining a strategy where the company targets more than social media. It’s targeting omnichannel retail as a way to increase its revenue. It has the user base and it’s building the payment infrastructure. Its focus and drive may lead it where Facebook failed – setting foot in commerce land.

 

4 Companies That are Disrupting Logistics

There is no shortage of logistics needs in the world. As the world gets smaller, more products have to be moved. Recent changes in consumer behavior helped increase the volume of moved goods. Almost $19 trillion worth of goods were imported and exported in 2013, 5 times as much as in 1990.

This 19 trillion market is stuck for the moment with two very big problems leading to ineffectiveness. The first one is technology infrastructure. As goods move to and from very different countries and cultures, there is no unified backbone for making shipments happen. As such, logistics are somewhat slow, compared to other areas in the commerce landscape.

The second big problem is the last-mile delivery. The likes of FedEx and UPS are great at moving goods from New York to Shanghai and the other way around. They’re not really that great at building local delivery networks, able to ship goods fast and cheap. As you might notice, this is a bit of a problem for ambitious retail companies such as Amazon, Walmart or Alibaba, aiming for global dominance.

But worry not.

Investors have picked up on the opportunity to disrupt the $19 trillion market and have turned their investments to logistics companies. According to Crunchbase, investments in logistics startups went from 0.1% of total investments in 2012, to 1.37% in 2014. The total amount invested in 2014 in logistics startups ($1.8 billions) means an increase of 1370%. That is a sure sign that something big is really just around the corner.

As the market is ripe for disruption and investors are generously tapping into logistics, a lot of companies will be showing up on the logistics radar.

Among all these, here are 5 companies that might be the model these investors are looking for:

No.4: Amazon is trying to ship goods with drones

Amazon Fresh, one of the companies logistics challenges.
Amazon Fresh, one of the companies logistics challenges.

After Jeff Bezos announced Amazon is building a drone-delivery service, a lot of people (me included) were questioning whether this could be real or just a PR stunt. It seems that not only is Amazon serious about the drones, but it is also very focused on building the model for the next generation of logistics operations. It has invested more than $14 billions since 2010 in its warehouses.

It has invested in robotic fulfillment operations, purchasing and integrating Kiva Systems. Becoming one of the most automated fulfillment and shipping company, it leads the way in large scale ecommerce logistics. As a result, the company is improved its operations vastly. In 2012 it managed to ship 10 million products per day, leading to 1.05 billion products shipped in the last quarter of 2012.

No. 3: Freightos takes a shot at a trillion dollar market: the cargo industry

The Freightos network
The Freightos network

It may come a shock to those reading this but the cargo industry is really in need of some technology updating. A lot of work in the freight (cargo) industry is done with the help of emails, spreadsheets and … fax machines.

Freightos aims to change all that with a SaaS product that connects those in need and those offering freight services. Unlike the previous way of managing shipping costs, Freightos provides a cloud application that can allow for real-time responses.

No.2: GoGoVan connects vans, delivers the last mile

gogovan

Remember the thing about the last mile the likes of FedEx just can’t handle? It turns out they really don’t want to handle that last mile. Large logistics companies in Hong Kong outsource 70% of their local operations, estimates Gabriel Fong, CEO of Hong Kong GoGoVan.

The company employs Uber’s taxi-hailing model to connect van drivers and those in need of moving goods. They basically replace the old and ineffective call center with a mobile app.

GoGoVan estimated that 35 000 of Hong Kong’s vans are owned by freelancers. These freelancers usually subscribe to a call center which can forward requests and lease radio communication equipment. It’s usually ineffective for both the van-driver and the customer so GoGoVan decided there is a market there.

Right now GoGoVan has 18 000 vans registered with their service so things are going great.

No.1: Uber has transformed the cab industry, it can go further

uber

Uber started as a car-sharing service but soon turned into a multi-billion company, available in 45 countries and 200 cities. It has done that by allowing those with an acceptable vehicle play cab-driver for anyone willing to pay.

The company so far successfully dodged cab regulations and managed to change the way people move in the urban environment.

Lately they have figured out that if they can move people from point A to point B they can also do that with merchandise. After experimenting with a fast delivery service called UberRUSH, trying on a Corner Store service and shipping Christmas Trees, Uber got it: It can do logistics.

Specifically – urban logistics. After all – it really is not that hard to adapt the model to minivans (see GoGoVan above).

I can’t wait to get my online orders delivered in a black luxury sedan. Hear that, Uber?

 

 

 

I, Robot, Will Take Your Job

robot

Isaac Asimov was among the first to ponder the implications of robotics. In his “I, Robot” collection of science fiction stories, he debates the theme of humans, robots and morality. Asimov wonders how humans would interact with robots, how robots would be treated and why using robots merely as tools could or could not be moral.

The term “robot” was first coined by czech author Karel Čapek, in one of his plays. His “robots” were merely simplified human beings, capable of work but not capable of thoughts or able to express emotions. They did not care for self-preservation and were used for only the most menial of jobs. The absolutely brilliant but rarely quoted play that coined the term “robots” is called “R.U.R.” (Rossum’s Universal Robots) and it’s a must read.

In this play, the robots eventually rebel against human beings, kill them all and eventually restart the cycle of evolution as replacements for humans.

As interesting as both works are, they miss an important part in the trans-humanist evolution – the point where machines and humans have to coexist in symbiosis. While you’re picturing these machines we will once have to coexist with, you should drop the anthropomorphic image. The robots don’t necessarily have to have two legs, two hands and do our simple jobs in the way we would do it.

Picture them as a combination of hardware and software that creates abstract versions of us. Picture screens and buttons. Picture programs and applications.

Picture the mechanical hands that wield automobiles together and the software that controls it.

Picture planes with all their mechanics and the software that manages most of the jobs the pilot doesn’t have to.

Picture automated trading systems that move trillions in capital across the globe each day.

Picture systems that handle most companies’ management.

The fact is that although we have (probably) not yet built Artificial Intelligence, we have built the machine to host it. Still, our lives are not those envisioned by Asimov or Capek. Not completely. Yes, we do manufacture more. Yes, we do work less to produce it. Our lives, however, are not easier. The robots don’t serve humanity. The robots serve a tiny fraction of us humans and technology has not made life far better.

Wealth disparity has increased and it will continue to do so. Technology is unaffordable for most.

Time seems to move faster but this is only because we are now competing against faster and faster machines. Each job is getting transformed. The jobs that were here yesterday are now programmed and sent to automated workers, software or hardware machines that request little pay and offer increased returns.

If you believe your job is safe, you are wrong. The great change the industrial revolution has brought to the world is the assembly line. This assembly line works just as good when building cars or selling banking services. Each uncreative job is but a small piece in a very large mechanism. Ultimately, everything gets abstracted, simplified and robotized.

Industry after industry has fallen victim to the automata. The media, construction, automotive, telecommunications, manufacturing and of course commerce. All have something in common. They need to get better, more productive, yield more results but humans, we are not scalable.

This will continue to go on. We have first built the steam engine, then the assembly line, then electrical and pneumatic robots, then computers, software and eventually the Internet to tie it all together. Each time a new technology comes – it is widely accepted. We live better for a few years and then we need something else as it is never enough.

Now it is time for the robots to take our jobs and mark my words – they will take them.

But…

Do we really need jobs? Is mankind’s purpose to place all its individuals in small cubicles or large factories? After all, these robots that are taking our jobs, they are here to solve problems. The are here for a life of drudgery and they do not care about that. The word “robot” comes from the czech term “robota” – hard work. And hard work they do.

Taking away our hard labor we are left with nothing but the choice to be what we were meant to be – creators, explorers and artists.

But to do this, humanity has to change its ways. It has to lay away the habit of humans enslaving other humans. The disparity in wealth and increased tension in the world stands as proof that some change is about to happen. This change can mean awful things and in our history it always has.

But it can also mean that we could now make free men of all of us, discover the skies and let our spirit roam throughout the stars. Meanwhile – let the robots have our jobs.