Orange Economy Already Accounts for Almost 3% of GDP in Colombia

Between 2007 and 2017, Bogotá was the main destination for new foreign investment in the Colombian market with more than 400 million dollars, surpassing São Paulo, Miami and Buenos Aires.
A sample of Colombian talent from this sector will be present at MIPCOM with a delegation of 16 companies, led by ProColombia.

The Orange Economy is on the way to becoming one of the main economic engines of Colombia: the world of entrepreneurship, technology, and creative industries already accounts for almost 3% of the GDP of the Latin American country – that is three times the contribution of coffee and almost 1.5 times the contribution of mining.

Colombia wants to position itself as an orange symbol, color of culture and creativity. ‘Boosting the Orange Economy is one of the Government”s priorities. In ProColombia, we have identified great sales opportunities in the development of software, films, television, animation, and videogames. These are sectors that have grown by more than 30% in exports,’ explains Flavia Santoro, president of ProColombia, the entity of the Government of Colombia that promotes investments, exports, tourism, and the country brand abroad.

According to data from Invest in Bogotá, between 2007 and 2017, the Colombian capital was the main destination for new foreign investment in this sector, with more than 400 million dollars, surpassing capitals such as São Paulo, Miami, and Buenos Aires.

Development of audiovisual content: Colombia is becoming an ideal filming location for industries such as Hollywood. Antonio Banderas, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, or Mark Wahlberg are some of the actors of international stature that in recent years have filmed movies in Colombian territory. While in 2013 an international film was recorded, in just over five years the number increased to 28.

A sample of this effervescent Colombian industry will be present at MIPCOM from the hand of 16 companies, accompanied by ProColombia:

MADRID, October 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ —

11 September 2018

D-ID Officially Launches Product for Protection Against Face Recognition at TechCrunch Disrupt 2018

D-ID has officially announced its initial product launch onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2018. The company has developed a solution that protects photos and videos of organizations from face recognition, while keeping them similar to the human eye.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/742272/Gil_Perry_D_ID.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/742271/D_ID_Launch.jpg )

D-ID”s technology is being sold as both a SaaS and On-Premise solution. The company serves organizations that store photos and videos of employees, customers or citizens. Almost all organizations store this data. The initial verticals for D-ID include cloud storage providers, social networks, financial institutions, health management organizations and governments that want to protect their biometric databases.

D-ID”s first customer is Cloudinary, an image and video management solution which helps more than 350K companies manage, optimize and deliver more than 22B media assets. The company has also signed significant agreements with customers in the financial services and automotive industry.

The face recognition market is growing exponentially and has made our faces our identifiers. It”s increasingly used all around the world: To analyze shopping behavior, to authenticate payments, to access smartphones and even to rank citizens” or track people in protests. ‘Our photos contain biometric data. Using them with face recognition, anyone can track you, hack your devices and steal your identity. That”s why our photos must be protected,’ says Gil Perry, CEO and Co-Founder of D-ID. ‘We”ve moved too fast with face recognition and it is now a threat to our fundamental human right to privacy.’

Data privacy regulations like the European Union”s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which became enforceable in May 2018 address face images as personal sensitive information and require companies to protects this data or risk heavy fines and lawsuits.

D-ID enables companies to comply with regulations, prevent crippling fines, strengthen their consumers” trust and most important, to guarantee privacy and data protection. ‘People are aware and concerned about the security risks of face recognition. Now is the time to protect this data and we are here to make sure it happens,’ says Perry.

The company”s approach to digitally manipulating images renders images unreadable by the machine learning tools that are used to identify an individual, but are imperceptible to the human eye. ‘We use advanced image processing and deep learning to process the photo or video in such a way that it will look similar to the human eye but machines, AI, face recognition classifiers will not be able to recognize the individual,’ says Perry.

D-ID was founded in 2017 by CEO Gil Perry, COO Sella Blondheim and CTO Elira Kuta. The founders served in the Israeli Special Forces and intelligence unit 8200. They experienced first-hand the risks to privacy when, due to the sensitive nature of their roles, they were not allowed to share photos on social media. The company is an alumni of the prestigious accelerators EISP 8200 and Y Combinator. It received Gartner”s Cool Vendor 2018 recognition. The team consists of top experts in deep learning, computer vision and image processing, with five PhDs and PhD students. D-ID has raised $4mm led by Pitango Venture Capital with participation from Y Combinator, Maverick Ventures, Foundation Capital and Fenox Venture Capital.

Link to video of onstage presentation:

https://techcrunch.com/video/startup-battlefield-competition-d-id-disrupt-sf-2018/

http://www.d-id.com

TEL AVIV, Israel, September 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ —

30 August 2018

Things To Do To Boost Your Sales

Sales are important for any business to move ahead. There are a number of businesses that have shut only because of failure in creating a space in the market. You need to acquire a percentage of the market in order to get some kind of returns on your sales. While this may seem like an easy thing to do, there are a number of hindrances that come up. These hindrances are not usually looked at by business owners and they end up failing when things go wrong.

It is important to trust your instinct and make sure you move ahead on the right path. However, it is also important to ensure that you learn from other business owner's mistakes and never repeat them. The one mistake that most business owners do is rush into a marketing campaign just because it is working for someone else. This is something that only spells disaster. Here are a few things that you can do to help boost your sales.

Advancement In Technology

Technology has advanced beyond imagination and business owners struggle to keep up with these advancements. Most old school businesses have fallen behind because they have not accepted what is in store for them. They need to move ahead with the times and make changes accordingly. If you want your business to succeed, you will need to make sure you are making the necessary adjustments in order for your business to succeed.

With the help of technology, you can even take your business to the next level. Most business owners assume that their business will be successful if it has had a successful past. However, that cannot be done if you are not embracing technology. You cannot continue advertising on the radio and ignore the internet boom just because the radio has worked for you in the past. Your strategy needs to be aligned with what is working in today's world.

Automated Processes

There are a number of automated processes that can be put in place to help your business. When you are looking to make your business grow, you cannot keep doing things manually. A number of business owners still believe that they need to stay in touch with each customer manually so that their customers stay loyal. While this is all good when you have just hundred customers, if your customer base increases to a million, how will you send out individual emails to each of them?

Apart from being time consuming, gathering the contact details of these customers is another hassle. Getting hold of a good database is very important for every business. Even when you have good database in hand, you need merge purge software from data ladder that will help you purify the data before using it. Not cleaning data before using it is a big sin. There are business owners that have failed miserably because their campaigns have failed and all this because of invalid email ID's. This is where this software comes into the picture. You will be able to eradicate your invalid contact details and focus on the ones that will help your business move forward.

VOIP Accuracy

The one thing most businesses depend on is making calls. Most businesses have adapted VOIP for making calls. This is a classic example of moving ahead with the times. However what good is the VOIP system if you are not feeding in accurate data. The speciality of a VOIP device is dialling numbers quickly and feeding it to your agents. This way the agents do not have to manually dial any number and there will not be any kind of time wastage. However, in order for the VOIP to function properly, the database has to be proper. If there is an invalid number in the middle of the database, the entire system will come to a standstill.

When this happens, the system will auto shut and everyone will get affected by this. This will increase your downtime more than the manual work as well. This is something you cannot afford to have in an active business scenario. Also, when you have a smooth working VOIP system with accurate database, every call will be a connect. Your agents will not sit there and be listening to answering machines all day long. The more people they speak with, the more chances they have of making a sale.

Servers

Another thing that needs to be kept in mind when it comes to marketing strategies is safe guarding your servers. The server will help you to execute your campaign smoothly. However, when you start your email campaign without cleaned data, it will be a problem. When you use invalid data, there will be a number of emails that will reach invalid contacts. There will be other customers that are on a do not call or a do not disturb list. In such scenarios, the email will get marked as spam or the customer may complain against your company. In both scenarios, it will be a bad outcome for your business.

If the customer marks the email as spam, the outcome will be reflected against the server. This will not hold good as your server will be marked as spam. When this happens, all outgoing emails will be stopped from this server as the email service provider will not want too many of their customers receiving emails from spam senders. Your server will be blacklisted permanently and any email that you send will automatically be marked as spam.

If a customer makes a complaint against your company because they were on a do not call or do not disturb list, there could be heavy fines that you would have to pay. You will not be able to get any work done and all future email marketing campaigns will be blocked. This means that you will need to invest in a new server and this is a huge expense that you will need to face.

13 August 2018

Here Is What Affiliate Marketing Can Do For Your Business

Affiliate marketing is slowly taking over the world. More and more business organizations are opting for this digital form of marketing. This form of marketing has countless benefits and can help your business to grow to new heights. Affiliate marketing is an online form of marketing where a product owner or online retailer makes an arrangement with an external or third party website to increase sales that are typically generated through referrals. Let’s now discuss the various benefits that this form of marketing can have on your business and product sales.

Affiliate Marketing Payments Are Completely Performance Based

One of the biggest advantages or benefits of affiliate marketing is that you get what you pay for. Unlike other forms of marketing where the marketer has to be paid for his services irrespective of his performance, in affiliate marketing the affiliates are only awarded a monetary remuneration after the desired action has taken place. Through affiliate marketing won’t end up paying for traffic that isn’t profitable to your business. This performance based style of marketing can be extremely beneficial for your business.

Broader Outreach Through Affiliate Marketing

Another reason why affiliate marketing is super beneficial for your business is because the audience that is targeted becomes much larger. When your product or business is marketed on a third party portal, even individuals and shoppers who have no idea about the existence of your brand or product will get to learn about it. The referral headers will reach out to a large audience and may end up bringing you a lot more customer conversions than you imagined.

Can Create Brand Awareness Amongst People Who Use Competitor’s Products

Affiliate marketing can prove to be a real boon when you want to create awareness about your brand amongst people who use the products of competitor brands. When a person is shopping online and the referral header or ad for your brand pops up on their screen based on their past purchases, they will be keen to find out more and explore the products your brand has to offer. Once they start exploring and see that your brand probably provides the same features in products as competing brands, or provides products at a lower rate than competing brands, they will start to order goods from your business.

Far More Cost Effective

Marketing can prove to be extremely costly. When you need to hire a professional marketing team or you outsource the marketing to a third party consulting firm, it will end up costing you a large amount of money. The marketing costs alone are enough to eat away your business profits. On the other hand, if you opt for affiliate marketing options, you will end up spending half the amount of money that you would typically spend on hiring a professional marketing team or consulting firm. Further, with affiliate marketing you will guarantee have a converted customer and a sale, making this form of marketing far more budget-friendly and easy on your pocket.

Your Brand Will Become Popular Online

The world is going digital and most businesses have a digital presence. People from across the globe now do most of their shopping online. If your business has an already existent online presence, the best affiliate marketing programs will help it grow. Further, when your referral ad pops up on the web page of a third party, more and more online shoppers will get to know about your brand, which in turn will increase your sales. Online popularity of your brand will help your business become bigger and better and your profits will increase too.

Global Presence Of Your Business

Affiliate marketing is a form of online marketing. Online marketing will help you to expand your business into new and unknown territories. Your business will no longer remain the small local store that is visited only by repeat customers. People from across the globe will start showing interest in your products and start purchasing them from online shopping portals or from your web page. Increasing your business across the globe will prove to be monetarily beneficial for you. With affiliate marketing your business will make a global imprint without the additional store costs and overheads.

No More Expenses On Searching For Customers

A lot of businesses end up spending a large amount of money in their search for new customers. With affiliate marketing, you will no longer have to invest money in search for new customers. Through the referral headers that pop up on the third party web page, genuine customers will automatically start pouring in without you needing to spend tons of money on cold calls, advertising costs and other such expenses.

An Indirect Form Of Advertising

Affiliate marketing is an indirect form of advertising. When the referral header of your business pops up on a third party website, your brand automatically gets advertised online. Online advertising can rope in countless different customers from different parts of the globe. Instead of spending absurd sums of money on television, newspaper and radio advertisements that will only reach to a small and local customer base, through affiliate marketing your advertisement can reach to millions across the globe.

There you have it, the many ways in which affiliate marketing will help your business boom. The world is changing and most people are now resorting to online and digital shopping. When people see ads pop up on their screens, they are tempted to browse the products available from that specific brand. Affiliate marketing will help your business to grow to new heights. The best part about affiliate marketing is that it will give you massive customer conversions at a minimum cost. No more hiring expensive marketing consultants or teams of marketing experts. You can get the same job done at half the price and twice the productivity and see your sales increase. If you haven’t already gotten your business onto the affiliate marketing bandwagon, it’s about time that you did. You will not regret the decision of affiliate marketing and will see great profits in your business through it.

31 May 2018

artegic Explains Best of Breed and Single Vendor Solution, the Two Main Marketing Technologies

No more marketing without IT. Whether digital dialogue marketing, data analytics, programmatic advertising, or other (digital) marketing disciplines – the challenges of digital transformation in marketing cannot be mastered without suitable technologies. There are two main approaches to the use of marketing technologies: best of breed and single vendor solution. What distinguishes these two approaches is explained in this article.

Best of Breed – The Best Solution for Every Challenge

Digital marketing today consists of a variety of disciplines. The idea behind the Best of Breed approach is to flexibly select the most suitable technology for each discipline and to integrate the individual systems with one another. The resulting system landscape is also referred to as the marketing stack. On the other hand, there is the Single Vendor Solution approach.

Single Vendor Solution – One System for Everything

The Single Vendor Solution (also known as Full-Stack Solution) approach provides all essential functions in a single technology. Most Single Vendor Solutions are based on a modular system. If further functions are required, the appropriate modules (subject to a charge) can be activated. With this approach. The greatest effort is primarily required to adapt the very complex software to the existing company processes and system landscapes.

Advantages at a Glance

Both variants offer a variety of different advantages.

Best of Breed:

Flexible adaptability of functionality and system landscape to the individual requirements of the company and business model
No dependency on a single provider
Successive rollout and thus sometimes lower costs for the adaption of internal processes and structures, as new technologies adapt to existing system landscapes
In an ideal case, possibilities of influencing the further development of individual technologies or individualization
Competitive advantages through the best possible technology combination

Single Vendor:

Less training effort
Less coordination effort with different providers
Systems are presumably better integrated with each other and functionally interlocked
Various functions from a single source, which may lead to better interaction
Contractual relationship and negotiation with a provider

The brief overview of the main advantages shows that it is difficult to make a general assessment of which approach is the ‘better’ one. Of course, there are also mixed forms. Ultimately, it is an individual decision that takes factors such as business model, resources, goals, or existing system landscapes into account.

The current market trend is towards the Best of Breed approach. According to Chiefmartec study, 48 percent of companies prefer the Best of Breed approach, whereas only 21 percent favor the Single Vendor solutions. The remaining 31 percent either rely on individual single-function technologies, on in-house developments, or they do not use any marketing solution at all. The study Digital Data Insights by the Stuttgart Media University comes to a comparable result. Approval if the Best of Breed approach is about as twice as high as for the Single Vendor Solution approach. Some of the experts surveyed in the study justified in particular with the performance of specific tools and the lack in integration of Single Vendor Solutions in practice. Especially for larger companies that cannot adapt their processes/organisation to standard software, and for companies that want to stand out from their competitors and expand their unique selling points, individual software and thus the Best of Breed approach is ideal.

artegic AG – WE ENGINEER SUCCESS IN DIGITAL CRM

artegic AG supports companies in the construction of customer-centred, digital, best-in-class direct marketing. With 10 years of experience in marketing engineering, our service portfolio includes consulting, IT-integration and technology for realtime marketing automation and online CRM. artegic is the leading German specialist supplier of standard software for marketing automation via email and mobile. artegic is also operator of one of the largest software-as-service platforms for digital marketing in Europe.

With 65 employees at its German sites in Bonn and Munich, as well as international branches, artegic stands for sustainable and successful dialogue marketing with significantly better results and less operative expenses.

82% of German internet users are in contact with companies via artegic”s multi-award winning ELAINE technology. Our customers include RTL, PAYBACK, BMW, BURDA, Web.de, REWE, maxdome, as well as one in three DAX companies.

Every month, approximately 2.7 billion emails, SMS and social media messages are sent in 141 countries.

artegic is certified company-wide by TÜV Rheinland according to the international standard for IT and data security ISO/IEC 27001 and has received several awards for its innovative and trend-setting implementation of data protection requirements, including the eco Internet Award, the Cased Security Award and the International Business award (Stevie).

Contact:
artegic AG
Zanderstraße 7
53177 Bonn
Mr. Sebastian Pieper
Tel: +49-(0)-228-22-77-97-0
Fax: +49-(0)-228-22-77-97-900
pr@artegic.de

https://www.artegic.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/artegic_uk
GooglePlus: https://plus.google.com/111057448053888319461/posts

BONN, Germany, May 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ —

5 May 2018

South African Mohair Industry’s Response to Claims of Animal Abuse

The South African Mohair Industry is shocked by reports about animals being mistreated that came to light on Wednesday, 2 May 2018. We view these reports in a very serious light and are treating them with the greatest of urgency.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/687257/Mohair_South_Africa_Logo.jpg )

While we consider much of the report, and accompanying footage, to be factually incorrect and a misrepresentation of the South African Mohair Industry, some isolated issues have been raised and we have launched an investigation to address these issues directly and swiftly.

Over the past decade the industry has taken great care to ensure that sustainable production practices are introduced, accompanied by third party audits as of the beginning of this year. These third party audits will be expanded and done in cooperation with animal protection organisations.

Once we have concluded the investigation and identified the individuals who have transgressed the Sustainable Industry Guidelines, punitive measures will be implemented and they will face action in terms of the Animal Protection Act.

Angora goats are farmed for their fibre and not intentionally harmed in any way as they are the livelihood of every mohair farmer. The treatment of the animals ultimately determines the farmer”s income and sustainability.

As an industry we are passionate about our animals, our fibre and every single one of the 30,000 individuals who depend on the Mohair Industry for their livelihood. We want to ensure that we portray the passion and dedication of the South African producers and our remarkable industry – passion and dedication that is widely recognised by the international community.

In the interim all mohair produced on farms implicated during the investigation will be suspended and withdrawn from auction until they have been audited and found to be in-line with industry guidelines.

Deon Saayman
Managing Director – Mohair South Africa
Tel: +27-41-487-1386
http://www.mohair.co.za

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, May 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ —

9 April 2018

Deluxe Launches New Platform to Unify Global Content Creation and Distribution

LOS ANGELES, April 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc. (Deluxe) today announced the launch of Deluxe One, a platform that unifies every stage of the content ecosystem — from creation to viewer experience — in one cloud-based interface. An open platform, Deluxe One is designed to integrate with any vendor or customer system, allowing users to succeed in an age where the lines between creator and distributor are becoming increasingly blurred.

‘More and more, customers are working to shorten the time between camera lens and screen,’ said John Wallace, chief executive officer for Deluxe. ‘As the only industry provider that can deliver the full range of services from content creation through distribution, Deluxe is uniquely positioned to bridge this divide and power this new age of storytelling. Deluxe One offers a seamless way for companies of all sizes to access our services — from pre-production to playout — and reaffirms our commitment to persistent innovation.’

Deluxe One unifies a network of micro-services accessed through an intuitive interface that helps customers streamline their workflow, whether they are using Deluxe”s end-to-end solution or just a piece of it. Designed to reduce hand-offs between vendors and speed up turnaround times through automation, Deluxe One allows customers to get their content to audiences around the world quickly and reliably.

‘Deluxe One completely reimagines how content gets made and delivered,’ explained Andy Shenkler, chief product officer for Deluxe. ‘The modular architecture enables integration with vendor and customer APIs, unifying what was once a very fragmented ecosystem of services and offering it to customers through a single interface that gives them control and visibility throughout the entire media lifecycle.’

In contrast to traditional siloed solutions, Deluxe One acts as an open hub, allowing not only customers but other vendors to connect their business with Deluxe and benefit from the power and breadth of the platform while co-creating value. Vendor partners that are currently integrated in the platform include:

DLVR: Multi-CDN switching and optimization for peak streaming performance
Globant: OTT platform solutions for publishers and content creators
Hybrik: Highest-quality cloud-based transcoding at scale
Mediamorph: Rights information and management to automate operational content flows

Deluxe One draws on the expertise Deluxe has built as the trusted partner of the largest studios, programmers and distributors for over 100 years. With its best-in-class proprietary products, applications and services, Deluxe has created and delivered more premium content than anyone in the world, and Deluxe One makes it easier for customers to access this unparalleled expertise for their post-production and distribution needs.

To learn more about Deluxe One and how it can help create and deliver your content to global audiences more efficiently than ever before, visit one.bydeluxe.com.

About Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc.
Deluxe Entertainment Services Group (Deluxe) is the world”s leading video creation to distribution company offering global, end-to-end services and technology. Through unmatched scale, technology and capabilities, Deluxe enables the worldwide market for premium content. The world”s leading content creators, broadcasters, OTTs and distributors rely on Deluxe”s experience and expertise. With headquarters in Los Angeles and New York and operations in 38 key media markets worldwide, the company relies on the talents of more than 7,500 of the industry”s premier artists, experts, engineers and innovators.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/663989/Deluxe_One_Inventory_Title_Image.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/663988/Deluxe_One_BlackRed__1_Logo.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/95426/DELUXE_LOGO.jpg

Deluxe One brings together everything creators and distributors of all sizes need to reach more audiences

23 February 2018

Pascal Laik Joins FollowAnalytics as CEO

FollowAnalytics, the leader in Enterprise Mobile Success and GDPR compliance, announces the appointment of Pascal Laik as CEO and to the Board of Directors. He brings decades of experience and has a proven record of helping enterprise software players like FollowAnalytics to the next level both in sales and product executive positions on both sides of the Atlantic ocean. In his new role at FollowAnalytics, he will focus on operational excellence and sales scalability.

Pascal Laik”s experience includes a deep understanding of the CRM software market and the data management, data quality and data integration space as well enterprise wide digital transformation platforms in the IoT, Big Data and AI arena.

‘There is a significant opportunity for FollowAnalytics that lies ahead, and we couldn”t be happier with Pascal joining us and helping the company and its customers achieve continued success,’ said Samir Addamine, Follow Analytics founder.

‘I am very happy to join a company with great products, marquee customer references such as Allianz, Orange and Louis Vuitton, a unique partnership and synergy with Salesforce and a promising market at the intersection of mobile, marketing, AI and IoT. It is now ready to take on the future!’ said Pascal Laik, CEO of FollowAnalytics.

‘Pascal”s executive management experience combined with Samir”s skills as an industry pioneer and visionary, will provide the perfect blend of executive leadership for Follow Analytics future growth‘, said Denis Barrier, managing partner et co-fondateur at Cathay Innovation, one of the company”s historical investors.

Today”s announcement follows the $11 million funding round led by Orange Digital Ventures in December 2017, as well as a key win for FollowAnalytics with the signature of its first seven-figure yearly contract.

About Pascal Laik

Before joining Follow Analytics as CEO, Pascal was VP of Sales at C3 IoT, Managing Director South Europe at Winshuttle, VP Sales International at Informatica and Vice President of Master Data Management and Data Quality products at Oracle/Siebel where he spent 10 years in various products, service and sales leadership roles. Before, Pascal worked 8 years in Consulting at PwC and Andersen Consulting. Pascal has a Master of Science in Engineering from Ecole Nationale Superieure de Techniques Avancées (ENSTA) in Paris France and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the Wharton School from the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated with a major in Finance in May 2000 with distinction.

About FollowAnalytics

PARIS, February 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ —