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Aurora Strategy Group Announces Largest Expansion In Its History

Aurora Strategy Group

Marcel Wieder, President and Chief Advocate for Aurora Strategy Group announced the firm’s largest expansion by adding six new consultants in Australia, Canada, and the United States. This follows the recent addition of consultants in Israel and the United Arab Emirates. “Aurora continues to grow and develop new markets for our services,” said Wieder. “As economies begin to reopen, we are positioning our firm to assist clients in helping get their message delivered to government, media and stakeholders.” In addition to its current offering of services, Aurora will now be able to offer clients polling and creative media services inhouse. “These new services provide one stop services to clients,” according to Wieder. “With a growing footprint in Australia, North America, and the Middle East, Aurora can assist clients with consultants on the ground. Plus, as members of the International Public Relations Network, we have access to firms in over 40 countries.” Joining Aurora are Dr. Raphaella Crosby from Armidale, Australia; Hasneet Punia from Brampton, Ontario; Tom Sigurdson from New Westminster, British Columbia; Tony Fazio from San Francisco, California; Bud Jackson from Alexandria, Virginia; Cherri Senders from Los Angeles, California and Nancy Todd from Sarasota, Florida. “This is an exciting time for Aurora Strategy Group as we continue to build out our team,” Wieder said. “The new members of the Aurora team will add additional depth to our existing team. We are thrilled that they have joined us in our journey to open up new markets and working with great clients.” Dr Raphaella Kathryn Crosby is based in Armidale, Australia, and is a pollster and political communication strategist with over 20 years’ experience in election campaigning and Not-For-Profit strategic communication. Best known for her work running the Australian Democrats in 2008-9 and as the Founder and board director for Migraine Australia since 2019, she is passionate about working for social good organizations and driving change agendas. Earlier in her career, Crosby worked for the Federal Government and several leading universities in strategic communication and marketing before joining Essential Media, consulting on research-led campaigns and managing the account of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Her belief in research-led campaigning fueled her drive to complete a PhD in voter behaviour and research methods, then transitioning to work primarily as a pollster. Dr. Crosby now runs the KORE Poll, a regular federal politics poll in Australia that continues her PhD challenge of finding a better model to predict election outcomes and chases the pollster’s unicorn of trying to capture momentum. Dr. Crosby brings together extensive experience from her public service, corporate, political, and not for profit background to be able to provide clients with holistic advice and a deep understanding of how to change hearts and minds in any context. In addition to research and campaigning, she has experience in lobbying and communication in the health, higher education, media, employment, and agriculture sectors. Hasneet Singh Punia is based in Brampton, Ontario, and is an astute leader with over a decade of extensive senior management experience serving as Chief of Staff to both a provincial Minister and Mayor of a large urban Canadian municipality. He has also served as public policy consultant and government relations and stakeholder relations manager in the private sector. Punia has extensive knowledge of how government works at both the provincial and municipal levels. He has developed and maintains strong and effective relationships with government officials (elected and non-elected) and key public affairs influencers. He has developed and executed coordinated public affairs strategies, issues management plans, and built coalitions of like-minded supporters. He has been focusing on disruption technology like ride sharing and micro mobility and how to help local governments adapt to innovation. Punia has served as a campaign manager in several municipal and provincial campaigns and advised candidates in federal election campaigns. Punia is active in the community volunteering at the local food bank, serving as a soccer coach and helping to fundraise for his local hospital. He has an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. Tom Sigurdson is based in New Westminster, British Columbia, and has worked with building trades unions for over 20 years. He has twice served (1997 – 2003 & 2011 – 2020) as the Executive Director for the BC Building Trades Council. He worked for Canada’s Building Trades Unions in Ottawa as the Director of Political and Legislative Affairs. In addition to working with the national and provincial organizations, he has worked with local unions affiliated with the Teamsters and Heat and Frost Insulators. Sigurdson was a two term NDP Member of the Alberta Legislative Assembly (1986 – 1993) serving on several Legislative Committees as well as Official Opposition Critic for Labour, Education, Employment & Immigration and Career Development & Employment. He has been a volunteer board member for Habitat for Humanity (Lower BC Mainland), the Immigrant and Employment Council of BC, the Construction Sector Council and SkillPlan. He was appointed to serve as a board member for the BC Industry Training Authority as well as a Governor of the BC Institute of Technology. Sigurdson has worked with Indigenous leaders on workforce development programs and continues to engage in workshops as a non-indigenous co-presenter on historical colonization and current reconciliation actions. Sigurdson has managed numerous political campaigns at the national, provincial, and municipal levels in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. Tony Fazio is based in San Francisco, California, and has over 50 years of experience working as a community organizer, political consultant, and non-profit advisor to hundreds of campaigns in a variety of communication industries. Mr. Fazio can create and advise winning battles for Political Candidates, Initiative Referendum Campaigns, Labor Organizations, Public Relations Agencies and Public Affairs Companies across America. Mr. Fazio has worked in 45 different states since he started his career. Fazio’s political consulting firm, Winning Directions, that he founded has been in existence since 1981 and has been recognized for its creativity and winning track record, receiving over 100 Pollie Awards the political industry’s highest honor on behalf of its clients. Fazio was the past President of the American Association of Political Consultants, Campaigns and Elections magazine recognized him as an expert and rising star in the political business and American University hosts the Anthony J Fazio Political Direct Mail Archive, which houses more than 10,000 of his individual pieces of direct mail. Tony is also on the executive board of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. Cherri Senders is based in Los Angeles, California, and brings more than 25 years of experience in journalism and communications to her role as publisher, communications director, and consultant to dozens of labor unions and non-profits. With an extensive background in messaging to both union members as well as the public, Cherri honed her skills writing about social issues for local and national publications ranging from Omni, Working Woman and California Magazine to the LA Times and the LA Weekly. Her interest is in helping the public understand the issues complex confronting working families today. Whether tackling day-to-day issues or long-term campaigns, Cherri uses her experience in print, web, and social media, and develops and implements strategic plans that deliver measurable results on time and within budget. Her company’s award-winning publications, web sites and campaigns have helped in numerous outreach efforts, from on-going member education to contract ratifications to local, and state elections. Cherri has a BA from the University of Maryland, where she majored in English Literature. Bud Jackson is based in Alexandria, Virginia, and is an internationally recognized strategic communication and political consultant who has scripted, produced, and executed millions of dollars in highly successful and award-winning television and digital paid communication campaigns on behalf of political candidates, advocacy organizations, unions, and private sector clients. He also serves clients in public relations and crisis communication. Jackson is an early pioneer of utilizing mass communication as a catalyst to build grassroots support and activism. He produced the first-ever television ad to draft a candidate for United States President (Draft Wesley Clark for President) and soon thereafter became the first media consultant to shoot, edit and upload daily videos on behalf of a United States presidential campaign. In 2006, Draft Obama for President retained him to encourage Barack Obama to run for President of the United States. His ad “Believe Again” was the first television ad the 2008 presidential election and aired in early presidential primary states and Hawaii while the Obamas were vacationing on the island. Jackson is a president emeritus of the American Association of Political Consultants Mid-Atlantic chapter. National Journal’s Hotline profiled him, and Campaigns and Elections Magazine featured him as a “Mover and Shaker” in American politics. He appears frequently on television and radio programs and is often quoted in print and online media as an experienced political and communication strategist. He occasionally lectures on current political events, campaign strategy and strategic communication and is a contributing author to Louisiana State University’s Guide to Political Communication. ​A Massachusetts native now in Washington, DC, he is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication and has an Executive MBA degree from Quantics School of Business and Technology in Washington, DC. Nancy Todd is based in Sarasota, Florida and is a political consultant and president of Nancy Todd, Inc., an international strategic consulting firm. Todd cut her political teeth in Louisiana where she attended LSU law school and volunteered in political campaigns. She started with the legendary Matt Reese in 1979. Since then, Todd has been a consultant to over 196 campaigns in 42 states and six countries, with a winning record of 98 percent. She has worked with candidates and projects both nationally and internationally and has received several national awards for creativity in political advertising. Todd has served as Chairman and Past President of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Political Consultants and now Past President and Chairman of the American Association of Political Consultants. In 2009 Todd was inducted into the prestigious Hall of Fame of the AAPC, the first such woman to be so honored. She is a frequent speaker both nationally and internationally for governments, heads of state, key leaders in emerging democracies and major universities including Harvard, the John F. Kennedy School of Government, George Washington University, Georgetown University and Vanderbilt University. Her articles and commentary have appeared nationally in newspapers and professional publications. Aurora Strategy Group is an award-winning public affairs, government and public relations firm headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Australia, Canada, Israel, United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Contact Details Marcel Wieder +1 877-274-4685 info@aurorastrategy.com Company Website https://www.aurorastrategy.com

February 03, 2022 07:19 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Volatus Aerospace to Acquire MVT Geo-Solutions Inc., a Quebec-based Geomatics Service Company

Volatus Aerospace Corp.

Volatus Aerospace Corp. (TSXV: VOL) (“Volatus”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MVT Geo-Solutions Inc. (“MVT”), a Quebec, Canada-based leader in geomatics innovations. MVT’s team of geomatics scientists, engineers, and other professionals combine the technologies and knowledge necessary for the acquisition and processing of various types of data used to study Earth, its phenomena and its resources. Services include data collection, processing, and analysis to a variety of industries including civil engineering, transport, hydrography, natural resource management, forestry, and public safety. MVT had unaudited revenues of C$1.4M in 2021 including geomatics services, equipment sales and training with a net profit margin of 12%. Key Highlights of the Transaction: Expands Volatus footprint in Quebec, one of the largest markets in Canada Increased expertise in geomatics Scalable relationships with some of Canada’s largest companies Established agreements with key equipment manufacturers can be scaled across the Volatus network “Volatus has long seen MVT as the leader in geomatics and drone services in the Quebec market. Adding their capabilities and regional market presence is an important step for Volatus and consistent with our mission to lead consolidation in the markets we serve,” stated Glen Lynch, CEO of Volatus. “Under the continued leadership of its CEO Maude Pelletier, our objective is for MVT to propagate its expertise across Volatus and leverage our scale to expand existing customer relationships from regional to national and international.” “Since its beginning in 2016, MVT has built strong relationships by delivering innovative geomatics services throughout Quebec and Eastern Canada,” said Maude Pelletier. “Joining Volatus provides the resources, scale and market presence to help accelerate MVT’s growth and contribute to the overall capabilities of Volatus.” The total consideration payable in connection with the acquisition of 100% of MVT shares is $1,200,000 CAD, which will consist of: (i) $850,000 CAD paid in cash; and (ii) the balance in common shares of Volatus having a value of $350,000 CAD, calculated based on the last closing price of the Volatus common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange prior to the closing of the acquisition. The acquisition is expected to accelerate growth through MVT’s leverage of the Volatus sales and marketing resources, North American pilot network, and Volatus’ strengths in agriculture, façade inspections, and cargo solutions. Volatus intends to leverage MVT’s geomatics capabilities, and technical strengths, particularly with respect to LiDAR, throughout its existing operations. This transaction is subject to a number of customary conditions including TSX Venture Exchange approval and due diligence. The scheduled closing date is February 28 th. About Volatus Aerospace: Volatus Aerospace Corp. is a leading provider of integrated drone solutions throughout Canada, the United States, and Latin America. Operating a vast pilot network, Volatus serves commercial and defense markets with imaging and inspection, security and surveillance, equipment sales and support, training, and design, manufacturing, and R&D. Through its subsidiary Volatus Aviation, Volatus carries on the business of aircraft management, charter sales, and cargo services using piloted, remotely piloted, and autonomous aircraft. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains statements that constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Corporation with respect to future business activities and operating performance. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, or “believes” or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements formed in the future tense or indicating that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” (or other variations of the foregoing) be taken, occur, be achieved, or come to pass. Forward-looking information includes information regarding (i) the expectation that the acquisition described will close; (ii) the anticipated benefits to Volatus and its stakeholders from the acquisition; (iii) the effects of the acquisition on the business of Volatus and MVT and (iv) the business plans and expectations of the Corporation. Forward-looking information is based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data and operating plans, strategies or beliefs as of the date of this news release, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Corporation to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. For instance, conditions to the closing of the proposed acquisition may not be satisfied and closing may not occur within the anticipated time frame, if at all and anticipated benefits to the acquisition may not materialize. Readers are referred to the risk factors associated with Volatus’ business described in Volatus’ management information circular dated November 14, 2021, and filed on www.SEDAR.com on November 16, 2021. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Source: Volatus Aerospace Corp. TSXV: VOL Contact Details Volatus Aerospace Corp. Rob Walker, Chief Operating Officer +1 514-447-7986 rob.walker@volatusaerospace.com Company Website https://volatusaerospace.com

February 01, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Customer Experience Equally Important as Price for Today’s Modern Consumer

imimobile

Good customer service is a key driver of repeat business, according to 75% of respondents 61% are willing to pay more for a better experience and 55% would change brands to receive better customer service Different generations have varying levels of comfort for different service needs, such as 19% of both Gen Z and young millennials would use social media to ask questions about a product/service compared to 4% of Baby Boomers, and 71% of Gen Z respondents would use a digital channel to manage orders, reservations and appointments compared to only 32% of Baby Boomers 47% of respondents say they believe good customer service is more important now than it was 12 months ago, pointing to integrated paths of communication in the physical and digital worlds being critical.To learn more about the findings, download the full report here. Customer experience (CX) has become as pivotal as price when it comes to purchasing decisions, demonstrating its importance to business success and a conversation that must break into the boardroom, according to research published today by global cloud communications software and solutions provider, imi mobile, part of Webex. The findings indicated a growing challenge for brands to balance and deliver three customer experience elements across all customer touchpoints – resolution, customer rapport and relevance, which imi mobile has designated the “CX Trilemma” and points to CX as a major business imperative. The inaugural “ 2022 CX Trilemma Report,” surveyed 2,000-plus U.S. and U.K consumers about qualities for good customer experience and presents findings that uncover shifting consumer preferences. Specifically, the report reveals preferences for how and when respondents want to engage and communicate with their favorite brands and businesses. Some key highlights: “Customers expect brands to meet them through their preferred channel, at their desired time with the information they require, and businesses who aren’t scaling to deliver against this increasing customer expectation will fade away,” said Jay Patel, VP & GM, Webex CPaaS. “The good news is that world-class CX can now be delivered by cloud-based technology. There are easy-to-use, multi-channel cloud communication platforms that enable businesses to orchestrate and automate their customer interactions on one, central platform, enabling the ability to resolve issues quickly, build rapport with customers and drive relevant experiences. Improving customer experience is the key business priority for 2022 that can directly impact the bottom line.” The CX Trilemma Report reveals that organizations truly committed to solving the CX challenge must support multiple channels and navigate new technology and innovation to not only meet but exceed customer expectations, especially for the Gen Z and millennials who are increasingly using more digital channels. For organizations serving multiple demographics or offering a diverse set of services, one channel simply can’t give every customer a satisfying journey. Resolution: Resolving customer problems, queries, and complaints, while being proactive with updates on products and services remain a cornerstone of a great customer experience. Respondents identified simplicity (79%), consistency (78%), speed (76%) and convenience (73%) as fundamental to resolution. Furthermore, 75% of respondents said quick resolutions influence repeat transactions. Rapport: Those surveyed called out brands for displaying a lack of empathy, transparency, and honesty as well as an inability to understand frustrations as reasons for a poor customer experience and dissuades them from using a brand or business altogether. Of this, 64% cited repeating information to different teams and having to proactively chase agents as leading factors for poor customer experience, which can also lead to negative word-of-mouth, reviews, and a tarnished reputation. Relevance: In a post-pandemic era, relevance is becoming an increasingly important part of the customer experience mix – communicating with customers on the channels they want to use, meeting them where they are and at the most convenient time (67%) while also delivering relevant, personalized communications are key for successful customer engagement (60%). What’s more, the findings unveil that every generation, industry, and region have varying preferences in regard to channels, when to be contacted and personalization of communications. “Finding the right communications mix for your customers requires a deep, nuanced understanding of them and your processes, and they are very different to those of just two years ago. To reach them in the right way, businesses need communications that work best for everyone, and this requires technical capabilities and expertise to orchestrate end-to-end customer journeys across multiple channels.” stated Patel. While you can support multiple communications channels manually, technologies such as Enterprise CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) make it easier to manage multiple channels, comply with regulations, and deliver a consistent, connected customer experience. About imimobile imimobile, part of Webex, provides cloud communications software and services that manage business-critical customer interactions at scale. We believe that customer experience is the key competitive advantage for consumer businesses. So, we’re creating a world where enterprises can stay constantly connected to their customers. A world where every touchpoint, on every channel, is an opportunity to deliver rich, engaging, intuitive experiences. Our API and low-code Communications Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) offering enables large enterprises to automate, orchestrate and monitor their customer interactions all on one platform. This helps businesses to lower costs, reduce complexity and accelerate IT roadmaps. Our innovative platform and applications are being used at scale today by blue-chip global enterprises and leading public-sector organizations to deliver smarter customer interactions, such as AA, Best Buy, BT, Capitec Bank, Centrica, EE, IHG, Mercedes, Orange, O2, Vodafone and Walgreens. The business was acquired by Cisco Systems in February 2021 and has global offices across the UK, USA, Canada, India, and South Africa. www.imimobile.com. Contact Details Kite Hill PR Michael Kocher +1 704-960-2295 michael@kitehillpr.com

February 01, 2022 12:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Minuteman Press Franchise in Winter Park, FL Celebrates 25 Years and Shares Secrets to Longevity and Growth

Minuteman Press International Inc

In 1996, Linda Sang decided to leave the corporate world and join the Minuteman Press franchise family, and she is now celebrating 25 years in business. Linda’s daughter Darcy has been along for the ride, saying in a recent newsletter, “It was a world that none of us knew anything about, but would quickly learn as every available hand was recruited to answer phones, hand collate and staple jobs and market the business for our intrepid leader. And we have been doing it ever since.” Being in business for over 25 years, Linda shares her biggest keys to longevity and growth. She says, “We keep pushing to get new customers in various methods. The pandemic initially cut down on the door-to-door marketing that has always been successful in the past for us. We currently do more social media, thanks to my daughter, Darcy, and some direct mail campaigns targeting local businesses and new businesses.” Linda continues, “We are also very attentive to our customers, keeping them informed and helping them find solutions/options for their needs. We respond to emails almost instantly and turn quotes around as quickly as possible, generally the same day if there isn’t a lot of research involved. When we make deliveries, each customer gets a ‘goody bag’ with notepads and other branded items. Many customers get excited about our deliveries, sometimes even more so for our giveaways rather than their finished jobs.” Over the past two years, Linda and her team have utilized various digital and print marketing tools available to them. She says, “We have gotten more into social media than in the past and have worked on getting high Google ratings, as customers do look at reviews. We do find that we are getting a lot of requests from Google and the Minuteman Press Internet Marketing program. We also test out the suggested methods from Minuteman Press corporate (such as the lumpy mailer and direct mail campaigns) and see what works best for us and our customer base. Otherwise, we are simply doing what we have always done through the years… provide solid customer relations.” What’s next for Minuteman Press in Winter Park? Linda says, “We hope to grow this year by reaching out to new prospective customers and generate more referrals.” Lastly, Linda reflects on the family business and says, “In our case, Darcy and I work together well and have the same goals and work ethic. My husband, Kelly, is semi-retired and helps out when we need him. When you have this situation, you don’t have to worry about someone showing up to work or leaving for other opportunities. There is always loyalty. We also find it key to treat our employees as if they are family as well. Not only does it create a pleasant working environment, but loyalty builds as well. We work lean and mean, which makes for some long days, but when you trust your employees and family, it is truly a joy.” For more information on Minuteman Press in Winter Park, FL, visit https://minuteman.com/us/locations/fl/winter-park. For Minuteman Press products and services, visit https://minuteman.com. Learn more about #1 rated Minuteman Press franchise opportunities and read Minuteman Press franchise reviews at https://minutemanpressfranchise.com. Contact Details Minuteman Press International Chris Biscuiti +1 631-249-1370 cbiscuiti@mpihq.com Company Website https://minutemanpressfranchise.com

January 31, 2022 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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National Contract Management Association and Public Spend Forum to Collaborate

National Contract Management Association

The National Contract Management Association (NCMA) has entered a partnership with the Public Spend Forum (PSF) to support small business and new entrants to government contracting. “The Public Spend Forum team has been a powerful supporter of the Federal mission with data, coaching, and training,” said Kraig Conrad, NCMA CEO. "The timing of this partnership is perfect given Executive Orders and strong drives to expand traditional and non-traditional entrants." PSF, a provider of comprehensive AI-enabled market data, will share information on entrants so NCMA can provide learning and networking for those new to government contracting. The NCMA community of local chapters will use this information to welcome new entrants and help them on their journey in support of the Federal mission. PSF will further support this effort by making available their leading content aimed at reducing barriers of entry. “PSF’s mission is to arm public sector buyers and emerging/diverse suppliers with AI-enabled Market Intelligence, collaboration tools, and expert-driven market advice so they can discover each other and work together to deliver impact on critical public missions," said Raj Sharma, PSF CEO and Co-Founder. “I’m personally excited to partner with NCMA to connect and support buyers and suppliers. The National Contract Management Association (NCMA), which was founded in 1959 and is the world’s leading association in the field of contract management. The organization, which has over 18,000 members, is dedicated to the professional growth and educational advancement of procurement and acquisition personnel worldwide. NCMA strives to serve and inform the profession and industry it represents and to offer opportunities for the open exchange of ideas in neutral forums. To find out more, please visit www.ncmahq.org. Contact Details Jennifer Knowlton +1 571-382-1127 jennifer.knowlton@ncmahq.org Company Website https://www.ncmahq.org/

January 31, 2022 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Personalization and Customization Are an Increasing Part of Customer Experience Strategies in Data-Rich Industries, According to Dash Research

Dash Network

Given the wide range of options for the digital and physical ordering, fulfillment, and after-service care available to both consumers and businesses, a one-size-fits-all approach to customer experience (CX) is not only outdated, but a recipe for driving customers away. According to a new report from Dash Research, that is why providing a personalized and optimized CX remains a widespread goal of both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) companies seeking to create deeper, more customer centric interactions that are the hallmark of driving customer loyalty and a higher amount of repeat business. Providing such a personalized and optimized experience requires a multifaceted approach, which involves understanding each customer’s specific preferences and desires, assessing their typical customer journey from initial contact through post-sales interactions, and ensuring that the organization has unfettered access to the data and software tools to create and nurture these one-to-one experiences. Dash Research’s analysis concludes that the systems and processes required to support this level of tailored experience will drive revenue growth in the global market for CX personalization and optimization software and services from $7.0 billion in 2020 to $11.6 billion by 2026, representing a 65% increase in market size during that forecast period. According to principal analyst Keith Kirkpatrick, “many companies are faced with challenges delivering on their personalization and optimization efforts, often due to the presence of data silos, which prevent applications and agents from easily accessing the information that can limit their ability to identify the preferences, triggers, and processes that are most preferred by customers. Further, an overuse of personalization can negatively impact the CX if customers are questioning how certain personal information was captured, and whether its use feels overly intrusive or even creepy.” Kirkpatrick adds that the growing use of personalization and optimization to improve CX is driven by several internal and external factors, including: A shift to digital sales and marketing efforts has increased the amount of data available for use in personalization Customers increasingly expect personalized and optimized experiences across all channels Personalized offers are driving revenue growth Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) allow more efficient optimization and personalization More organizations are shifting from a traditional sales model to a customer-centric loop approach But despite the demand for increasingly personalized and optimized CX, Dash Research finds that organizations often run into challenges that impact their ability to provide more individual and friction-free experiences, including: Balancing personalization and optimization against feelings of intrusion Data quality issues Data governance, privacy, and security concerns Challenges with shifting sales and marketing approaches from a sales loop to a customer engagement (CE) model Dash Research’s report, “CX Personalization and Optimization”, focuses on the market drivers and barriers to the adoption and use of platforms, applications, and services that enable greater personalization and optimization across all facets of CX. The report also details several B2C and B2B case studies and includes best practices for deploying personalization and optimization within an organization. Market forecasts covering the 2019 to 2026 period for software and services that provide personalization and optimization functionality are provided, covering 20 industries and 5 geographic regions. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website. Dash Research, the market intelligence arm of Dash Network, provides in-depth research and insights on the worldwide CX market including a comprehensive assessment of technology solutions, business issues, market drivers, and end-user dynamics across industry sectors. Dash Research’s global market coverage combines qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to provide a complete view of emerging business opportunities surrounding contact center technologies, customer data & analytics, customer data platforms, customer insights & feedback, customer relationship management, personalization & optimization, and employee experience. For more information, visit www.dashresearch.com or call +1.720.603.1700. Contact Details Dash Research Clint Wheelock +1 720-603-1700 press@dashnetwork.com Company Website http://www.dashnetwork.com

January 31, 2022 07:10 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Treliant, LLC Launches Staffing Subsidiary to Meet Surging Demand in Mortgage Industry

Treliant

Treliant, LLC has created a new subsidiary— Treliant Mortgage Services, LLC (TMS) —to provide staff augmentation for clients facing unprecedented business activity in mortgage origination, servicing, loss mitigation, and other areas. “TMS builds on Treliant’s industry-leading track record in providing trusted, strategic advice and specialized business solutions in financial services,” said Senior Managing Director Grace Brasington. “Lenders have been hard-pressed to manage staffing requirements in recent times, as demand surged for mortgage origination resources. A lesson learned by savvy originators is that the flexibility to scale staff up and down as needed is key, no matter what direction interest rates are headed.” An upswell of mergers, acquisitions, and regulatory activity is also challenging originators and servicers. “A flexible staffing model makes sense in all areas of mortgage operations,” said Treliant Senior Director Deborah Grissom, “and TMS manages a pipeline of exceptional professionals with deep mortgage industry experience who can step in to competently fill clients’ gaps.” TMS was established to provide frontline mortgage underwriters, processors, and closers to banks and independent mortgage companies in a staff augmentation capacity. Staff augmentation throughout the mortgage life cycle will be an important focus going forward, including pre- and post-close quality control, compliance, file review in anticipation of regulatory exams, default servicing, and servicing portfolio retention. TMS actively recruits and manages professionals with recent experience in the following roles: residential processor, frontline underwriter, and closer; commercial real estate (CRE) underwriter; commercial and industrial (C&I) loan underwriter; post-close quality control specialist; commercial and residential flood specialist; and loss mitigation specialist. The firm’s Safe Act licensing footprint now covers nearly half of U.S. states and is continually expanding. Treliant is a multi-industry consulting firm that serves organizations around the globe. Our firm serves financial institutions, consumer-oriented businesses, other corporations, and law firms. As a firm of leading professionals from industry and government, we assist our clients in navigating regulatory requirements and on best practices, while meeting strategic and operational objectives. We partner with clients as trusted advisors and via managed services including through secondments, interim resources, and other outsourcing strategies. Our advisory and assurance services and specialized, high-quality business solutions strengthen our clients’ corporate and regulatory compliance programs, risk management, and business performance. We also provide comprehensive support for corporate and regulatory investigations, litigation, and as government agency monitors and independent consultants. We serve companies from Main Street to Wall Street and across the globe. Contact Details Melissa Pazornik +1 202-249-7932 mpazornik@treliant.com Company Website https://www.treliant.com

January 27, 2022 01:40 PM Eastern Standard Time

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BitX Funding Triumphs With Record 2021 Results

BitX Funding

Fairfield, CT., January 24, 2022— BitX Funding, one of the most prominent alternative lenders in Southern Connecticut, announced a banner year for growth in 2021. Overall, revenue went up 10%, new users increased by 70%, impressions went up 300%, and business applications came in at a rate of 1,275% more than the previous year. Out of all the loans that BitX sold, Startup loans had the highest increase. “Our economy saw solid growth in small business lending and the startup loan category lead the way due to the great resignation”, said Todd Rowe, president of BitX Funding. “We continue to grow BitX revenue with support from internal sales, record marketing results, CT Innovations mentor support, and our raving fans. Our 2022 goals are to continue to build out our lending platform, grow our lender base, obtain our own lending facility, and drive client growth. Our goals are to increase revenue by 160%, have a 133% increase in units sold, and a loan amount increase of 200% in 2022.” Rowe continues to promote his company as a marketplace for small business loans, especially with young entrepreneurs. With one click, you can get a response to your loan request within 24 hours. That makes BitX Funding a partner you can trust in 2022. BitX Funding is an omnichannel marketplace for alternative small business loans and business insurance. BitX connects their clients with the right loan and lender from SBA 7a, start-up loans, short-term loans, mid-term loans to merchant cash advances and business lines of credit. BitX is where lenders compete for your business. Our top-rated lenders focus on real-life business data and cash flow, which means you can qualify for small business loans even if your credit score isn’t perfect. We care about small business and it’s our mission to secure the right funding when you need alternative small business loans within our small business loan marketplace. Contact Details BitX Funding Todd Rowe +1 203-763-1430 info@bitxfunding.com Company Website https://www.bitxfunding.com

January 27, 2022 01:05 PM Eastern Standard Time

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ClickHouse infrastructure provider ChistaDATA raises US$3m as it builds Open Source function

ChistaDATA

ChistaDATA, which aims to build the fastest and the most scalable managed ClickHouse implementations in the world, has raised USD 3 million in a pre-Series A round of funding from Sequoia Capital India. The startup plans to use the funds raised to develop a fully-open source ClickHouse server among other orchestration tools that address automation and DevOps for enterprise-grade ColumnStore solutions. It will also focus on developing ChistaDATA Cloud - a completely autonomous and self-healing cloud-native ClickHouse offering that can be provisioned and paid for by data volume and without requiring customers to think about servers and DevOps. The funds raised will also be used to strengthen the team with research, engineering, marketing, and brand hires. Data powers the modern economy and every enterprise today is making data-driven decisions, based on sophisticated business intelligence to create value for stakeholders across the ecosystem. This has led to a huge demand for cloud data warehouses (CDW) that are typically closed-source and have a high total cost of ownership (TCO). Adding to this, the ever-growing analytics bills predicated on usage-based pricing, complete vendor lock-in (given the sheer volume of critical business data stored and analyzed on these platforms), and compromised platform configurability, which is entirely dependent on the vendor’s product strategy, have emerged as pain points. Notably, the data analytics market is expected to create a value chain of USD 300 billion in the consumer facing internet economy by 2025. The current ecosystem is dominated by the cloud giants and/or closed source solutions, and customers are clamoring for an open-source solution (that preserves their optionality and freedom) that is autonomous and self-managed. Enter ChistaDATA, which is committed to building free and open source enterprise-class ClickHouse for both on-premise and cloud. The startup was founded in 2021 by serial entrepreneur Shiv Iyer who is one of the world’s foremost database experts with over 22 years of experience in open source database systems (both transaction processing systems and ColumnStores) with core expertise in performance, scalability and database reliability engineering. Shiv has worked with some of the largest internet companies like Twitter, Pinterest, Garmin, PayPal, managing approximately 100 PB (consolidated database infrastrastructure size) of data. His passion for database systems performance engineering has driven him to build an open source database systems company for planet-scale internet businesses. ChistaDATA is building the world’s first fully-autonomous ClickHouse server on cloud for data analytics ecosystem with automatic provisioning, scaling, tuning, security, fault tolerance and failover, backup, patching, and more. Interestingly, the ChistaDATA team has forked the original ClickHouse codebase developed by Yandex, a Russian search giant, and re-written it to a great extent, creating their own version called ‘ChistaDATA server for ClickHouse,’ which delivers higher and better performance benchmarks at a lower cost of operation. This implementation, which is entirely compatible with the classic ClickHouse, is ~4X faster through implementation of high performance LSM stores. The 100% open source ClickHouse distribution from ChistaDATA is owned by ChistaDATA Foundation (a not-for-profit committed to building enterprise-class open source ClickHouse and other orchestration tools) and thus, ChistaDATA’s customers will always have access to the open source ChistaDATA ClickHouse server, retaining customers on the back of superior service and ROI, and not on vendor lock-in. "Building a fully open source deep-tech ColumnStore business around ClickHouse for both on-premises and cloud platforms involves long-term commitment to community contributors and other stakeholders of the ecosystem like customers, partners, etc. This also means the core team of ChistaDATA and investors should understand the culture of this business, value creation and impact our platforms make in data-powered economies. When I decided to start ChistaDATA Corporation, my first phone call was to Anandamoy from Sequoia Capital India, he quickly helped us structure the formation of the company. The firm is also a hands-on investor committed to supporting on both, strategic and tactical needs." Shiv Iyer, Founder and Principal of ChistaDATA Inc. “When Shiv told us of his intention to create a managed service around ClickHouse, it represented the confluence of a massive technology trend with a special founder. We’re excited to work with Shiv to build what we believe is a compelling 100% OSS company to emerge from our part of the world.” Anandamoy Roychowdhary, Principal, Sequoia India Some of the world’s largest companies like Orange Telecommunications, Applied Materials, DHL, Netflix, National Geographic, BBC etc. depend on ChistaDATA ClickHouse Support and Managed Services for building optimal, scalable and highly reliable Database Infrastructure Operations for web-scale analytics platforms. As businesses start to scale more dramatically than in the past, managed services are an increasingly popular option for them. managed services provide very strong up-time SLA’s (service level agreements). These are fulfilled by the MSP’s performance and troubleshooting team. ChistaData aims to build the best and most reliable Clickhouse in the cloud with the highest up-time guarantees in 2022 so that its customers will have automatic, adaptive, and relevant diagnostic data collection for any application and automated problem detection, troubleshooting and improvement recommendations. About ChistaDATA ChistaDATA is a full-stack ClickHouse infrastructure operations consulting, support and managed Services provider with core expertise in performance, scalability and data SRE. Headquartered in the US, California, the team is also based in Canada, UK, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Australia, Singapore and India to deliver 24/7 enterprise-class consultative support and managed services. ChistaDATA users include the largest and planetscale internet properties like PayPal, Garmin, Honda cars IoT project, Viacom, National Geographic, Nike, Morgan Stanley, American Express Travel, VISA, Netflix, PRADA, Blue Dart, Carlsberg, Sony, Unilever among others. About Sequoia Capital India Sequoia helps daring founders build legendary companies, from idea to IPO and beyond. Sequoia India operates in Southeast Asia and India where we actively partner with founders from a wide range of companies, across categories, including BYJUs, Carousell, Druva, Gojek, OYO Rooms, Tokopedia, Truecaller, Zilingo, Zomato and more. We spur founders to push the boundaries of what's possible. In partnering with Sequoia, startups benefit from 48 years of tribal knowledge and lessons learned working with companies like Airbnb, Alibaba, Apple, Dropbox, Google, LinkedIn and Stripe early on. From the beginning, non-profits have been the backbone of our LP base, which means founders' accomplishments make a meaningful difference. The majority of our profits are returned to great causes, like the Ford Foundation, Mayo Clinic and MIT. For more information on Sequoia's work in India and SE Asia, visit sequoiacap.com/india Contact Details ChistaDATA Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://chistadata.com/

January 27, 2022 09:15 AM Eastern Standard Time

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