Editorial
Porsgrunn, Norway-based eZ Systems adopted a new motto earlier this year: simplify.
The open source content management system provider has taken the motto to heart and simplified its product names for clarity.
And that begins with some new names for eZ Systems.
Commercial open source content management platform eZ Enterprise will now be known as "eZ Platform Enterprise Edition." According to David Kross, director of marketing for eZ Systems, the new name tells the story more clearly.
"After all, our commercial offering is based on our open source core, eZ Platform, with additional features, support and maintenance services," Kross wrote. "Three months ago we started reviewing our product portfolio from a brand perspective — product naming, in specific — and we uncovered an opportunity to put our motto in motion."
Kross said that from a brand perspective, the rename puts the right focus on the name eZ Platform, "which is the heart of our portfolio today."
Further, the company changed the name of its feature set for editors and marketers, eZ Studio, to now "Studio."
"Sure, it’s a small change but important nonetheless," Kross blogged. "By dropping the eZ prefix, we clarify that Studio is a component of our commercial open source offering, not a commercial product of its own."
Studio's features, including landing pages, editing, flexible workflow and in-page editing, are only available in eZ Platform Enterprise Edition. Access to the repository and the ability to create, edit and publish content remain available in eZ Platform Open Source Edition as well as eZ Platform Enterprise Edition.
"While some product and feature names have changed, our core approach to the architecture remains untouched," Kross blogged. "eZ Platform Open Source Edition and eZ Platform Enterprise Edition will both be based on the same core, including the repository and content management framework. Both editions are based on the Symfony full-stack framework, and we know developers in the ecosystem are pumped about that. Where eZ Platform Enterprise Edition differs from the open source is Studio, support and maintenance services."
In other technology news ...
Kitewheel Announces New Practice, Exec
Boston-based customer journey provider Kitewheel has launched a new service in which the company will work with agencies and brand partners to deliver customer journeys.
Kitewheel hired Sophie Slowe to lead the effort. She will serve as vice president of strategy. Prior to her current role, she served as Kitewheel's senior director of customer experience strategy. Slowe held account and business director roles at marketing agency RAPP prior to joining Kitewheel.
Kitewheel President Mark Smith said the new practice headed up by Slowe will help organizations with customer experience roadmaps beyond just technology selection.
"There is always a need for a strong marketing strategy, creative and content," he said.
Adobe Spark Updates Video Platform
San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe has updated its Spark Video platform with a new marquee feature that enables users to add video clips to their creations in the web and iOS versions of the app.
Adobe officials claim latest update to Spark Video makes it easier to craft video content.
New capabilities in Spark Video include:
- One-finger trimming, which lets users pick specific parts of clips
- Video clips can be cut into a series of “slides” of various durations
- Add music tracks to create an overall mood to videos, then intersperse key moments of sound from video clips, or even narration
- Automatically align video clip length to the length of narration
Apttus Expands Offerings
San Mateo, Calif.-based quote-to-cash solutions provider Apttus has announced its quote-to-cash platform now comes in two editions: Enterprise and Ultimate.
Enterprise is for organizations seeking full solution configuration, pricing, quoting, contract creation, obligations management and revenue management capabilities. Ultimate is for organizations "with more sophisticated needs such as complex approval processes, mass renewals management, and transaction compliance," company officials said in a release.
Its quote-to-contract solutions also come in Enterprise and Ultimate editions.
The company's solutions pair with machine learning capabilities and Max, an intelligent agent that listens to voice commands, understands texts and interacts with salespeople in augmented reality environments.
Splash Announces $7 Million in Series B Funding
New York City event marketing automation provider Splash has announced a $7 million Series B round of funding led by Ascent Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Spark Capital and Lerer Hippeau Ventures. The company has now raised $14.5 million.
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Splash officials said the company will use the money to "further its software’s ability to automate and optimize the event marketing channel."
Splash was founded in 2012 by Ben Hindman and Brett Boskoff.
Hindman was a national events manager for Thrillist before founding Splash with Boskoff. He was also founder and CEO of DC by Foot, which offered free walking tours of the monuments on the National Mall in Washington, DC, ranked No. 1 thing to do in DC for 18 consecutive months by TripAdvisor.com.
Boskoff was a lead software engineer at FanRates.com and a software engineer for Rootzoo, Inc. Both founders graduated from Vanderbilt University.
Splash recently announced the launch of SplashConnect on the Salesforce AppExchange, which provides Salesforce customers with an understanding of their event marketing efforts. SplashConnect tracks leads throughout the event lifecycle, allowing marketers to measure the effectiveness of event programs.
Splash has also announced that David Greenberger, former Foursquare’s head of sales, has joined the team as VP of Sales. It also hired Conrad Rushing, previously director of engineering at Tumblr, as VP of Engineering.
Dstillery, Bombora Partner
New York City-based digital intelligence provider Dstillery, and B2B intent data provider Bombora have announced a partnership to bring intelligent full-funnel marketing to B2B advertisers.
The partnership combines Dstillery’s machine-driven audience creation, delivery and optimization with Bombora’s proprietary business intent data.
What's the deliverable? Finding companies that are in active research mode for specific products.
“As business marketers rush to embrace Account-Based Marketing (ABM), successful B2B media campaigns won’t just reach companies, they will reach only the right target companies — those that are in active research mode,” Greg Herbst, VP of Programmatic at Bombora, said in a statement.
Bombora tracks the online research behavior of 1.2 million businesses. This information is paired with Dstillery’s prospecting data to provide insights into the audiences targeted by B2B marketers.
Users will also be able to use analytics to understand the success of their campaign in terms of the professional attributes of the targeted business users (e.g., company size, employees, industry, job function, seniority).
Publicis Groupe’s President Joins DialogTech as COO
Chicago-based call attribution provider DialogTech has hired Doug Kofoid as its Chief Operating Officer. Kofoid joins DialogTech from Publicis Groupe, where he was president of Global Solutions.
While at Publicis Groupe, Kofoid led the data and innovation division, VivaKi, to over 10 times growth in revenue and helped build the organization into a 500-person company. He also developed Publicis Groupe's programmatic capabilities, including the strategy and business plan for VivaKi’s social programmatic business, AOD-Social.
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