July Deals

As promised in the beginning of 2014, I bring to your attention the most important technology mergers and acquisitions for every month passing. In July we saw different deals starting from social, music, mobile to cloud.  All top social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter had new achievements. As in previous months the mentions of technology giants Google and Microsoft became regularly repeating ones. How far are they planning to go?

July 1 - Google Acquires Songza

Google announced to acquire the much-loved music service Songza in a bid to ramp up its Play Music offering. Songza is a unique player in the streaming music space. Rather than providing users with a la carte access to songs and albums, it offers up expert-curated playlists around mood, time of day and general theme. The service is available on the web, for iOS and Android, and even on Chromecast. For now, nothing will change for Songza users however, in the coming months, Google will "explore ways to bring what you love about Songza to Google Play Music.

July 2 - Microsoft acquires SyntaxTree, creator of UnityVS plugin for Visual Studio

Microsoft announced acquiring SyntaxTree, the developers of the UnityVS plugin for Visual Studio. UnityVS enables Unity developers to take advantage of the productivity of Visual Studio to author, browse and debug the code for their Unity applications.

July 2 - Facebook Acquires LiveRail

Facebook has just bought video ad tech startup LiveRail, which connects marketers to publishers on web and mobile to target 7 billion video ads to visitors per month. A source tells us Facebook paid between $400 - $500 million for LiveRail, but Facebook refused to comment on the terms. The acquisition of the 170-person company could help Facebook own a bigger chunk of video advertising, the fasting growing Internet ad medium.

July 9 - ServiceNow acquires Neebula Systems for $100million

The enterprise cloud management platform ServiceNow announced it has agreed to acquire the Israeli startup Neebula Systems in a $100 million cash deal.  Neebula's flagship product, ServiceWatch, automates the discovery, mapping, and monitoring of IT-enabled enterprise services. Put simply, it allows a company to discover what kinds of systems and software are running in their IT environment, a preemptive step toward streamlining business processes. 

July 11 - Microsoft Buys Business-Focused Cloud Provider InMage

Microsoft acquired InMage, a startup that focuses on cloud-connectivity and data recovery for businesses. It’s working to integrate InMage's Scout technology into its Azure site-recovery service. The Scout product already works with Azure for data migration, and InMage will bring more business capabilities to the Microsoft service.

July 11 - Yahoo Acquires Video Streaming Platform RayV

Yahoo  acquired the video broadcasting platform RayV, built in 2005 as something of a Joost competitor, it is specialty lies in delivering high-quality video streams to a lot of people.

Jul 14 - LinkedIn Buys Newsle

LinkedIn is buying Newsle, a web app for surfacing news about people in your network. Newsle was founded three years ago and had about two million users at the time of the acquisition. The startup, which had raised more than $2 million in funding, uses machine learning algorithms and natural language processing to highlight news about your connections on Facebook and LinkedIn.

July 14 – Salesforce acquisition of RelateIQ a CRM game-changer

Salesforce acquires RelateIQ - a Palo Alto, Calif.-based intelligent computing startup for $390 million. It automatically captures data from email, calendars and smartphone calls to provide data-science-driven insights in real time, according to Salesforce's8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

July 17 – Twitter Acquires CardSpring To Power In-Tweet Commerce And Offers

Twitter announced it has acquired CardSpring to enable “in-the-moment commerce experiences.” CardSpring is an application platform that lets developers build card-linked offers electronic coupons, loyalty cards, and virtual currencies that work with credit cards and other types of payments. Twitter will keep the service open.

July 21 - Yahoo Buys Flurry to Jump-Start Mobile Business

Yahoo announced its buying the mobile ad exchange Flurry, a move that could augment Yahoo’s still-waning position in the mobile advertising market. Flurry is one of the biggest mobile ad firms in operation with a reach so vast it tracks more mobile phones than Google or Facebook. Such an acquisition would boost Yahoo’s ambitions to be a “mobile first” company, after it has struggled to match the growth of mobile ad revenues at rivals Facebook and Google.

July 23 - Google Acquires DrawElements

Google struck a small deal on Wednesday, agreeing to acquire a 3-D graphics company called drawElements. Based in Helsinki, Finland, drawElements produces a graphics test that helps companies make their software compatible with Google’s Android operating system. Google will fold the team into the suite of services that developers use to optimize their products for Android.

July 31 - Oracle Buys TOA Technologies

Oracle announced that it signed an agreement to acquire TOA Technologies - the leading provider of cloud-based field service solutions that optimize the last mile of customer service for enterprises by coordinating and managing activities between dispatchers, mobile employees and their customers.

June Acquisitions – Co-Browsing Month!

The technology world is filled with co-browsing news this month. One acquisition follows another. This, for sure, means that co-browsing became an important solution for many companies; really, as it simplifies the way companies engage with their customers, providing exceptional customer service with one click. Although the way different companies co-browse may differ, it increases customer satisfaction and first call resolution as well as decreases call handling time and much more.

That’s why I decided to dedicate this month news to co-browsing only, although there have been other acquisitions in June too, like numerous Google acquisitions, as Google + Skybox Imaging, mDialog, Alpental Technologies, Dropcam; Apple + Spotsetter; Yahoo + PhotoDrive; Alibaba + UCWeb and others.

The first co-browsing acquisition was on June 3rd, when LivePerson announced to acquire Germany-based startup Synchronite LLC.

“Our vision at LivePerson is to transform digital commerce by enabling brands to provide rich and innovative customer experiences. We're very excited to integrate Synchronite's exceptional co-browsing technology to LivePerson's platform to enable businesses to seamlessly offer high-touch engagement options to guide valuable customers through their online journey," said Robert LoCascio, CEO and Founder, LivePerson.

The second acquisition followed on June 9th with Pegasystems acquisition of college-student led start-up Firefly, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

"Today's organizations need to better engage their digital customers and deliver more personalized experiences," said Alan Trefler, Founder and CEO of Pegasystems. "Firefly's collaboration technology will empower our customers to provide superior dynamic co-browsing in a unified architecture and, in the future, chat and video capabilities."

And the final and the most important acquisition for me and my company took place on June 20th  - yes, a unique day for all of us at LiveLOOK! 

Oracle announced about its acquisition of LiveLOOK, a leading provider of cloud-based, real-time visual collaboration with state-of-the-art omni-channel enabling technology for co-browsing and screen sharing that improves the quality of customer interactions. 

“Consumers are increasingly conducting transactions across multiple digital channels such as web and mobile. Meeting consumer demands and exceeding their expectations for web and mobile service and support will improve customer satisfaction and enhance revenue,” said David Vap, Group Vice President, Oracle Product Development. “With LiveLOOK, the Oracle Service Cloud will enable customer service and sales agents to deliver exceptional customer experiences.”

If you haven’t tried co-browsing yet, visit us right now!

# Hashtag How-to’s

Today's topic covers some interesting information about the popular symbol used to mark keywords or topics – the hashtag and some ways to use it effectively.

Hashtag Origin

We all do remember that # symbol has been a phone button as well as a pound sign. The hashtag was first brought to Twitter on August 23, 2007 by Chris Messina, who stated: The very ephemerality of hashtags is what makes them easy and compelling to use in a fast-moving communication medium like Twitter.

Hashtag Platforms

Hashtags are being used more and more each day and in the nearest future may appear in all social platforms. Present supported platforms for hashtags are: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest. But the leading platform is still Twitter.

Hashtag Filtering

There are three ways to filter hashtags in Twitter:

• The "Top" option shows the most popular posts. It also includes posts from users you don't follow
• The "All" shows you every tweet that uses the specific hashtag in real time
• The "People you follow" only displays results from the users you are following

Hashtag Creation
Some hashtags became an inseparable part of our routine and their number is increasing with an enormous speed. Everybody can create unique hashtags, concerning company/brand, content of the message.

Hashtag Usage

While using hashtags in the message anyone who searches for that hashtag may find your post. In other words, hashtag becomes a clickable link, so it’s advised using hashtags in every message.

How to be more effective while using hashtags? Ok, tweets with hashtags get twice more engagement. But don’t spam with hashtags overtagging the tweet. It’s recommended to use 1-2 hashtags for every tweet, no more, as the tweet should contain less than 100 characters. In this case people, who want to RT, will have some space for doing so. It’s also proved that short tweets get 17 percent more engagement. And finally DON’T use long hashtags to be reached by many people.

Use hashtags properly and you’ll increase your online success!

 

May Acquisitions - a “Google” Month

Six acquisitions in 17 days! Let’s call it a "Google" month, although May was a blossom month for other companies as well, like Microsoft, Apple Yahoo and others. Microsoft made two purchases on the same day, two more Apple acquisitions during May. Several “big” companies buy smaller ones from time to time and many of them do not discuss any purposes or plans concerning the purchases.

May 1 - Microsoft acquires high-performance cloud-computing company GreenButton

May started with Microsoft acquisition of GreenButton, a US and New Zealand-based high-performance cloud-computing company which allows industries that need large amounts of compute power to more easily use the cloud to run their compute-intensive workloads – no recoding required. 

May 1 - Microsoft acquires mobile firm Capptain

Another acquisition on the same day, not bad! This time Microsoft adds Capptain, a French startup that helps app developers to retain new users with targeted push notifications based on their behavior and real-time analytics. Capptain's service supports apps on all the major smartphone platforms, like Windows Phone, Android, iOS and BlackBerry OS, as well as on Samsung SmartTV sets.

May 2 - Google buys Rangespan

It’s the second day of the month – high time for Google to start its campaign! The first company, acquired by Google in May is Rangespan, a London-based provider of back office services for online retailers, using data science to help them expand their product selection based on real-time sales dynamics. This is the third acquisition of Google out of the UK this year after AI-specialist DeepMind and anti-malware startup Spider.io.

May 2 - Apple acquires micro-LED display maker LuxVue technology   

Apple has acquired LuxVue Technology, a Silicon Valley-based company that's been working on micro-LED screen technologies. Micro-LEDs have the potential to improve battery life while offering brighter screens than competing technologies. 

May 6 - Google to acquire online attribution firm Adometry

Google acquires Adometry, an Austin-Tx.-based firm that specializes in online ad attribution–that is crediting various online ads for influencing a person to take an action, such as clicking on an ad or buying something. 

May 7 - Google acquires restaurant website builder Appetas

Google made one more acquisition that points to its interest in building up its relationship with local businesses. Google is buying Appetas, a site where restaurants can build websites for themselves, integrating services like GrubHub and OpenTable to add extra features like delivery services and reservations. Google says it will shut down the service. I wonder why it bought the site then? What will be its future?

May 7 - Google acquires cloud monitoring service Stackdriver

Today Google acquired cloud monitoring service Stackdriver. The company plans to roll many of the service’s features into its Cloud Platform in the coming months. Stackdriver, launched in 2012, allows its users to monitor their cloud applications, automate some of the devops when things go wrong and see detailed stats about how they are using their cloud platforms.

May 11 - FireEye acquires nPulse technologies

Cybersecurity company FireEye has agreed to acquire network forensics company nPulse Technologies for $60 million in cash and $10 million stock, according to the company. NPulse is headquartered in Charlottesville and has offices in Chantilly and Lansdowne.

May 12 - Arris paid $5.7 million for SeaWell networks

Arris paid approximately $5.7 million for Ontario-based SeaWell, which  makes a manifest manipulation technology that enables next-generation targeted advertising and personalized video services.

May 13 - Yahoo buys mobile'self-destruct' messaging app Blink

Yahoo has bought Blink, a mobile messaging startup whose app lets users send messages that will self-destruct at a time set by the sender. Blink is a product of Meh Labs, a company founded by ex-Googler Kevin Stephens and Michelle Norgan. Originally, the startup had been focused on a location-based service calledKismet which grew popular. Blink, which was launched in April 2013, will shut down its app for both iOS and Android platforms in coming weeks following the acquisition. 

May 16 - Google acquires Quest Visual

Quest Visual has been acquired by Google. With the acquisition, Google gets Quest Visual’s tech, which it will incorporate into Google Translate in the future. And while the apps Quest Visual has created in the past likely won’t be supported once that transition is complete, the startup is making them available along with all language packs for free on Google Glass, Google Play and Apple’s App Store for a limited time.

May 19 - Google acquires mobile service company Divide

Last Google acquisition of the month - Divide, a New York-based startup that offers a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) solution for corporate environments. The deal can help Google make further inroads into corporate settings. Founded four years ago, Divide’s basic features are free, but it has a premium service.

May 28 - Apple acquires Beats Electronics for $3 billion

Apple acquires the critically acclaimed subscription streaming music service Beats Music, and Beats Electronics, which makes the popular Beats headphones, speakers and audio software. As part of the acquisition, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will join Apple. Apple is acquiring the two companies for a total of $3 billion, consisting of a purchase price of approximately $2.6 billion and approximately $400 million that will vest over time.

Twitter – Best Social Platform in Response Time

It’s not the first time I’m impressed by Twitter usage.  As I’m responsible for social media in the company I work, I decided to tweet to @CrunchBase with the company issue and got a response back in 30 minutes. I was so happy, I imagined sending an email and waiting for the response for hours or even days. Let’s not forget that there are also companies who never reply.

So, every time I have a problem with any company, product or service, the first thing that comes to my mind is Twitter as the quickest, reliable and friendly solution.

"81% of Twitter users expect a same-day response to questions and complaints aimed at brands" (Forbes)

As of March 2013, 99% of brands are on Twitter, and 30% have a dedicated customer service handle, mentions a study by Simply Measured. At the same time Socialbakers publishes a list of the top fastest responding brands on Twitter, where Halo BCA, is the fastest responding brand worldwide. It took 3 minutes to respond the request – fast than anyone ever!

By responding to user questions quickly, every company can resolve different issues and avoid negative opinion from spreading. This is the best customer service we used to mention as a priority in today’s innovative world.

Many companies dedicate full-time employees to respond on Twitter. So if your company is still missing Twitter, it’s high time to create a profile and very soon your company will surely benefit from it. Make it easy for your customers to connect quickly and receive a helpful response.  

It’s all about customers’ delight as well as your company’s prosperity!

April – Acquisitions Go On

The number of dominating companies grows. Strong companies buy smaller ones, increasing sales and therefore the revenue as two companies together are more valuable than two separate ones. April continues acquisitions. Will they all have chance of success, are they all worthwhile? 

No one knows…

April 01 - Velocity Acquires Global Cloud Hosting Company Titan Technology Partners

Velocity announced the acquisition of Titan Technology Partners. Founded in 1998, Titan serves Fortune 500 and midmarket organizations in North America, Europe and Asia and maintains offices in Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; London, England; Pune, India; and Singapore. It’s a provider of global cloud hosting and managed services, business process outsourcing (BPO) and consulting services.

April 02 - Harvest Technologies to Be Acquired by Stratasys

A Belton, Texas based additive manufacturing service bureau Harvest Technologies entered into a definitive agreement for Stratasys acquisition - a leading global provider of 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions. 

April 10 - IBM Acquires Silverpop to Boost its Online Marketing Personalization Products

IBM purchased Silverpop, which specializes in managing personally-customized Internet promotions. Silverpop assembles profiles of individuals from social media sites, Web usage, email and other digital signals. IBM plans to integrate Silverpop's technologies into its own marketing services.

April 14 - Google acquires UAV maker Titan Aerospace

Google has acquired Mexico-based drone maker Titan Aerospace - the drone startup that makes high-flying robots which was previously scoped by Facebook as a potential acquisition target. Google is interested in Titan Aerospace as its solar-powered drones can fly continuously for 5 years, which makes them idea to bring wireless internet to remote destinations, such as Africa.

April 15 - Motorola's Enterprise Business Sold for US$3.45 Billion to Zebra Technologies

Zebra Technologies acquired Motorola's Enterprise business for US$3.45 billion in an all-cash transaction. Illinois-headquartered Zebra has been known for its RFID and real-time location solutions.

April 15 - Twitter Acquires Longtime Partner and Social Data Provider Gnip

Twitter has acquired Gnip, the social data provider that has long provided access to public Twitter data, and that has deepened its relationship with the social network over the years through a series of product and partnership announcements. Gnip offers access to historical Twitter data, and the full Twitter data firehose, but it also offers APIs that provide data from other social networks including Reddit, Instagram, Tumblr, Bitly and more.

April 17 - Dropbox acquires Loom

Dropbox acquired Loom, a popular service that offers cloud-based photo storage. Dropbox and Loom share many of the same ambitions, but unfortunately, the agreement also spells the end for Loom.The company has immediately halted new signups, and the service will shut down permanently on May 16th. Users can choose to automatically export their photos to Dropbox — and they'll automatically receive the same amount of cloud storage they previously had with Loom or customers can opt to receive a .zip file containing every image they've uploaded to Loom's servers.

April 24 - Facebook acquires ProtoGeo Oy, maker of fitness tracking app Moves

Facebook acquires ProtoGeo Oy, a Finnish software company that’s most well-known for making fitness tracker app Moves.  Facebook adds another stand-alone app to its growing stable.

Mayday Made a "Button" Revolution

Introduced in autumn of 2013, Amazon Mayday intrigued the whole population. Not only Kindle users were interested in the support button.

And all this has been done for differentiating from the competition. While we used to say that competition is one click away, now we can also say that the best customer service is one button-press away.

“Help” buttons are becoming an important sales tool. In the future it may become a must for many companies. This can have two explanations: people keep hands in pockets to get replies to their questions themselves or life became so busy that we have no time to lose.

Several months passed with positive and negative reviews. Mobile in its turn became an important tool with more and more people using it.  So, at the end of April 2014, mimicking Amazon Mayday, Salesforce added the SOS button, which allows companies to offer service via a mobile app. It’s a one touch live video support with an on-screen guided assistance – what else is needed for the best customer service?

Although there is no pricing announcement for the service yet, Salesforce SOS has support for both iOS and Android.  Similar in concept to Amazon Mayday button, the Salesforce SOS also allows other companies apply the button on their own customer support system. A great tool to boost customer loyalty and satisfaction through better support.

What will the next company call the ‘‘help” button? And when? I guess we’ll not have to wait long.