Retail and eCommerce highlights this week includes: Pixafy and Net at Work collaborate to develop eCommerce platform for Sage X3. Research indicates that half of workers confess to ‘cutting corners’ on cybersecurity during Covid-19 remote working. Scandit raises $80m to help businesses go contactless, new research on COVID-19 Business Impacts and Future Planning. Facebook Announces New Collaboration Tools for Workplace, Including First Steps into VR Offices
Companies collaborate to develop erpCommerce
Net at Work, a full-service technology and business consultancy, and Pixafy, an Adobe solution partner have released erpCommerce. The platform enables organisations using Sage X3 to integrate with Magento Commerce and launch a fully transactional website within 60 days. The quick-to-market solution gives organisations the ability to capture business in today’s increasingly virtual marketplace.
The erpCommerce solution combines an enterprise-level ERP with Magento Commerce and cloud-based integration platform Boomi. It allows merchants and partners throughout the Sage and Magento ecosystems, to fast-track best-in-class B2B and B2C eCommerce implementations.
erpCommerce was created with ERP as the core value add – unlike other integrations built by web developers. The platform allows customer systems to be the single “point of truth” which runs their online businesses and workflows.
Merchants are not locked into a proprietary “point” integration solution. It provides the ability to develop and enhance on top of the existing code base.
Research highlights remote working security concerns
Forty-eight percent of office workers have admitted they are less likely to follow safe data practices when working from home. It is one of the key lessons learned from new research from Tessian, the Human Layer Security company. The State of Data Loss Prevention report reveals findings from a global survey of 2,000 office workers and 250 IT decision-makers in the UK and the US.
The research shows that 52% of office workers feel they can get away with riskier behaviour when working from home. This includes sharing confidential files via email and using personal devices to conduct company business.
The top reasons for not following safe data practices included not working on their usual devices 50%. Not being watched by IT (48%) and being distracted (47%) were also cited in the research.
Additionally, over half (51%) of office workers say they feel their company’s security policies impede their productivity. A further 54% of staffers admitted to finding a workaround for security policies that stop them from getting their jobs done. It suggests that employees place efficiency and ease-of-access above the safety and protection of data. When asked about security practices, 58% of office workers say information is less secure when working from home. At the same time, 78% of office workers say their company ‘completely’ or ‘somewhat’ trusts them to stay secure when working remotely.
Scandit raises $80m to help businesses go contactless
Scandit, the computer vision and augmented reality platform for enterprises, has raised $80 million in a Series C funding round, taking the total raised so far to $123 million.
Since the last funding round in July 2018, Scandit has tripled recurring revenues, doubled the number of blue-chip enterprise customers. The company has doubled the size of its global team. The new funding will further accelerate growth in new markets such as APAC and Latin America. In addition, the company plans to expand Scandit’s footprint and operations in North America and Europe. It will support R&D to develop new ways enterprises can transform their core business processes using computer vision and AR.
Demand for mobile computer vision on personal smart devices is expected to grow. Companies are seeking to create a contactless environment for their employees and customers to support the need for social distancing post-COVID-19. The new funding makes it possible for Scandit to help enterprises to quickly adapt to the new demand for ‘contactless business.’
Alongside supporting R&D, the new funding will further accelerate growth in new markets such as APAC and Latin America. Scandit plans to increase its footprint and operations in North America and Europe.
COVID-19 Business Impacts & Future Planning
UK companies (58%) are overhauling their business strategies to survive the pandemic. Half of companies are looking to invest in digital, according to new research conducted by Opinium and LiveArea.
With the impact of the pandemic set to grow over the coming months, the study shows:
- A third (31%) of UK businesses could close before the furlough scheme ends in October.
- IT infrastructure (57%) and online commerce (41%) are the focus of future investment.
LiveArea surveyed 1000 senior managers from UK and US businesses across all verticals. The research explored the impact the pandemic on businesses and operations, and understand their concerns and priorities moving forward.
Half of the businesses still operating, plan to invest in digital technologies because of Covid-19 pandemic (50% UK & 51% US). Those working in larger organisations with more than 250 employees are most likely to do this (72% UK, 69% US).
The most common areas for priority investment are IT infrastructure (57% UK, 41% US) and digital commerce (41% UK, 43% US). A quarter (23% UK, 25% US) will invest in automation once the crisis is over.
Just under half (46% UK, 43% US) of businesses currently outsource some part of their business. The most common areas to outsource being IT and development (25% UK, 22% US) and marketing (10% UK, 13% US).
Facebook launches collaboration tools
Facebook has released a range of new remote collaboration tools for the company’s professional Workplace platform. The enhanced platform includes video chatrRooms and new ways to connect via Portal. Facebook is expanding its new Messenger Rooms to Workplace, with Workplace Rooms.
Facebook has been expanding the rollout of Messenger Rooms into more regions over the past few weeks. It has also added Rooms for Groups and Events. The popularity of Zoom and Google Meet has stimulated Facebook into enhancing its Workplace Rooms platform. Facebook also notes that Workplace Rooms will facilitate screen sharing, while users will also be able to lock their Rooms to prevent others from joining.
Facebook is also expanding its new Live Producer tools to Workplace. Live Producer enables users to live-stream from their desktop, with professional video tools to create more polished, professional-looking live-streams. The platform can integrate third-party tools, and add in graphic overlays, polls, and other on-screen features as user stream.
