Business

Tealium, the leader in enterprise tag management and real-time unified marketing solutions, and Optimizely, the fastest-growing optimization platform in the world, today announced a first-of-its-kind integration to power more relevant, intelligent digital marketing experiences for joint customers.  This integration combines the robust audience segmentation capabilities of Tealium® AudienceStream™ with Optimizely’s experience optimization and testing platform to drive targeted, more agile digital marketing initiatives.

Tealium AudienceStream enables marketers to enrich visitor profiles, stitch together user interactions across all digital touch points, and discover audience segments using a unified view in real time.  Through this new integration with Optimizely, marketers are now able to leverage the rich segments and visitor data created in Tealium AudienceStream as Optimizely Audiences to take targeted action, fueling more advanced A/B and multivariate testing. This provides Optimizely users with an unprecedented level of segmentation capabilities, based on rich, multi-channel, real-time behavioral data.

“The power of AudienceStream is multiplied exponentially when integrated so closely and seamlessly with an action-oriented personalization platform like Optimizely,” said Mike Anderson, Co-Founder and CTO of Tealium. “This collaboration enables a new level of marketing agility. Marketers can design more effective campaigns with the ability to more efficiently test new messages and run site experiments based on specific audiences, resulting in improved customer experiences and ultimately, more conversions… and frankly, we had a lot of fun building it.”

“Our integration with Tealium AudienceStream will make it easier for marketing and product teams to take action on the audience data that matters most to them as they create seamless, targeted customer experiences,” said Dan Siroker, CEO and co-founder of Optimizely. “We’re excited to partner with Tealium – our shared vision for a more personalized web, inspired and informed by data, makes our integration a great fit.”

Based on its recent analysis of the Internet of Things (IoT)/Machine-to-Machine (M2M) software platforms market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Mesh Systems with the 2014 North America Frost & Sullivan Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award. The company has achieved significant success with MeshVista, its innovative IoT/M2M cloud-based platform. This solution is designed to collect and collate large amounts of unstructured and structured data from connected devices, business systems, and individual personnel across the enterprise, in real time.

By building an industry-leading ecosystem of supply chain partners, the company has ensured reliable and secure network services for its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers. Mesh Systems’ partnerships with mobile communication network carriers have allowed it to deploy devices on its IoT/M2M platform at scale for almost any application interchange.

“Additionally, this solution operates as a Platform as a Service and is highly compatible with wired, wireless, and hybrid networks,” said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Srikanth Madapura Shivaswamy. “However, what really sets MeshVista apart is its speed to market. Mesh Systems delivers a truly superior, end-to-end, turnkey experience to OEMs, enabling their customers to deploy unique, highly scalable solutions faster than their peers.”

MeshVista extends from the cloud down to custom-designed wireless devices that form the network for a particular application. As part of its solution, Mesh Systems offers hardware design, manufacturing and engineering services. OEM organizations can integrate with the platform for both industrial and non-industrial applications.

MeshVista draws connections into its cloud from millions of end devices that send data 24/7/365. The entire cloud-based framework is designed to provide low latency between devices while still interfacing with them, whether it is a human on a mobile device or a third-party data system interacting with the platform.

The company has grown at an average rate of 250 percent over the past couple years through aggressive customer acquisition. It has added multiple fortune 50 companies to its fast-growing customer list in different vertical industries. Its vision to develop a broad functional set of platform components has allowed it to penetrate multiple industries, such as food/beverage, security, advertising/promotion, energy and environment.

“Mesh Systems not only continuously develops and refines customer applications, it also focuses on upgrades and ongoing development of its platform, making vertical applications hosted on the platform more future-friendly,” noted Shivaswamy. “This distinct approach has enabled it to comprehensively meet the needs of difficult IoT/M2M applications and end users.”

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in devising a strong growth strategy and robustly implementing it. The recipient has shown strength in terms of innovation in products and technologies, leadership in customer value, as well as speed in response to market needs. In short, the award looks at the emerging market players in the industry and recognizes their best practices that are positioned for future growth excellence.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

A new study released today by the ADP Research Institute^® reveals a gap when it comes to midsized companies’ ability to estimate and understand their business’ true Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) related to managing their workforce.  TCO is a measurement that enables an organization to understand what it is actually spending on its employees and the cost of managing them.  One of the key findings the study revealed is that it appears midsized businesses tend to underestimate the all-in costs of managing a workforce.  The 2014 Total Cost of Ownership Study was conducted by Harris Poll (on ADP’s behalf) and includes insights from over 1,000 U.S. employees working full-time, part-time or self-employed in a midsized company (50 to 999 employees).

The study found that while six in 10 midsized businesses indicate familiarity with the concept of TCO and two-thirds believe it is important, nearly three-quarters are not able to calculate TCO correctly.  TCO is a “Big Number” that consists of five key areas of Human Capital Management (HCM): payroll, employee benefits administration, talent management, human resources administration, and time and labor management.  It is the total amount that companies spend on all direct and indirect costs for managing their employees.

In today’s highly competitive world, businesses must continue to find ways to differentiate themselves while keeping a close eye on the bottom line.  Companies that miscalculate important metrics such as TCO risk losing opportunities for a competitive advantage.  This especially applies to midsized businesses, which represent nearly one-third of private sector U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) and contribute to more than a third of U.S. jobs.

“One of the most important metrics any organization needs to think about is TCO related to managing their employees.  Their ‘Big Number’ is much more than salaries and benefits,” said Anish Rajparia, President of Major Account Services at ADP.  “Understanding your all-in TCO allows businesses to obtain a realistic picture of what they spend on their employees and what it takes to manage them.”

On average, just over one in three midsized businesses have done a formal cost analysis on any one HCM area to get their “Big Number” in the past year and fewer, one-fifth, have done it for all five pillars of HCM.  Additionally on average, only one in six have done any kind of analysis in three years or longer.

However, the study found that there is no one trusted advisor that dominates this space.  There are at least a dozen or more credible sources for assistance in analyzing TCO costs within any one of the HCM functions.  Typically these include accountants, HR and payroll vendors, banks, HR and benefits consultants, lawyers, and financial advisors.

Regardless of how well midsized companies think they are managing TCO, many of those working in or responsible for at least one pillar still have daily concerns.  About two-thirds worry about better ways to lower their company’s overhead costs while more than half think about the total cost of managing their company’s employees.

Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z), the leading real estate information and home-related marketplace, today announced the launch of Zillow^® Tech Connect: Reviews. For the first time, brokers, agents and MLSs will be able to display individual agents’ Zillow reviews on their website through Zillow Tech Connect.

“Customer reviews have become an incredibly powerful tool for brokers and agents,” said Greg Schwartz, Zillow chief revenue officer. “We hear all the time from agents that their reviews on Zillow are continually generating new business opportunities for them. Agents with 10 or more reviews on Zillow see more than a 300 percent increase in contacts versus agents with no reviews. Allowing agents and brokers to showcase the great feedback on their own sites will be a great benefit for our partners.”

The reviews available to agents, brokers and MLSs to publish on their sites are the exact reviews found on Zillow and are held to the same high standard. In order to post a review, every reviewer must have a Zillow account, reviewers must specify what service the agent provided, all reviews are screened through proprietary Zillow fraud filters, and lastly, all reviews are moderated by Zillow staff. Additionally, Zillow is creating a co-branded interface that allows agents and brokers to easily solicit reviews from their customers to appear on their websites and Zillow.

Windermere Real Estate, one of the largest independent real estate companies in the nation, is the first brokerage working to make Zillow Tech Connect: Reviews available on Windermere agent websites on an optional basis. “We are excited that clients will have the ability to learn about and review our agents through this Windermere-Zillow co-branded interface,” said OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate, adding, “It will be a great enhancement to our agents’ online marketing and will add a level of transparency that consumers these days expect.”

Zillow Tech Connect: Reviews is also available to real estate brokerage technology providers. The first technology provider to join Zillow Tech Connect: Reviews is Moxi Works™. Originally developed inside the walls of Windermere Real Estate, Moxi Works is now a stand-alone, privately-held company providing technology services to real estate brokerages across the country.

“We are very excited to offer our brokerage customers the chance to add Zillow agent reviews to their agents’ websites,” York Baur, CEO of Moxi Works. “Recent research proves how valuable reviews are in helping agents win business, and Zillow has simplified the process, allowing us to automate access to this information. It will bring an immense amount of value to brokerages and their agents to be able to showcase the great things their customers have been saying about them.”

Zillow Tech Connect: Reviews is an expansion of the popular Zillow Tech Connect platform, which allows technology companies to connect their systems with Zillow, creating a more seamless experience for the brokers and agents who use Zillow as a key component of their marketing efforts at no additional cost. Zillow Tech Connect: Reviews is expected to launch in the coming weeks and will use an easy-to-support API connection.

FirstBank Holding Company, the Lakewood-based holding company for the largest locally owned banking organization in Colorado and the second largest bank by deposits, today reported its 2014 third quarter financial results.

FirstBank Holding Company’s net income for the first nine months of 2014 increased 4 percent to $125.57 million compared to$120.62 million as of September 30, 2013.

As of September 30, 2014, the company’s total deposits were $12.60 billion, up 6 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013. Total assets were $14.05 billion, also up 6 percent from the same time last year. Total loans grew 11 percent from the third quarter in 2013 to $7.75 billion ending September 30, 2014.

“FirstBank has experienced healthy third quarter results and we’re confident we’ll end 2014 with a strong financial performance,” saidJohn Ikard, CEO of FirstBank Holding Company. “The bank continued to grow our loan and deposit base in all of our markets and we added more locations in Arizona and Fort Collins. We’re hopeful we’ll continue this momentum during the fourth quarter.”

Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), a global leader in microcontroller (MCU) and touch solutions, will debut two new Power-line Communication (G3- PLC) solutions compliant with the G3-PLC specification at the European Utility Week 2014 to be held November 4-6 in Amsterdam.

The new Atmel^® G3-PLC products include the SAM4CP16C System-on-Chip (SoC) and ATPL250A modem that are pin-compatible with PRIME-compliant members of the Atmel | SMART portfolio of energy metering solutions already in production. The SoC option is similar to the rest of the SAM4Cx products built around a dual-core 32-bit ARM^® Cortex^®-M4 architecture with advanced security, metrology and wireless and power-line communications (PLC) options. This unique and highly flexible platform addresses OEM’s requirements for flexible system partitioning, lower bill of materials (BOM) and improved time-to-market.  

“Utilities worldwide require OEMs to meet very high reliability standards at aggressive cost points for smart meters which embed advanced feature sets in connectivity, security and flexibility,” said Colin Barnden, principal analyst, Semicast Research. “Additionally, smart meters to be deployed in several countries are required to be certified for compliance with the latest specifications including G3-PLC, PRIME and IEEE 802.15.4g. Atmel’s smart metering solutions now meet the required criteria for emerging standards based smart metering deployments from a reliability, performance, interoperability and cost perspective.”

The new products address the European (CENELEC), American (FCC) and Japanese (ARIB) profiles defined by the G3-PLC Alliance.  Atmel is an active participant in the G3-PLC Alliance certification program and expects full CENELEC certification this November followed by FCC and ARIB band certifications in the coming months.

A distinguishing feature of the ATPL250A and SAM4CP16C is an integrated Class-D line driver, which provides outstanding signal injection efficiency and improved thermal characteristics compared to competing technologies. This will help eliminate reliability issues encountered in the field as a result of thermal overheating. Additionally, common architecture, software environment and tools ensure that our customers’ R&D investments can be shared and re-utilized over multiple projects which address various connectivity standards.