Author Archives: Ron Miller

Blameless emerges from stealth with $20M investment to help companies transition to SRE

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Site Reliable Engineering (SRE) is an extension of DevOps designed for more complex environments. The problem is that this type of approach is difficult to implement and has usually only been in reach of large companies, requiring custom software. Blameless, a Bay Area startup, wants to put it reach of everyone. It emerged from stealth […] Continue reading Blameless emerges from stealth with $20M investment to help companies transition to SRE→

Salesforce finally embedding Quip into platform, starting with Sales and Service Cloud

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When Salesforce bought Quip in 2016 for $750 million, it was fair to wonder what it planned to do with it. While company founder Bret Taylor has moved up the ladder to Chief Product Officer, Quip remained a stand-alone product. Today that changed when the company announced it was embedding Quip directly into its sales […] Continue reading Salesforce finally embedding Quip into platform, starting with Sales and Service Cloud→

AI has become table stakes in sales, customer service and marketing software

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Artificial intelligence and machine learning has become essential if you are selling sales, customer service and marketing software, especially in large enterprises. The biggest vendors from Adobe to Salesforce to Microsoft to Oracle are jockeying for position to bring automation and intelligence to these areas. Just today, Oracle announced several new AI features in its […] Continue reading AI has become table stakes in sales, customer service and marketing software→

Salesforce update brings AI and Quip to customer service chat experience

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When Salesforce introduced Einstein, its artificial intelligence platform in 2016, it was laying the ground work for artificial intelligence underpinnings across the platform. Since then the company has introduced a variety of AI enhancements to the Salesforce product family. Today, customer service got some AI updates. The goal of any customer service interaction is to […] Continue reading Salesforce update brings AI and Quip to customer service chat experience→

Oracle adds more AI features to its suite of sales tools

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As the biggest sales and marketing technology firms mature, they are all turning to AI and machine learning to advance the field. This morning it was Oracle’s turn, announcing several AI-fueled features for its suite of sales tools. Rob Tarkoff, who had previous stints at EMC, Adobe and Lithium, and is now EVP of Oracle […] Continue reading Oracle adds more AI features to its suite of sales tools→

WorkClout brings SaaS to factory floor to increase operational efficiency

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Factory software tools are often out of reach of small manufacturers, forcing them to operate with inefficient manual systems. WorkClout, a member of the Y Combinator Winter 2019 class, wants to change that by offering a more affordable SaaS alternative to traditional manufacturing software solutions. Company co-founder and CEO Arjun Patel grew up helping out […] Continue reading WorkClout brings SaaS to factory floor to increase operational efficiency→

Slack hands over control of encryption keys to regulated customers

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Slack announced today that it is launching Enterprise Key Management (EKM) for Slack, a new tool that enables customers to control their encryption keys in the enterprise version of the communications app. The keys are managed in the AWS KMS key management tool. Geoff Belknap, chief security officer (CSO) at Slack, says that the new […] Continue reading Slack hands over control of encryption keys to regulated customers→

Determined AI nabs $11M Series A to democratize AI development

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Deep learning involves a highly iterative process where data scientists build models and test them on GPU-powered systems until they get something they can work with. It can be expensive and time-consuming, often taking weeks to fashion the right model. Determined AI, a new startup wants to change that by making the process faster, cheaper […] Continue reading Determined AI nabs $11M Series A to democratize AI development→

Okta to acquire workflow automation startup Azuqua for $52.5M

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During its earnings report yesterday afternoon, Okta announced it intends to acquire Azuqua, a Bellevue, Washington workflow automation startup for $52.5 million. In a blog post announcing the news, Okta co-founder and COO Frederic Kerrest saw the combining of the two companies as a way to move smoothly between applications in a complex workflow without […] Continue reading Okta to acquire workflow automation startup Azuqua for $52.5M→

Salesforce at 20 offers lessons for startup success

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Salesforce is celebrating its 20th anniversary today. The company that was once a tiny irritant going after giants in the 1990s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) market, such as Oracle and Siebel Systems, has grown into full-fledged SaaS powerhouse. With an annual run rate exceeding $14 billion, it is by far the most successful pure cloud […] Continue reading Salesforce at 20 offers lessons for startup success→