San Francisco, CA - June 15, 2017 - Culture Amp announced yesterday that it has raised a Series C round of $20 Million led by Sapphire Ventures. Previous investors, including Index Ventures, Felicis Ventures and Blackbird Ventures, also participated. As part of the raise, Kevin Diestel, Principal at Sapphire Ventures, will be joining Culture Amp's Board of Directors. Culture Amp is poised to extend its leadership of the people analytics movement through its beloved employee feedback platform, industry-leading research and rapidly-expanding community.
The funding will be used primarily to grow the Culture Amp team across their four major offices: Melbourne, San Francisco, New York and London. They will continue to invest in developing the field of people analytics, and making it easy for companies everywhere to collect, understand and act on employee feedback. Their efforts are spearheaded by a global People Geek community, which is over 40,000 members strong.
"People have always been a business's richest resource. As a leader in making people analytics tools accessible, Culture Amp is ensuring that culture comes first for companies across the globe," said Diestel. "Many of our portfolio companies are already Culture Amp customers and we expect many more to join the wave. When they think culture, they think Culture Amp."
Built by Culture Amp's team of organizational psychologists and data scientists, the platform is easy to use and automatically surfaces valuable insights and recommended actions. The company currently serves over 1,000 customers, including Airbnb, Slack, Adobe, Estée Lauder, Warby Parker and Lyft.
"We owe our growth to incredible advocacy from our customers, as illustrated by our exceptional Net Promoter Score, which has remained above 65 since we started collecting this feedback," said Culture Amp CEO, Didier Elzinga. "What is especially gratifying is that we've achieved these incredible results without compromising on our commitment to building a culture first company at scale."
About Culture Amp: Culture Amp makes it easy to collect, understand and act on employee feedback. The beloved platform enables companies of all sizes to put people and culture first. A team of experts in technology, data science and organizational psychology ensures HR Professionals have access to the clarity they need, when they need it. With over 1,000 customers and a rapidly growing community of over 40,000 People Geeks globally, Culture Amp is making the world a better place to work. Culture Amp is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and has offices in San Francisco, New York and London.
About Sapphire Ventures:Sapphire Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on helping innovative technology companies become global category leaders. Leveraging nearly two decades of experience and an extensive global enterprise network, Sapphire Ventures invests capital, resources and expertise to enable its portfolio companies to scale rapidly. Whether entrepreneurs sell to businesses, consumers or both, Sapphire Ventures offers a platform for business development and operational excellence to help them accelerate growth. With over $2.4 billion under management via direct growth investments and early-stage fund investments, Sapphire Ventures is positioned to elevate companies to the global stage. Find us in Palo Alto and at www.sapphireventures.com.
Culture Amp announces new funding to empower companies everywhere to put culture first
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Highspot Raises 15 Million to Extend Leadership in Sales Enablement
Seattle, WA - June 15, 2017 - Highspot, a sales enablement solution that sales reps and marketers love, today announced the closing of a $15 million Series B financing round led by Shasta Ventures, with participation from Salesforce Ventures and existing investor, Madrona Venture Group. This new investment will help Highspot extend its ability to provide reps with capabilities that result in more effective customer conversations.
A rapid succession of advances has propelled Highspot to a leadership position in the sales enablement industry. Over the past 12 months, the company has expanded its customer base by 300 percent and is now a leading platform for enterprise companies seeking to increase buyer engagement by optimizing their sales and marketing content and improving the readiness of their sales reps.
"Easily accessible, high-quality content and training materials have become key factors in sales rep performance. Our focus is to build on our artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and continue delivering a complete sales enablement solution that sales reps and marketers love," said Robert Wahbe, Highspot CEO. "This new investment recognizes our leadership position and will help us increase the pace of innovation as we expand to new markets."
"Highspot is a rare company whose founders built a truly breakthrough product in a large emerging market. Their enterprise customers -- who had conducted rigorous product evaluations -- were as passionate and positive as any we've had the chance to speak with," said Doug Pepper, Managing Director at Shasta Ventures and an early investor in Martech SaaS companies such as Marketo, Optimizely and AppBoy. "We're excited to partner with the amazing team at Highspot."
Highspot is helping companies generate unparalleled ROI on their sales content and training investments while improving sales effectiveness. These leaps forward have been driven by the company's AI capabilities, which power features such as semantic search, contextual recommendations for identifying the best content for specific customers, and Content Genomics®, patented technology that tracks how content evolves across an organization.
The company's solution addresses crucial needs for sales, sales enablement, and marketing teams, including:
User experiences that improve how content is discovered, customized, and shared, and help reps allocate a greater portion of their time to revenue-generating activities.
A wide range of options for organizing and managing sales content, including in-context training and guided selling. This helps sales enablement leaders highlight best practices, reduce sales process complexity, and achieve business outcomes faster.
A closed loop of data and insights connecting marketing, sales, and customers. By using the company's sophisticated analytics on content usage, engagement, and influenced revenue, marketers are able to determine which types of content deliver the most impactful results throughout the buyer's journey.
Moving forward, the company plans to build upon these and other core offerings while broadening its market reach.
About HighspotHighspot helps sales teams improve customer conversations and achieve their revenue goals. From content optimization and performance analytics to in-context training, guided selling, and more, the Highspot platform delivers enterprise-ready features in a modern design that sales reps and marketers love. Using Highspot, sales teams are able to stay connected to the best-performing content for each opportunity, customize and optimize their content, and more effectively engage with their customers and prospects. With 90 percent average monthly recurring usage and global support in over 125 countries, Highspot is the sales enablement industry's most trusted solution. Learn more about how Highspot is transforming the sales enablement industry by visiting: www.highspot.com.
About Shasta VenturesShasta Ventures is a leading early-stage venture capital firm partnering with bold creative entrepreneurs who are passionate about building great products and amazing experiences. Founded in 2004, Shasta Ventures has funded more than 100 companies specializing in consumer and enterprise technology with a focus on emerging platforms across both sectors. Investments include Apptio, Dollar Shave Club, Mint, Nest and many promising private companies such as Anaplan, Eero, Glint, Leanplum, Nextdoor, Smule, Turo, Zuora and more. The firm is based in Menlo Park and San Francisco, California. Find out more at www.shastaventures.com, or follow us on Twitter at @shasta.
About Salesforce VenturesSalesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. Salesforce Ventures -- the company's corporate investment group -- invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that extends the power of the Salesforce Intelligent Customer Success Platform, helping companies connect with their customers in entirely new ways. Portfolio companies receive funding as well as access to the world's largest cloud ecosystem and the guidance of Salesforce's innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage Salesforce's expertise in corporate philanthropy by joining Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 200 enterprise cloud startups in 14 different countries since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures.
About Madrona Venture GroupMadrona (www.madrona.com) has been investing in early-stage technology companies in the Pacific Northwest since 1995 and has been privileged to play a role in some of the region's most successful technology ventures. The firm invests predominantly in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum, including consumer Internet, commercial software and services, digital advertising, cloud computing, machine learning and AI. Madrona manages approximately $1.3 billion and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon.com, Apptio, Rover.com, and Redfin.
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Health and Safety Institute Acquires CLMI Safety Training
Eugene, OR - June 13, 2017 - Health & Safety Institute (HSI), a leader in Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) software, training and compliance services, today announced the acquisition of Minneapolis-based CLMI Safety Training, one of the nation's leading sources for innovative, high-quality safety training videos and programs.
The acquisition, which closed on June 7, will combine the strengths of HSI’s Summit Training Source brand with the similar business of CLMI, delivering an extensive array of products and services to a significantly broader group of customers.
“The addition of a well-known company like CLMI to the HSI family of companies represents a great opportunity, and we look forward to working closely with their team to expand our offerings to the market," says Chad Birckelbaw, CEO of HSI, "This acquisition is consistent with our approach of investing in solutions aimed at making the workplace and community safer.”
Rick Pollock, president and CEO of CLMI says, “We are excited about the opportunity to become part of the HSI family of companies. HSI is a growing company with the same mission as CLMI of delivering great service to customers, high-quality content and industry-leading solutions.”
While both companies will continue to operate separately during the transition period, Summit will make its popular OSHA 10- and 30-hour courses available to CLMI customers immediately through CLMI’s SaaS-based EH&S platform.
About HSI The Health & Safety Institute (HSI) is a family of well-known and respected brands in the Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) space. Its brands span the broad range of needs in EH&S – from emergency care training; to workplace safety training, tracking and reporting; to the management of chemical inventories through software tools and services.
HSI is majority owned by The Riverside Company, an operationally oriented global private equity firm founded in 1988. For more information, visit http://www.hsi.com.
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MTI Business Solutions Designated as Approved Continuing Education Provider for the American Staffing Association ASA
Mobile, AL - June 15, 2017 - MTI Business Solutions has been designated as an American Staffing Association (ASA) Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP). Participants in select MTI Business Solutions’ training and professional development programs are now pre-approved for continuing education hours to maintain the ASA-administered Certified Staffing Professional® (CSP), Certified Search Consultant® (CSC), Certified Health Care Staffing Professional® (CHP), and Technical Services CertifiedSM (TSC) credentials.
MTI Business Solutions’ Vice President Randall Olson states, “We are excited to be recognized as an ACEP of the American Staffing Association. This is a natural extension of our commitment to providing quality training and development services to talent management professionals in every aspect of the field. This allows us to help certified professionals in the staffing industry meet their continuing education needs through participation in valuable learning experiences delivered by our expert trainers and facilitators.”
The ACEP program allows ASA to formally vet and approve staffing-related continuing education programs to ensure content quality, and to inform certification holders which providers are approved for awarding credits. ASA works closely with these providers to ensure that they maintain the highest standards in staffing and recruiting industry training.
To learn more about MTI Business Solutions, visit MTIBusiness.com, call 251-478-6848 or email training (at) mtibusiness.com. To learn more about the ACEP program and ASA certification programs, see americanstaffing.net.
About MTI Business Solutions MTI Business Solutions is a leading business training and talent development/corporate training provider working with clients throughout the United States. Our expert trainers deliver solution-focused workshops, courses, seminars, webinars and keynote presentations on a variety of topics focused on building better workplaces. The firm also provides assessment and consulting services and is an Authorized Partner for PXT SelectTM, Everything DiSC®, Five BehaviorsTM of a Cohesive Team. Visit MTIBusiness.com.
About the American Staffing Association The American Staffing Association is the voice of the U.S. staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry. ASA and its affiliated chapters advance the interests of the industry across all sectors through advocacy, research, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices. Visit americanstaffing.net.
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Richardson Launches New Sales Training Program Team Selling Building Selling Teams that Win Big in High-stakes Meetings
Philadelphia, PA - June 16, 2017 - Richardson, a leading global sales training company, today, announced that it has launched its new program Team Selling, a program that is designed to teach sellers how to utilize their organization's resources to build the right selling team and get those team members working together to execute in critical customer meetings.
"Sales is now a team sport, and to win, you have to build and manage selling squads that work in complete alignment ― not just during client meetings, but before and after, as well," says Michael Dalis, Senior Consultant for Richardson and author of its new book, Sell Like A Team.
The Team Selling Program guides you through the process of creating and managing selling squads that execute and win in every sales meeting or pitch. Winning selling squads are fueled by trust. There is an effective leader, and every member knows his/her role. They plan, practice, and make adjustments together. During customer meetings, they execute as a unit. And afterward, they debrief together so that they can advance the sale, replicate the high points, and eliminate the low ones in future meetings. In today's competitive market, the difference between the winner and all the others is a "lean at the tape." There's a world of difference between teams that are qualified and those that win. The program, based off of Dalis' new book, acts as a guide that provides everything that you need to create and organize selling squads that win more and win big.
To learn more about Team Selling, visit Richardson's website here.
To learn more about Richardson's new book Sell Like A Team, written by Michael Dalis and published by McGraw Hill, click here.
About RichardsonRichardson is a global sales training company. Unlocking revenue for our clients is what we do. Our goal is to transform every buyer experience by empowering sellers with the critical selling skills that they need to build trust, demonstrate credibility, and create differentiated value. Our methodology combines a market-proven sales and coaching curriculum with an active learning approach that ensures your sales teams learn, master, and apply those behaviors where and when it matters most — in front of your customers. In everything that we do, we elevate seller performance by connecting our sales expertise to individual potential, transforming your sales organization into indispensable partners for your buyers.
About Richardson's Team SellingRichardson's Team Selling examines the critical aspects of building and driving high-performing selling teams. Team Selling unlocks revenue by teaching sellers how to utilize their organization's resources to build the right team for a presentation and get those stakeholders working together to execute compelling pitches that add value for buyers and win business.
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American Management Association International Names New CEO Reilly to Pass the Reins After 16 Years of Leadership
New York - June 16, 2017 - American Management Association International today named Manos Avramidis as its 18th President and Chief Executive Officer. He succeeds Edward T. Reilly, who announced his desire to transition leadership after a 16-year term during which he led the transformation of AMA into a digital and multiple media learning organization.
Avramidis, who joined AMA in 1998, held the positions of Senior Vice President of Product Development and Chief Human Resources Officer. He helped AMA evolve into a multifaceted professional education provider that delivers learning experiences in more than 80 countries. He is also credited with helping refine AMA’s ability to meet ever-changing customer and industry demands by leading the development of best-in-class content and leveraging multiple delivery platforms.
“After more than 16 productive years at the American Management Association, it’s time to pass the reins to the next generation of leaders who will continue the progress and keep AMA in the forefront of education and leadership training,” Reilly said. “Manny and I have worked together closely since 2001, and I am confident he is committed to continuing the legacy that has made AMA the gold standard for the past 94 years. I’m pleased with the board's unanimous decision in selecting him, and I’m looking forward to working with him to ensure a seamless transition.”
Charles Craig, chairman of the AMA board, said, “Manny is well-qualified to lead AMA into a new, competitive era. We thank Ed for his 16 years of service as AMA’s chief executive and wish him the very best. Ed and I have had a long mutually positive relationship together as CEO and Board Chair.”
Reilly is credited with introducing a wide array of new digital, video and audio capabilities for the teaching, publishing and marketing components of AMA. He transformed AMA into a multi-modality learning institution.
“I’m grateful for the board’s confidence in me to lead this historic and prestigious organization, which is the world’s leading instructor-led training organization in our space,” Avramidis said. “We will retain our dominant position in the industry and leverage our best-in-class content as we meet our customers' ever-changing needs. I look forward to continuing to work with the brilliant people and faculty we have. Our mission is to continue to be a trusted partner in developing talent with large and small organizations throughout the world.”
Avramidis also served as Senior Vice President of US Management Education, which includes leading faculty, product development and delivery, learning technologies, assessments and consultative learning services. He is on several boards and was part of AMA’s senior executive team, where he served as strategic adviser to both the CEO and Board.
About American Management Association International
American Management Association is globally recognized as a leader in professional development. For 94 years, it has helped millions of people bring about positive change in their performance in order to improve results. AMA’s learn-by-doing instructor-led methods, extensive content and flexible learning formats are proven effective -- and constantly evolve to meet individual and organization changing needs.
The world’s foremost organizations rely on AMA’s years of experience, expert guidance, vast award-winning learning resources and global capabilities. AMA supports the goals of individuals, organizations, and government agencies with a complete range of corporate talent transformation solutions, including public open-enrollment seminars and onsite group training, with both live and digital learning capabilities. The AMA is consistently cited by industry sources as among the world's Top 20 training organizations.
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Bridge Integrates Arcs Innovative Video Features into its Platform
Salt Lake City, UT - June 19, 2017 - Bridge by Instructure, a leading learning management system (LMS) for businesses, today announced an integration with Instructure's online video platform, Arc, to make learning more engaging in the corporate setting. Combining Arc and Bridge brings new insights around video engagement and state-of-the-art video technology to Bridge's global customers to help them enhance their current suite of tools for learning.
"This integration doesn't simply add videos to learning programs, it helps organizations add a new level of engagement with a video learning strategy," said Matt Bingham, VP of product for Bridge by Instructure. "We worked to ensure this unification gives our users something unique by bringing in robust social learning and learner analytics. Bridge and Arc not only increase interactivity, but also provide in-depth insights to help improve organizations' overall learning programs."
Every Bridge client can have access to Arc, allowing them to leverage these powerful capabilities to make their learning strategy more engaging through an intuitive, easy-to-use interface fostering collaborative, communal learning. This integration helps organizations organize, manage and reuse their video content in one place without having to re-paste links. Bridge and Arc enable organizations to increase the effectiveness of their learning initiatives while enhancing knowledge sharing, streamlining onboarding and training and keeping training material current.
"With the addition of Arc, Bridge has become the smartest learning platform for professional development," said Raheel Alam, Head of Training for Zip Dandy. "The functionality, usability and ease of use Arc offers makes it a useful tool that provides an exceptional video learning experience."
Arc brings innovative new features to Bridge's learning platform, including:
"Just in time" commenting. Arc's commenting feature enables corporations to increase learner engagement by allowing them to comment at any moment in time within a video. Learners can comment on specific parts of a video with questions and thoughts at the moment they arise, and the technology auto-pauses to let them finish before continuing. Comments live in the course, meaning they are attached to the specific moment of content in the video and can be easily referenced at any time. This feature creates social learning opportunities around a video, in the exact moments where learners react to the content.
In-depth video analytics. Organizations can create compelling content through detailed consumption analytics on a per-learner level that shows where people's attention drops off, video completion rates and which videos gain the most traction based on individual learner consumption. Arc's analytics tools help organizations understand the impact of their learning program and update content to be more engaging. These analytics are available for any uploaded or linked video, including links to YouTube, Vimeo and others.
Simple content organization. With Arc and Bridge, users can easily organize and manage video content in one place, reusing it across courses without having to re-paste links. Users can easily search across videos in their collection to find the right clip, locate comments and analyze data.
Arc offers cutting-edge, highly secure technology that supports a variety of video creation methods, including purchased video content and user-generated content. This capability allows organizations to improve the engagement of their videos without redeploying or adding more resources. Unlike YouTube, users must be authenticated to view videos, so only authorized users will be able to view video content.
To learn more, visit https://www.getbridge.com/features/arc-video-for-bridge.
ABOUT INSTRUCTURE
Instructure, Inc. is a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company that makes software that makes people smarter. With a vision to help maximize the potential of people through technology, Instructure created Canvas and Bridge to enable organizations everywhere to easily develop, deliver and manage engaging face-to-face and online learning experiences. To date, Instructure has connected millions of instructors and learners at more than 2,000 educational institutions and corporations throughout the world. Learn more about Canvas for higher ed and K–12, and Bridge for the corporate market, at www.Instructure.com.
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Revolutionary New Training and Assessment Device CPT Skill Boss Can Ensure Success of President Trumps Apprenticeship Executive Order
Washington, D.C. - June 19, 2017 - President Trump signed an Executive Order to ramp up apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships to help close the skills gap. To aid the President's initiative, on June 22, MSSC and Amatrol will launch a nationwide Certified Production Technician "Plus" (CPT+) credential enabled by a revolutionary hands-on training and assessment device: "Skill Boss." (Please see Skill Boss brochure for details).
The colorful, computer-controlled "Skill Boss" machine is more fun than a robot. By overcoming the negative image of manufacturing and introducing learners to the exciting, digital world of Advanced Manufacturing, "Skill Boss" will attract a far larger number of students and adults to career pathways in manufacturing.
Portable and inexpensive, "Skill Boss" will also enable a much larger number of schools and companies who cannot afford to build a tech center to gain access to advanced manufacturing training and certification.
Moreover, there are several other ways in which Skill Boss will enhance the President's apprenticeship initiative:
As a Pre-apprenticeship program - CPT+ "Skill Boss" will:
Provide employers greater confidence that their new hires will be successful apprentices
Save companies the substantial costs of providing apprentices with the foundational core technical competencies covered by CPT
Provide a prestigious CPT industry certification that will motivate students and increase their confidence in succeeding in an apprenticeship.
Registered apprenticeship programs require that the apprentice is employed by the participating company. Yet a robust pipeline of youth and unemployed adults is needed for apprenticeships to help reach the scale needed to close the manufacturing skills gap—defined by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute as two million higher skilled workers in 10 years.
MSSC CPT is uniquely focused on building that pipeline. With a network of over 1800 authorized instructors CPT trains and certifies the entry-level core technical competencies needed for production jobs (over 6 million) in all sectors of manufacturing in over a 1000 locations in 49 states.
As a Registered Apprenticeship: In 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor approved the integration of CPT into the "Related Instruction" portion of the 3000-hour Industrial Manufacturing Technician (IMT) Registered Apprenticeship. This demonstrates DoL's recognition of the value of CPT as a foundational training and certification program for manufacturing apprenticeships.
With its nationwide delivery system, MSSC CPT+ Skill Boss is positioned to help apprenticeships make a major contribution to closing the manufacturing skills gap. Closing that gap will make a major contribution to labor productivity growth and thus to the President's goal of a sharp increases in economic growth—with huge benefits to the nation.
About Manufacturing Skill Standards Council MSSC, a Washington, D.C.-based, industry-led 501(c)(3) non-profit, is the nation's leading certification body for the core, industry-wide technical competencies needed for front-line work in both advanced manufacturing and logistics. It prepares individuals to earn a Certified Production Technician (CPT) or Certified Logistics Technician (CLT). It delivers its training and testing through a network of some 1880 MSSC-trained instructors and 1000+ assessments centers, mostly in community colleges and high schools, in 49 states. MSSC publishes the semi-annual Manufacturing and Logistics Certification Index, which ranks states by the number of people with CPT and CLT credentials and helps companies decide where to locate a factor or distribution center. Visit www.msscusa.org for more information.
About AmatrolAmatrol creates innovative, interactive learning solutions for industry and education to equip people with the skills to master technical systems, solve problems and adapt to a rapidly changing workplace. Comprehensive learning programs range from engaging high school students in the learning of basic science and math to teaching hands-on skills in the latest, highly sophisticated motor drives. Its interactivity, both in equipment and computer-based learning solutions, integrated with strong alignment to industry needs is what makes Amatrol the industry's leading technical education provider. Amatrol's learning solutions include interactive multimedia as well as print-based student learning materials, virtual trainers, teacher's guides, industrial quality hands-on training equipment, and instructor training. Visit www.amatrol.com for more information.
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Saba Delivers Anywhere Anytime Coaching and Feedback with New Halogen Mobile App
Redwood Shores, CA - June 19, 2017 - Saba, a global leader in cloud-based intelligent talent management solutions, today launched the Halogen® mobile app, its latest innovation in employee coaching and collaboration. The Halogen mobile app brings ongoing performance practices to managers and employees anywhere, at any time, facilitating in-the-moment feedback, recognition, coaching tips, development ideas and the ability to add one-on-one meeting agenda topics from a smartphone.
"Instead of thinking about ditching the annual performance review, organizations need to shift the way evaluations are done to meet the needs of their employees," said Michael Rochelle, Chief Strategy Officer and Principal Analyst at Brandon Hall Group. "Employees want to have conversations about their performance and development on a regular basis – delivered as a 'just in time, just for me, just the way I want it' experience. Technology like Saba-Halogen can help businesses provide more frequent feedback and coaching conversations to employees, and gain more value from the performance evaluation process along the way."
The app is an extension of the Halogen TalentSpace™ suite, which is now a part of Saba's expanded talent management solution set. The app lets users instantly capture content from email, pictures, chat, and articles to share as part of their performance conversations with anyone in the organization. More so, the app improves both manager and employee capability in delivering and receiving feedback with recommended approaches, reminders and self-reflection tips.
"Progressive organizations want to create environments where ongoing feedback and development is part of the culture. Capturing that feedback is obviously important, but improving the way it's delivered and received is crucial to engagement," said David Mennie, Vice President, Product Marketing and Strategy at Saba. "We're addressing that last mile of performance and engagement by putting both 'the what' and 'the how' of feedback and recognition into the hands of users wherever they are, whenever they want to share it, in a familiar consumer format."
Feedback, recognition and development tips collected through the mobile app are instantly synchronized with employee records in the TalentSpace suite and can be included as part of ongoing check-ins, development conversations, and talent assessments. The solution provides HR and business leaders the ability to use this type of ongoing employee performance data to get a complete picture of organizational performance.
Media and analysts attending the SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition from June 18-21 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans can visit booth #1521 to view a demonstration of Halogen mobile and experience the latest solutions from Saba-Halogen for driving employee performance, learning, and engagement.
About Saba
Saba delivers a cloud-based intelligent talent management and engagement solution used by leading organizations worldwide to hire, develop, engage, and inspire their people. With machine learning at its core, Saba Cloud offers proactive, personalized recommendations on candidates, connections and content to help employees and businesses lead and succeed. It is purpose-built on a highly scalable platform that exceeds industry security and reliability standards. Following the acquisition of Halogen Software, Saba has more than 4,000 customers and 33 million users across 195 countries. For more information, visit http://www.saba.com.
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CVC Capital Partners Fund VI agrees to acquire QA Group
June 19, 2017 - Bregal Investments ('Bregal') and CVC Capital Partners ('CVC') announced today that funds managed by Bregal Capital LLP and advised by EMK Capital LLP ('EMK') have agreed to sell QA, the UK's leading provider of IT education and skills, to CVC Fund VI. QA's management team will retain a significant stake in the company. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Under the leadership of CEO, William Macpherson, QA has developed organically and through strategic acquisitions, helping more than 5,000 corporate and public sector clients meet their increasing IT and business skills requirements. QA operates across a number of verticals: QA Learning, its professional training business; QA Apprenticeships, its work-based apprenticeship business; QA Consulting, its technology skills solutions business; and QA Higher Education, providing undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
William Macpherson, CEO of QA said:
"Over the last 10 years QA has expanded rapidly to become the UK’s leading IT education and skills provider. This success has been achieved through the hard work of our employees and a deep partnership with Edmund Lazarus and his team. This relationship has helped steer QA’s significant development and enabled us to deliver innovative skills and talent solutions to our customers. Together with Bregal/EMK we have achieved exceptional growth, and I am looking forward to forging an equally successful partnership with CVC. Their record of supporting expansion, together with their UK and international reach provides QA with a significant platform for success as we seek to execute our ambitious growth plans."
Edmund Lazarus, formerly Managing Partner at Bregal Capital and now Managing Partner at EMK said:
"We acquired QA in 2007 with c.£2m of EBITDA in our first year of ownership. Today the company’s run rate EBITDA is over £50m. This is a remarkable achievement. William Macpherson, QA’s CEO since 2008, and his team are exceptional. We would like to thank them for the tremendous partnership we have enjoyed over nearly ten years. While the terms of the transaction are not being disclosed, QA will rank as one of the very best investments of its vintage. We are delighted that having thrived under our ownership QA can now continue to grow with a partner of the scale of CVC who shares our commitment to building businesses which lead in their markets. We look forward to watching QA reach ever greater heights in the years ahead."
Steve Black, Co-CEO of Bregal Investments said:
"We are delighted with the successful exit of QA. We wanted to thank Edmund and William as well as the EMK and the QA teams for their professionalism, hard work and dedication over a long period of time. Bregal funds seek to build leading mid-market companies. QA’s success, both as a company and in terms of returns to our investors is a great example of what we aim to achieve."
Richard Blackburn, Managing Director at CVC, said:
"We are delighted to have agreed for CVC Fund VI to acquire QA. William and his team have built a very high quality business, which is a clear leader in rapidly-growing markets, helping with the vital task of enhancing technology and business skills across the UK workforce. We look forward to working together to continue QA’s track record of success."
Barclays Bank has underwritten 100% of the debt financing for the transaction.
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New Age HR Technology Platform Darwinbox Raises 4 Million Series A Funding from Lightspeed and Others
Hyderabad, India - June 20, 2017 - Darwinbox , India's fastest growing enterprise Human Resource Management (HRMS) platform, has recently concluded a $4 million Series A funding. Lightspeed India Partners led the round along with participation from Darwinbox's existing investors Endiya Partners, Mohandas Pai's 3one4 Capital and Startupxseed Ventures. The company had raised its pre-series A round less than a year ago.
Jayant Paleti, Co-founder of Darwinbox says, "The world's largest enterprises are increasingly thinking of HR platforms not just as systems of record but as systems of intelligence to propel their human resource agenda. There is a strong, ever increasing demand for a modern technology suite that will address these needs. With this capital raise, Darwinbox will continue to expand its core technology, product and go-to-market capability across India and internationally."
Darwinbox's cloud-based end-to-end HRMS platform automates HR processes across the entire employee lifecycle - managing recruitment, onboarding, core HR, time and attendance, expense management, payroll, employee engagement, performance management and people analytics. Their easy-to-use interface with high degree of configurability to suit local enterprise context has helped them acquire a large customer base within a short time.
Co-founder and Product Head of Darwinbox, Chaitanya Peddi says, "We have built an integrated, functionally deep and flexible application suite capable of handling organizations of all sizes and complexities. We will continue to invest in areas such as Big Data, machine learning coupled with latest research in HRM and psychology to maximize the value we offer to our clients while staying relevant and ahead of the competition."
In the last one year, Darwinbox has added 50+ companies and 100,000+ employees across verticals such as technology, pharma, healthcare and logistics. The company's marquee clients include Paytm, Nivea, Godrej CDPL, Delhivery, Sai Life Sciences, Swiggy and Hetero Pharma . Darwinbox operates on a SaaS model which allows companies to only pay as they use.
Speaking about Darwinbox, Suraj Saharan, Co-founder of Delhivery said, "The first thing that strikes you when you see Darwinbox is its simplicity in design; a refreshing change from the norm. We wanted a platform that can adapt to our frequently changing needs and Darwinbox has been the right choice. We were confident of the team's ability and their vision for the product. This funding is a testament that there are other independent groups who believe in them and want to partner with them in their journey."
Sohini Dutt, Director and Head Human Resources, Nivea said, "Refreshing to see a HRMS solution which is simple, intuitive and easy to navigate. We wanted technology to work for us and make our processes more robust. The platform provided us the flexibility to build modules configurable to our internal requirements."
Darwinbox's product is targeted at mid to large sized enterprises, where it typically competes with the likes of SAP, Successfactors and Oracle Fusion. Darwinbox differentiates itself from competition through its easy-to-use interface, functional depth, faster implementation cycles and unique new-age features (e-Onboarding, Merit Planning, Continuous Feedback, Performance Journals, insightful analytics).
"At all sizes and in all industries, businesses succeed when their employees and managers are engaged for maximum productivity and potential. As a result, human capital management software is core to the success of every business," said Dev Khare, Partner at Lightspeed India Partners Advisors. "Darwinbox is leading the charge in taking human capital management beyond the HR department to all employees with a highly user-friendly and configurable user experience. We are thrilled to partner with Rohit, Chaitanya, Jayant and their team," he continued.
The founders Jayant Paleti, Rohit Chennamaneni, Chaitanya Peddi are IIT/IIM/XLRI alums and had worked across companies like Mckinsey, Google, EY and Deloitte before founding Darwinbox.
Sateesh Andra, MD, Endiya Partners says, "HR Technology is leading the SaaS and Cloud adoption, which has a steady growth of over 30% YoY, in India. In this rapidly growing market, Darwinbox expertly combines local customer knowledge with Global standards in Design, Engineering and Product Marketing which gives them an advantage in Indian SaaS business when competing with Global Players."
Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy said, "Moving to Darwinbox has made us wonder how we survived before it happened, the product is comprehensive, built with great attention to detail and is highly differentiated from most other HRMS products in the market."
Mohandas Pai investing via 3one4 Capital, says, "At a time when the fundamental principles of human resource management are rapidly evolving in India, the team at Darwinbox has leveraged platform-scale technologies and latest compliance frameworks to help their customers become more people-centric. By reimagining multiple workflows across HR, Darwinbox has unlocked several new strategies for tangible productivity improvements."About Darwinbox
Darwinbox HR is a cloud-based integrated HR Technology platform which takes care of an organization's HR needs across the entire employee life cycle including Recruitment, e-onboarding, Core transactions (Leaves, Attendance, Directory), Payroll, Employee Movement, Employee Engagement, Performance Management, Merit Planning and People Analytics. Darwinbox engages more than 100,000+ employees on the platform across marquee clients like Paytm, Nivea, Godrej CDPL, Delhivery, Sai Life Sciences, Hetero Pharma, Voonik, Swiggy, Zoomcar etc. More at www.darwinbox.com.
About Lightspeed
Lightspeed India Partners is an early stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in consumer and enterprise in India. Over the past decade, Lightspeed India has backed entrepreneurs in building market leading companies such as Indian Energy Exchange, Oyo Rooms, Byjus, Limeroad, Itz Cash, Innovaccer, Sharechat and Udaan. Over the past two decades, the Lightspeed global team has backed hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped build more than 300 companies globally, including Snapchat, The Honest Company, Nest, Nutanix, AppDynamics, MuleSoft, GrubHub and TaskRabbit. More at http://www.lsip.com.
About Endiya Partners
Endiya Partners is a premier, early-stage venture capital fund that invests in ideas with potential to change the world across technology, healthcare and consumer services sectors. Endiya believes in 'Co-Creation' - hand-holds Startups through Idea/Market Validation, Team Building, Business Model Refinement, Customer/Partner Acquisition and facilitates Follow-on Funding. The team at Endiya have strong domain expertise, coming from entrepreneurial backgrounds with global operating experience and investor capabilities. More at http://endiya.com/.
About Startupxseed Ventures
StartupXseed is a strategic programme, for supporting the aspiring entrepreneurs with great ideas. StartupXseed is a unique programme combined with Seed fund, Strategic support, Market Access, Mentorship and closely supported by the Investor/advisory board of StartupXseed. Founded in June 2015 by Mr. B. V. Naidu along with Mr. Mohandas Pai (Aarin Capital), Mr. J. A. Chowdary, Mr. Ramakrishna V and supported by like-minded team from the Industry, Academia and Professionals, StartupXseed supports budding entrepreneurs both at the Strategic as well as Seed level.
About 3one4 Capital
3one4 Capital is a venture capital fund based in Bangalore, India. The fund invests in technology, product, and platform companies that drive the expansion of markets, capture value with differentiated propositions, and contribute to the creation of new verticals. The fund is firmly committed to working with the best technology frameworks and entrepreneurs with deep domain and operational expertise to help early-stage companies hit ambitious targets. By connecting founding teams with the technology, resources, networks and community they need from initialization, the fund makes a lasting impact on the paths threaded to reach operational excellence and market leadership.
3one4 is currently engaged in the early stage of the spectrum, with a bias towards companies exploiting technology to create, grow, or dominate large markets in India. 3one4's investments include YourStory, ToneTag, Online Tyari, Darwinbox, Licious, Faircent, and Tracxn.
About Tracxn Labs
Tracxn Labs is the investment arm of Tracxn which is a startup research platform powered by the largest team of Analysts tracking tens of thousands of startups across 100+ sectors globally.
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Track Employee Training from the Cloud
Orlando, FL - June 20, 2017 - Engineerica Systems, Inc., a software development company specializing in tracking applications, announces a new cloud-based system for tracking employee training. The system called AccuTraining allows companies to track their employee training classes and training progress.
"We are delighted to see great interest in AccuTraining," says Mon Nasser, Engineerica's president. "We have already signed up a gamut of clients including major corporations and large school districts seeking a convenient and simple way to track their training programs."
Since AccuTraining is cloud-based, it can be accessed from anywhere, on any web-enabled device. An administrator can create training plans for their employees to complete. Each training plan consists of training classes and to-do tasks. The training manager can then assign the appropriate training plan to its employees and list the available training sessions online via the system.
Using AccuTraining, the training manager can print out training badges or QR code stickers for its employees to be tracked while at the training classes. To record attendance at the sessions, the trainer can quickly scan the attendees' badges or QR codes using an Apple device running the AccuTraining app. The system will credit the employee with the attendance to the training class and then mark the session as completed in their training plan. If they prefer, trainers can choose to set up a computer sign-in station instead of scanning attendees in themselves with an Apple device.
Now that the employees have attended training they can log into AccuTraining from anywhere, on any web-enabled device and view their training plan progress including the completed sessions, remaining sessions/ tasks, and view upcoming training sessions available to register online.
AccuTraining offers other significant features that include the ability to show employees' photos when they sign in (for easy verification), the ability to get a random selection of one or more of the attendees (awesome for random door prizes or surveys), the ability to design employee training completion certificates, and print or email them via the system. And for advanced users there is the Rules Engine for triggering actions based on certain events. For example, you can send an email message when an employee is added, completes a training course, and much more.
AccuTraining includes detailed and summary reports on training attendance, location utilization, registration analytics, training plan progress reports in aggregate and per employee, and many more. The system interfaces with any other systems via imported industry standard CSV files.
Interested companies can sign up for a complimentary live demo and trial account of AccuTraining here:
http://www.engineerica.com/accutraining
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Digital Marketing Institute partners with QA one of the UKs largest training organisations
Dublin, Ireland - June 20, 2017 - One of the UK’s largest training organisations, QA, has signed an agreement to offer digital marketing professional certifications from the Digital Marketing Institute.
QA provides training and education to over 6,000 corporate clients, including 80% of the FTSE 250, and has been recognised as one of the UK’s largest training organisations by the Learning Performance Institute. In addition, over 200,000 individuals train with QA each year.
It offers a complete range of training courses and professional certifications in the fields of IT, project management, business skills, leadership and management via classroom, online learning and apprenticeships.
In the UK a massive 90% of jobs now require digital skills, with the skills gap costing the economy £63bn a year in lost income. Furthermore, a report from the Digital Marketing Institute last year showed UK marketers struggling to compete with only 7% scoring as competent when tested on their digital marketing knowledge through a skills assessment.
Speaking on the partnership David Walker, Head of Emerging Technologies & Digital Transformation at QA, said: “As digital technologies impact every aspect of our lives, organisations everywhere are witnessing a huge change in the way business is conducted. This transformation is seeing the demand for expertly trained digital marketing professionals increase exponentially. The addition of the Digital Marketing Institute’s professional certification programmes to QA’s extensive portfolio means we can even more effectively help our corporate clients adapt to the changing nature of customer engagement and marketing, helping them to take advantage of the emerging opportunities from digital transformation, as well as train individuals to be job-ready with a highly sought after industry-aligned certification that is recognised worldwide.”
Strong international growth in recent years has seen the Digital Marketing Institute’s digital marketing and selling certifications become available through education partners in 100 countries worldwide.
Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Digital Marketing Institute, Michael Goeden, said: “QA provides a world-class training service to both global corporate clients and individual students across the UK. Through this strategic partnership we will work with them to ensure that our certification helps meet the major challenges faced by UK businesses to adapt to the ever-changing digital landscape. By offering the Digital Marketing Institute programmes, we believe QA is well positioned to provide a holistic Digital Transformation training solution that can contribute to bridging the ongoing digital skills gap.”
About the Digital Marketing Institute
Founded in Dublin, Ireland in 2008, the Digital Marketing Institute is a digital marketing and selling professional certification body. Through its growing network of education partners in 100 countries, it offers an industry validated professional certification from Associate to Masters level.
About QA
QA provide talent, training and learning solutions across a range of technology and business skills to individuals, companies, and the Public Sector. Offering technical consultancy, apprenticeships, professional training and postgraduate degrees across a range of impactful topics including Cyber Security, Cloud Computing, Coding, Agile, Project Management and Digital Transformation, QA enables individuals and organisations to gain new skills and capabilities.
With a client base covering 80% of the FTSE 250, employing over 300 instructors, subject matter experts and learning professionals across a portfolio of 1,500 courses and with more than 20 training centres over the UK and virtual and on-demand options, QA is currently the number one provider of technical and business training in the UK.
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Hudson Institute of Coaching Selects Thought Industries to Launch New Learning Initiative
Boston, MA - June 20, 2017 - Thought Industries, one of the fastest growing online learning companies and creator of the first Learning Business Platform™ today announced a new partnership agreement with the Hudson Institute of Coaching, an organization providing state of the art experientially based training to coach practitioners and leaders inside organizations. Hudson will use the Thought Industries’ platform to expand their current offerings by launching a new online learning portion of their business.
Hudson will source in-house knowledge experts to create online learning content including videos and micro-learning modules allowing participants to be fully immersed in the learning and incorporate new skills into their roles. As the organization continues to build out their programs with the Thought Industries platform, they plan to integrate virtual approaches to learning that maximizes interactive content and strengthens to sustainability of new learning and new skills.While evaluating learning technology providers, the Hudson team realized they needed more than just a learning management system (LMS) to handle their business case. They needed a fully integrated platform that would sync with existing systems, help track success, and keep users engaged. “Once you start looking, there are hundreds of platforms out there,” says Jamie Dufek, Client Engagement Partner at Hudson. “When we first ventured into looking at platforms, LMSs were the thing to look at. But, we are a little different and needed more than a traditional LMS, and Thought Industries was the perfect fit.”“We are thrilled that Hudson Institute of Coaching chose Thought Industries to launch the online learning portion of their business,” says Doug Murphy, President of Thought Industries. “We look forward to seeing them compliment their already successful in-person experience with an online format using our platform, and helping them scale their business.”About Hudson Institute of CoachingHudson Institute of Coaching has been providing state of the art experientially based coach training to practitioners and organizations for over 30 years. Headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA. Hudson sets the standard for building experiential learning programs that help organizations engage in people development through just in time conversations and longer coaching engagements. Hudson works with both coach practitioners and leaders inside organizations, providing services that range from an elite coach certification program to a broad range of programs impacting cultures focused on developing people in daily conversations, coaching engagements and group coaching.About Thought IndustriesThought Industries is powering the business of learning with the world’s first Learning Business Platform™. Offering a comprehensive suite of enterprise-level learning delivery and monetization tools, the customizable platform enables businesses and organizations to deliver engaging and fully-branded learning experiences to their business and consumer audiences. From creating online courses to managing an online learning business, the platform hosts a library of powerful, easy-to-use features that enable organizations to get to market quickly and cost-effectively. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
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California-Based Thoughtfully Ruthless Brand Expands Globally
Los Angeles, CA - June 21, 2017 - Val Wright, a global leadership and innovation expert and founder of Thoughtfully Ruthless®, announced today the expansion of her firm.
Whether it is Uber's board knowing when to fire Travis Kalanick, an Apple SVP losing his cool courtside at a Warriors game, or Elon Musk actually taking a creative idea from sketchpad to a profitable business, there is one common thread. In today's world, we are all on a permanent virtual center stage with the whole world watching and commenting on every move. Leaders need to know how to be ruthless, but in a thoughtful way. And consultants need to know how to help them get there rapidly. Countless books and resources focused on innovation, growth, and leadership but none of these address the missing link for success: the importance of managing: your time, your energy, and your resources in parallel.
That's where Wright's new Thoughtfully Ruthless® Licensing Program makes the difference that benefits consultants with an established practice who would like to expand their services into executive advisory services, and board and leadership team performance.
Announcing the new Thoughtfully Ruthless® consultants:
Jeff Skipper, CEO of Jeff Skipper Consulting of Calgary, Canada, designs profitable strategies for top companies in North America.
Theresa Schwab, CEO of Theresa Schwab Consulting of Austin, Texas, advises entrepreneurs and executives on people, profits, and performance.
Praise for Thoughtfully Ruthless:
"Val Wright is one of the true all-stars I've had the pleasure to coach and support. For a quarter of a century she has fine-tuned what she calls 'thoughtfully ruthless' approaches to create and exploit opportunity without assuming the leader is damaged, but by identifying behaviors and skills that aren't always understood, let alone utilized at the propitious moments." Alan Weiss, author of Million Dollar Consulting and more than 50 other business books.
"I was so confident walking in as CEO on day one after implementing Thoughtfully Ruthless® principles. The stock price rose 37% in my first three months; we didn't report earnings during that time, so the growth was all from the investors' confidence in me and ultimately positioned the company for a successful sale." Meredith Amdur, CEO Wanted Analytics.
About Val Wright Val Wright, president of Pasadena-based Val Wright Consulting, moved to the United States from England 13 years ago and has the rare accomplishment of accelerating growth and innovation both from inside fast-growing companies in her corporate career at Xbox, BMW, and Amazon and now from the outside with her clients, which include Starbucks, LinkedIn, and Microsoft. She is one of only 64 experts inducted into the Million Dollar Consultant® Hall of Fame. Val's books include Thoughtfully Ruthless: The Key to Exponential Growth, Wiley, 2016 and Innovation Trifecta: How to Catapult Innovation by Creating a Symbiotic Relationship between Creative, Business, and Technical Minds.
She is a regular contributor on leadership and innovation topics for CNBC, Inc. Magazine, Business Insider, Fast Company, Bloomberg, Reuters, LA Times, MSN, and Today.
For more information, go to http://www.ValWrightConsulting.com
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Adobe Continues to Drive 360 Video and VR Innovation with Acquisition of Mettles Skybox Tools for Editing and Visual Effects
San Jose, CA - June 21, 2017 - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced it has acquired all SkyBox technology from Mettle, a global developer of best-in-class 360-degree and virtual reality software. The acquisition comes at a time when increasing numbers of creators, global brands and media and entertainment companies are embracing 360/VR and are looking for seamless, end-to-end workflows for this new, immersive medium. The Skybox toolset is designed exclusively for post-production in Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Adobe After Effects CC and complements Adobe Creative Cloud’s existing 360/VR cinematic production technology. Adobe will integrate SkyBox plugin functionality natively into future releases of Premiere Pro and After Effects.
To further strengthen Adobe’s leadership in 360-degree and virtual reality, Mettle co-founder Chris Bobotis will join Adobe, bringing more than 25 years of production experience to his new role.
“We believe making virtual-reality content should be as easy as possible for creators. The acquisition of Mettle SkyBox technology allows us to deliver a more highly integrated VR editing and effects experience to the film and video community,” said Steven Warner, vice president of digital video and audio, Adobe. “Editing in 360/VR requires specialized technology, and as such, this is a critical area of investment for Adobe, and we’re thrilled Chris Bobotis has joined us to help lead the charge forward.”
“Our relationship started with Adobe in 2010 when we created FreeForm for After Effects, and has been evolving ever since. This is the next big step in our partnership,” said Chris Bobotis, now director, professional video at Adobe. “I’ve always believed in developing software for artists, by artists, and I’m looking forward to bringing new technology and integration that will empower creators with the digital tools they need to bring their creative vision to life.”
Introduced in April 2015, SkyBox was the first plugin to leverage Mettle’s proprietary 3DNAE Technology, and its success quickly led to additional development of 360/VR plugins for Premiere Pro and After Effects. Today, Mettle’s plugins have been widely adopted by leading companies world-wide, such as The New York Times, CNN, HBO, Google, YouTube, Discovery VR, DreamWorks TV, National Geographic, Washington Post, Apple, and Facebook, as well as independent filmmakers and YouTubers.
Customers can learn more about the integrated solutions at:
Adobe Creative Cloud Video blog
Learn more about Adobe After Effects
Learn more about Adobe Premiere Pro
For customer support or product support questions visit: support.mettle.com.
Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure
This press release includes forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including risks and uncertainties related to Adobe’s ability to successfully integrate Mettle’s technology and abilities into Adobe Premiere Pro CC and other Adobe Creative Cloud solutions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the ability of Adobe to successfully integrate Mettle’s technology and other anticipated benefits of the transaction to Adobe. These risks, uncertainties and other factors, and the general risks associated with Adobe’s business, could cause actual results to differ materially from those referred to in the forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Adobe and are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, individuals should refer to Adobe's SEC filings. Adobe does not assume any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements or other statements included in this press release.
About Mettle
Mettle is a motion graphics studio based in Montreal, Canada, that develops plugins for use with Adobe software. Customers include Disney Imagineering, The New York Times, Facebook, Google, YouTube and HBO. For more info please see: www.mettle.com.
About Adobe
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.
© 2017 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe and the Adobe logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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SumTotal and dominKnow Deliver the Power of Custom Content to the Modern Learner
Boston, MA - June 21, 2017 - SumTotal, the leading provider of talent management solutions, announced its expanded partnership with dominKnow. dominKnow helps organizations collaboratively gather, create, review, share, reuse, and deliver responsive and adaptive content that can be used to help learners at multiple times of need — from formal learning to on the job, just-in-time support. SumTotal leverages dominKnow to allow customers to build on existing content and create learning content and materials that are tailored to their specific needs.
For more than a decade, SumTotal has worked with dominKnow to provide customers with authoring and content management capabilities. This allows teams to collaborate in real-time, share and re-purpose content across projects and easily engage all stakeholders in the content development process. The dominKnow Platform: Claro, Flow, and Capture seamlessly integrates into SumTotal Learn, creating a unified user experience.
"This partnership demonstrates our commitment to produce engaging learning content that is essential to the modern learner. Marrying the skills and competencies that people need, with technology that delivers it effortlessly, enables our customers to provide the most relevant and engaging content to their employees," says Larry Neal, president and CEO, Skillsoft. "Our partnership with dominKnow simplifies the process for our clients, allowing them to focus on authoring and developing the best content for their employees. We are proud to continue this long-standing partnership."
"Pfizer has been working with SumTotal and dominKnow over the last four years. We now have more than 400 authors working in the system globally with over 4,000 courses developed," said Marcus Franklin, training system manager, Pfizer. "We have saved significant time and money with a global content development strategy and really appreciated SumTotal's project management and dominKnow's partnership."
"We are very excited about our continued partnership with SumTotal. Through this collaboration, our customers can leverage the strengths of both platforms to create innovative learning content that can be easily shared, re-used, and re-purposed across any number of learning initiatives," said Luke Hickey, CEO of dominKnow. "We look forward to providing our users the ability to author new content that can be quickly integrated and published on both platforms."
About SumTotal SystemsSumTotal Systems, LLC, a Skillsoft Company, is the world's only unified Human Capital Management Solution. SumTotal's award-winning Talent Management Suite enables companies to attract, know, mobilize, develop, progress and reward their workforce. SumTotal is continuously innovating to best meet the market challenges of attracting, retaining, developing and engaging the multi-generational workforce. The Talent Expansion Suite includes three key components –Talent, Learn and Work. www.sumtotalsystems.com
About dominKnowFor more than a decade, dominKnow Learning Systems has been creating eLearning software for small teams and large organizations. The dominKnow Platform is a web-based authoring and content management solution that helps teams collaborate in real-time, share, and re-use content across projects, and easily engage subject matter experts in the review process.
Responsive and adaptive content can be created for any type of formal or informal learning — all from a single source. Our multi award-winning platform outputs HTML5 and WCAG AA compliant content and publishes to SCORM, AICC, xAPI, and PENS standards, so content is ready for delivery from virtually any location.
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Brainshark Unveils Integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365
Waltham, MA - June 21, 2017 - Brainshark, Inc., delivering SaaS-based sales enablement and readiness solutions, today announced an integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 – giving sales teams instant access to Brainshark training, coaching and content resources directly from Microsoft's CRM application. Organizations benefit from streamlined access to essential sales resources, greater sales productivity and centralized visibility into the impact of their sales readiness programs.
Sales teams can now, directly from within Dynamics 365, use Brainshark to:
Rapidly create high-impact, multimedia content for sales onboarding, just-in-time learning and more.
Deploy training content and curricula that enable reps to master their messages and increase sales effectiveness.
Provide video-based sales coaching with manager challenges, rep video responses, and manager and peer feedback readily accessible.
Enable sales reps to view videos and other assets related to training, coaching and other initiatives – fostering better sales readiness.
Gain better insight into sales program effectiveness with real-time Brainshark viewing, training and coaching analytics.
"The more the solution can integrate seamlessly with the CRM and reduce the need to access one more application, the better it can support seller efficiency by reducing the time required to navigate to and use one more app," wrote Steven Wright, senior analyst at Forrester Research¹.
Brainshark CEO Greg Flynn said: "Training, coaching and content form the foundation for improving sales effectiveness. It's critical that sales teams are able to easily find these resources – when and where they need them – so they can be better prepared to close more deals faster. We're glad to extend our partnership with Microsoft and, in response to customer demand, offer this unique functionality to Dynamics users – so they can seamlessly access Brainshark training and coaching resources without ever leaving the CRM."
This newly launched integration is the latest in a series of partnership activities between Brainshark and Microsoft. Brainshark recently launched Brainshark Labs at the 2017 Microsoft Build conference, where Brainshark leaders shared how they are innovating with Microsoft's Cognitive Services and HoloLens mixed-reality simulation technology to improve sales team effectiveness. In 2016, Brainshark integrated with Microsoft Outlook, empowering reps to easily email Brainshark sales content and sync those activities with Salesforce. In addition, Microsoft Azure Media Services now hosts video content created by millions of Brainshark users – ranking Brainshark among Azure's top 10 video producers worldwide.
For more information about Brainshark's integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365, visit: www.brainshark.com/solutions/dynamics.
¹"Vendor Landscape: Sales Enablement Automation", Forrester Research, Inc., March 21, 2016
About Brainshark, Inc. Brainshark sales readiness software equips businesses with the training, coaching and content authoring capabilities to achieve sales mastery and outsell the competition. With Brainshark, companies can: prepare sales teams with on-demand training that accelerates onboarding and keeps reps up-to-speed; validate readiness with sales coaching that ensures reps master your message; and empower sales organizations with rich, dynamic content that can be created quickly and accessed anywhere. Thousands of companies – including more than half of the Fortune 100 – rely on Brainshark to identify and close performance gaps, and get better results from their sales enablement initiatives. Learn more at www.brainshark.com.
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Demisto Introduces Industrys First Machine Learning Incident Response Platform that Gets Smarter with Every Analyst Action
Cupertino, CA - June 28, 2017 - Demisto, Inc., an innovator in Security Automation and Orchestration technology, today introduced the industry’s first Security Operations Platform that learns from analysts’ actions used to resolve incidents to optimize future incident response. The new machine learning-based technology, called “Demisto Insights” and available in the next version of Demisto Enterprise, helps analysts during an investigation by suggesting the best methods to resolve an incident. Such machine learning technology marks the first time in the security industry where a solution learns from experts rather than relying only on past historical security data.
The security industry faces a significant shortage of skilled analysts. While automation is being used to help analysts reduce manual work, organizations need to be able to learn from experienced analysts’ actions to help educate and train younger analysts to solve problems faster. With this new release, Demisto offers the industry’s most comprehensive Security Operations Platform with pre-built automation playbooks, a plethora of integrations, incident case management, threat feed aggregation and correlation with incidents, and now machine learning that improves the analysts’ productivity.
“The incident response process in security operations has suffered from long mean time to resolution (MTTR) and a lack of security personnel and skillset availability,” said (TBD waiting on customer!) “The Demisto platform not only helps us alleviate these challenges with automation, but also goes above and beyond anything we’ve ever seen to use machine learning, collaboration and historical threat feed correlation to save us time and reduce risk.”
“Demisto Insights” collects key findings from analysts as they resolve incidents. Using unique machine learning technology it also suggests the best team members to handle the incident, and best next steps to resolve the incident that will continually enhance playbooks. This type of machine learning is unique in the industry because the Demisto platform learns from analysts’ and SOC managers’ actions which are high fidelity signals rather than static security product data. This model enables accurate results for each customer as Demisto learns the unique customer environment rather than generic security data.
“Demisto was already leading the industry in helping organizations with significant cost and security risk reduction during the incident management life cycle by leveraging our unique automation and collaboration features,” said Dan Sarel, Demisto co-founder and VP Products. “With these new enhancements, we now extend the value delivered by the platform to make it even easier and faster for analysts to respond to incidents. The platform significantly reduces adoption time and time to value with our new machine learning capabilities and updated graphical interface.”
The latest release of Demisto Enterprise enhances the playbook authoring interface and also provides a live runtime review of the playbook execution. In addition, a new language called “Demisto Transform” has been introduced which helps IR analysts build complex playbooks for automation much faster and without writing any code. All these capabilities enhance the experience of security analysts by making it even easier to build automations and to review the results of the investigation. The platform highlights the findings in a single, improved view to give analysts all the details needed for decision making.
In addition, Demisto’s new release offers numerous product integrations as well as 50 additional enhancements. For example, Demisto’s new and improved Incidents page helps SOC managers have a better view of the SOC status and allows them to more easily manage their teams. Also, the new Incident summary page delivers a quick view of the main findings in each incident, helping managers get a quick view of the ongoing events and helping analysts who join an investigation get quickly oriented. For a complete list of Demisto’s new integrations and release enhancements, see https://www.demisto.com/product/ .
Pricing and Availability Demisto’s new Enterprise Security Operations Platform is generally available today, with annual pricing starting at $100,000 for up to two analysts. Also available from Demisto – a fully multi-tenant Demisto solution for MSSP that provides SOC-as-a-Service. For more information, see https://www.demisto.com/product/ .
About Demisto Demisto Enterprise is the first and only comprehensive Security Operations Platform to combine security orchestration, incident management, machine learning from analyst activities, and interactive investigation. Demisto’s orchestration engine automates security product tasks and weaves in the human analyst tasks and workflows. Demisto enables security teams to reduce mean time to resolution (MTTR), create consistent incident management process, and increase analyst productivity. Demisto is backed by Accel and other prominent investors and has offices in Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv. For more information, visit www.demisto.com or email info@demisto.com.
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The Markle Foundation and Microsoft partner to accelerate a skills-based labor market for the digital economy
New York and Redmond, WA - June 28, 2017 - On Wednesday, the Markle Foundation and Microsoft Corp. announced a three-year partnership to expand Markle's Skillful initiative, a data-driven approach to connecting American workers and businesses in a rapidly evolving labor market. While advances in technology have helped the economy overall, some American workers are being displaced. Jobs in growing sectors increasingly require new skills earned through a post-secondary degree, certificate or credentialing program. Particularly vulnerable are the nearly seven out of 10 Americans who have transferable skills, but not a four-year college degree.
In response, Microsoft's corporate giving arm Microsoft Philanthropies is making a significant investment to expand Skillful, which was launched in Colorado in 2016. Skillful brings together key players across the labor market — employers, state and federal governments, LinkedIn, educators, and workforce centers — to help American workers adapt to the changing workplace. Skillful's coaches and online services enable job seekers to learn what skills are in demand, and access professional training at any stage of their career. At the same time, Skillful aligns employers and educators so that their training programs teach the skills required to succeed in today's digital economy.
Starting by expanding throughout Colorado and then moving to additional states, the partnership aims to create a skills-based labor market model that can be replicated across the U.S. to help millions of Americans overcome barriers to obtaining better-paying jobs. In addition to its $25.8 million investment, Microsoft Philanthropies brings to the partnership decades of experience in providing digital skills training for individuals, as well as learning tools for coaches, educators and employers.
"Millions of Americans don't have the information, tools or skills needed to succeed in the digital economy. We urgently need to transform the labor market so everyone can compete with equal dignity for today's jobs," said Zoë Baird, CEO and president of the Markle Foundation. "We are living in a time of economic change as sweeping as the Industrial Revolution, and this innovative partnership with Microsoft will help jobseekers and employers rise to this profound challenge."
"There are 7.3 million fewer jobs in the United States today for people with a high school degree or less than there were in 1989. At the same time, 6 million jobs in our country go unfilled due in large part to a shortage of skilled workers. This mismatch is leaving workers on the sidelines and employers without the talent they need to run their operations," said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft. "Skillful is building an entire ecosystem to close this gap, helping Americans find and train for better-paying jobs, while connecting employers with the talent they need to thrive in the digital economy."
In Colorado, Skillful is already leveraging data and technology tools such as LinkedIn's Training Finder to help workers find training and support to prepare them for growth jobs in their community.
"Skillful has helped jobseekers in Colorado develop the skills they need to succeed in an increasingly tech-driven workplace and helped employers connect with these talented job seekers," said Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. "Microsoft's investment will bring these benefits to even more workers and companies across the state. Together, we can provide opportunity for income growth and career satisfaction for every Coloradan. I look forward to seeing Skillful serve as a model for the rest of the country."
"Today, you can't read, listen or watch the news without coming across a story about how technology is displacing jobs. And while there has been a lot of debate about whether or not skills gaps exist, the fact remains there were a record number of open jobs in the United States in April," said LinkedIn Co-Founder and Vice President of Product Management Allen Blue. "That's why the work Skillful is doing is so critical — it applies insights, technology and boots on the ground to help people learn the skills they need to qualify for jobs employers are having a hard time filling. Our work in Colorado is proof that while technology is displacing jobs, it's also helping us upskill people and get them back to work."
More about the benefits of a skills-based labor market in creating opportunities for millions of Americans can be learned by watching Microsoft's and Markle's joint video.
About Markle
The Markle Foundation works to realize the potential of information technology as a breakthrough tool for some of the nation's most challenging problems. An operating foundation, Markle has worked in partnerships to create policy and technology architecture that has enabled improvements in healthcare, national security, and access to the Internet, Markle's priority today is to provide Americans with access to good jobs and enable people to prepare for today's rapidly changing digital economy, as articulated in its book America's Moment. For more information, visit markle.org, Skillful.com and follow @MarkleFdn and @JoinSkillful on Twitter.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
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