Last week, there were several big product announcements. Agiloft enhanced its generative AI capabilities with Relining. Blue Yonder unveiled its largest-ever update to its supply chain platform for retailers, manufacturers and logistics organisations. Pipefy launched an AI Assistant for HR Service Delivery. Logicalis released the latest version of its AI-powered Digital Fabric Platform. Etc., the digital and startup incubation hub of BT Group, announced the second phase of its NHS digital preventative remote care initiative.
Adeva launched the AI Talent Hub, bringing organisations access to AI-skilled consultants. LexisNexis Legal & Professional has announced that its Lexis+ AI generative AI solution is now available in the UK under commercial preview. Amazon announced the Buy with Prime integration with Salesforce Commerce Cloud. XY Retail launched an advanced Order Management System (OMS). This comes fully pre-integrated with the XY Point of Sale (POS) and clientele solutions.
Rootstock announced a QuickStart implementation methodology for mid-sized manufacturers who select its ERP solution. Tonkean announced a new partnership with SAP. This saw the launch of Tonkean Procureworks, its Intake Orchestration solution on the SAP Store.
IFS appointed Mark Moffat as its new CEO, replacing Darren Roos. AppDirect, the leading B2B subscription commerce platform in North America, has announced a new funding round led by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).
Research from SAP Emarsys indicated that shoppers stayed loyal to retailers offering free returns. Incisiv published its 2024 Connected Retail Experience Study: Focusing on Omnichannel Efficiency. The study shows retailers are seeking innovative technologies to revolutionise store efficiency. Signifyd and Adobe both revealed findings from their holiday period shopping data.
Agiloft
Agiloft has given its website a makeover with a new website, an updated logo and a new strapline, “Reintroducing: Agiloft. Reintroducing: the handshake.” Em Atteberry, Digital Content & Social Media at Agiloft, explained the reasoning behind the makeover and what it is trying to achieve in a blog. She noted, “We’ve realized it’s high time our image reflected just how far we’ve come and the values we imbue as an organization.”
Agiloft is making two promises to its customers, “we promise to stick with you”. Which Atteberry explains further, writing, “The journey doesn’t end at implementation, it’s only just begun.” She then adds, “We promise that we won’t fail.” Explaining, ”We are proven, trusted providers in this space, and we are ready to use our expertise to help you shine.”
ASUS
With CES occurring last week, it was not a surprise that ASUS made a series of announcements, twenty-two in all.
Amongst the products launched were:
Routers
- RT-AX57 Go tri-mode travel router, a dual-band model that offers ultrafast WiFi 6 up to 3,000 Mbps.
- ZenWiFi BQ16 and ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro mesh routers, next-gen quad-band WiFi 7 speeds of up to 30 Gbps and coverage of up to 8000 sq. ft. (2pk) for future-ready smart homes.
Laptops and Desktops
- The 2024 version of the premium Zenbook S 13 OLED (UX5304) is now powered by up to the latest AI-powered Intel Core Ultra 7 processor.
- Zenbook DUO (2024) UX8406 is the world’s first ultraportable laptop equipped with two 14-inch 3K 120 Hz OLED touchscreens.
- Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406), a premium AMD-powered ultraportable laptop.
- Five updated models in the popular ASUS Vivobook Classic series of everyday laptops, led by the ASUS Vivobook 14 X1404 and X1405, ASUS Vivobook 15 X1504, ASUS Vivobook 16 X1605 and ASUS Vivobook 17 X1704.
- ASUS Business launched a new lineup of AI-powered commercial PCs that redefine efficiency, security and sustainability. ASUS ExpertBook B5 (B5604/B5404), ASUS ExpertBook B3 (B3604/B3404), ASUS ExpertBook CX54 Chromebook Plus (CX5403), and the new 2024 ExpertCenter series — ASUS ExpertCenter D7 SFF and ASUS ExpertCenter D9 Mini Tower.
- For gamers, it announced the brand-new TUF Gaming F16 and TUF Gaming A16 laptop line-up, sporting upgraded chassis and expansive displays available with Intel and AMD processors, respectively.
- 2024 Zephyrus G14 and Zephyrus G16, the latest in an illustrious line-up of supremely powerful thin-and-light gaming laptops.
- A line-up of ultra-compact PCs that set new standards for performance, style, and sustainability. From the sleek and powerful ASUS NUC 14 Pro+ ultra-compact PC to the gaming prowess of the ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) NUC, together with the semi-industrial ASUS Fanless Chromebox CF40 and ASUS ExpertCenter PN65.
- The 2024 Strix family of laptops, including the Strix SCAR 18, is the first 18-inch ROG laptop equipped with the mini LED ROG Nebula HDR Display.
Docking Stations
- Triple 4K Thunderbolt 4 Dock DC500, an all-in-one docking station designed for creators.
Republic of Gamers
There were also several announcements from ASUS and the Republic of Gamers (ROG)
- ROG continues to drive gaming display innovation with the introduction of the 39-inch ROG Swift OLED PG39WCDM 800R-curved monitor, the 32-inch PG32UCDP — the world’s first dual-mode gaming monitor with a Frame Rate Boost feature that lets users switch between 4K 240 Hz and FHD 480 Hz modes — and the PG27AQDP, the world’s fastest 27-inch OLED monitor. In addition, ROG also unveiled the award-winning ROG Aura Monitor Light Bar ALB01 and ROG Ergo Monitor Arm AAS01 to upgrade any gaming setup.
- The all-new ROG Phone 8 series marks the start of a revolutionary journey that will redefine mobile gaming excellence.
- Several accessories were announced. Including the ROG Keris II Ace ultralight gaming mouse, the ROG Falchion RX Low Profile 65% gaming keyboard, the ROG Cetra True Wireless SpeedNova gaming headphones, the ROG Carnyx USB condenser microphone, and the ROG Archer ErgoAir Gaming Backpack.
- The ROG Strix LC III series and ROG Ryujin III WB, two CPU liquid-cooling solutions tailored to diverse user needs.
Graphics cards
- TUF Gaming AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT and the ASUS Dual AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT graphics cards.
- The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 SUPER series of graphics cards, consisting of the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER and GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER.
Forter
Forter announced a new release of its Abuse Protection solution. The solution aims to empower merchants to identify and block abuse through custom, self-service policies and simulations. New features include Policy Builder. This enables merchants to quantify the extent of their losses to the most common forms of abuse. Such as returns, resellers, re-shipper and promotions. The feature enables them to target those abuses with policies that reduce the losses.
Michael Reitblat, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Forter, commented, “Policy abuse is a multi-billion-dollar problem, but the industry’s legacy solutions stop abuse at the expense of customer experience and lifetime value. Abuse Prevention provides merchants with more intelligence and controls to identify abusers, craft custom policies and assess their business impact. Decisioning at both checkout and post-purchase means we have merchants covered across the full customer journey.”
Infosys
Acquisition
Infosys announced reached an agreement to acquire InSemi, a leading semiconductor design and embedded services provider. The acquisition will strengthen the Infosys Engineering R&D capabilities. The acquisition aims to strengthen the Infosys’ Chip-to-Cloud strategy, by bringing niche design skills at scale. It will also pair seamlessly with existing investments in AI/Automation platforms and industry partnerships.
Dinesh R, EVP & Co-Delivery Head, Infosys, commented, “Infosys has been a leader and at the forefront of delivering cutting edge solutions across industries with Engineering R&D services. With the advent of AI, Smart devices, 5G and beyond, electric vehicles, the demand for next-generation semiconductor design services integrated with our embedded systems creates unique differentiator. InSemi is a strategic investment as we usher a next wave of growth and a leadership position in Engineering R&D.”
Shreekanth Sampigethaya & Arup Dash, Co-Founders InSemi, said, “Over the last five years, InSemi has built a foundation with solid growth and design capabilities across the semiconductor value chain. With Infosys as our catalyst, it creates a synergistic combination that allows us to scale and bring the power of AI & Engineering R&D and next-generation technology to global clients, expanding across industry sectors. We aim to further accelerate our progress, and together with Infosys, it paves a path of innovation opening new opportunities for our teams.”
The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, subject to customary closing conditions. Terms were not disclosed.
Q3 Results
Infosys also published its Q3 results for the quarter ending 31st December. Revenues were $4,663 million, up 0.1% but down by 1% year over year in constant currency. The company believes it will achieve revenue growth of between 1.5 – 2.0 year over year. Over the last three quarters, though, revenue in constant currency is up 1.8% year over year, and revenues are up 2.5% year over year.
Salil Parekh, CEO and MD, commented, “Our performance in Q3 was resilient. Large deal wins were strong at $3.2 billion, with 71% of this as net new, reflecting the relevance and strength of our portfolio of offerings ranging from generative AI, digital and cloud to cost, efficiency and automation. Our clients are leveraging our Topaz generative AI capabilities and our Cobalt cloud capabilities to create long-term value for their businesses.”
iplicit
Lyndon Stickly, CEO of iplicit, gave a bullish update for the company in a blog that rounds up 2023 and looks ahead to 2024. Stickly notes that “We ended 2023 with an unblemished performance of more than 100% growth each year since our launch, and we’re expecting in excess of 100% growth in 2024 as well.”
The company now has over 1,100 organisations as customers and over 20,000 users on its platform from 85 countries, after only five years since its launch.
In 2024, the company aims to “double down” its investment in partners as it looks to maintain its growth trajectory. Not only is it looking to grow its ERP footprint through channel partners and MSPs, it also believes its Multi Academy Trust solution will add more customers after a successful first year.
The company also intends to invest in product. Stickley added, “On the horizon for 2024 is further investment in API integration to further increase the ecosystem within which we work. We’re looking to work with ‘best of breed’ applications across a variety of propositions, from payroll to CRM (customer relationship management). In addition, we have a number of exciting new features within the product, too, with five releases planned before the end of the year.”
Retention is also high, with only a single customer lost in 2023, representing 0,31% revenue churn. That was due to corporate churn rather than dissatisfaction, according to Stickley. Can 2024 be the breakout year for iplicit? As it grows, there will be bigger challenges for the firm and its leadership.
Yooz
Yooz announced the appointment of Dave Kasabian as its new Global Chief Marketing Officer. Laurent Charpentier, CEO of Yooz, said, “We are delighted to welcome Dave to the Yooz family. His experience driving marketing vision and execution in high-growth SaaS environments and his passion for collaborative success align seamlessly with our commitment to delivering unparalleled value both internally and externally. As we enter a new phase of growth and evolution, Dave will play a key role in shaping our global strategy and elevating the Yooz brand to new heights.”
Kasabian came from OneStream, where he was CMO. Before OneStream, he built the global marketing operation at Tagetok, a leading Corporate Performance Management (CPM) platform, prior to its acquisition by Wolters Kluwer. He will now lead the worldwide marketing organisation for a global leader in Purchase-to-Pay (P2P) and Accounts Payable (AP) automation.
Kasabian said, “Finance process automation, digital transformation, and technology advancements are changing how organisations do business. Optimised AP, P2P and E-invoicing automation is a competitive advantage and will be even more so in 2024 and beyond. Yooz is dedicated to providing the best combination of power, speed, and ease-of-use to maximise that advantage for our customers. I’m excited to have the opportunity to work with an exceptional leadership team, and highly skilled professionals around the world, all committed to driving customer success every day.”
Zoho
Zoho announced several updates last week across its application portfolio.
Zoho Writer
The creators of Zoho Writer took a look back at the improvements it delivered in 2023. Also gave a sneak preview of what is to come in 2024.
The team are working on:
- PDF Editor
- Plagiarism Checker
- PDF-to-automation template converter
- Multiple template document generation
- Automation builder with conditional routing
Zoho Workdrive
Zoho also revealed the second phase of its updates to Zoho Workdrive. They include an updated upload capability. Which enables users to upload large files in chunks, enabling greater efficiency in the upload process. Zia is now embedded into Workdrive, delivering OpenAI generative AI capabilities to help users create and modify content. Features included Zia offering real-time suggestions to refine your comments. Helping users to rephrase, shorten, and punctuate for clarity and professionalism.
Zia can also create cover images for videos and audio files. It has introduced code snippers in Workdrive to accelerate development. Users can securely “attach as a copy” Zoho native files from Writer, Sheet, and Show through integration with Zoho Mail. Workdirive has now added ISO (000 and ISO 22301) security certifications. A data retention feature is now available for all users on paid plans. Language support has been extended with all 22 official Indian languages supported and more international ones to come. There are many more small improvements as well.
Zoho Books – Kenya
Zoho announced a partnership with M-PESA, the mobile banking solution launched by Safaricom in 2007. The integration streamlines financial transactions, transforming tedious manual payment processes into streamlined operations. Quick invoicing makes M-PESA a seamless payment option. M-PESA also integrates with Zoho Invoice and Zoho Inventory, ensuring a cohesive financial journey for businesses.
Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is now fully available. With a new UI and a host of new features, the solution certainly has a more modern look and feel to it. The interface is more intuitive, enabling users to add updates and comments with fewer mouse clicks. The Gantt view is now available on the list view. Users (on the correct plan) can add customer fields more easily. Zia, with its OpenAI generative AI capabilities, is woven into the application. Zoho Projects will no longer be available from March 31, 2024 so users will need to switch. One area that does not seem to have been added is the ability to complete tasks with a single click, though.
