News
Salesforce expands sales cloud platform with faster prospecting
NEW DELHI: Salesforce, leader in CRM, today announced advancements to the Sales Cloud platform, delivering a faster, smarter and more integrated sales process from lead-to-cash.
Now, companies can complete the entire sales process, from marketing to sales to billing, right within Salesforce.
“Automation, integration and speed are essential to business success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Adam Blitzer, EVP & GM, Salesforce Sales Cloud.
“By extending our Sales Cloud platform with faster prospecting, flexible billing and intelligent marketing automation, we’re providing our customers with a comprehensive and unparalleled lead-to-cash platform,” he added.
Arming Inside Sales Teams with High Velocity Sales
Time lost on manual tasks like researching prospects leaves the average inside sales rep spending a mere 32 percent of their day selling1. High Velocity Sales arms insides sales reps with the insights and tools needed to identify the best leads, eliminate busy work and boost pipeline. Updates to High Velocity Sales now deliver new levels of automation and intelligence, making it easier than ever to prospect faster and manage leads more effectively. New innovations include:
Sales Cadences enable managers to create customized, pre-built activity sequences for their sales teams. With Sales Cadences, best practices can be built right into the CRM, guiding new and veteran inside sales reps through the prospecting process—including when to email a prospect, when to call and even what to say, with call scripts and email templates.
Work Queues create a prioritized email and call list right inside Sales Cloud.
Based on insights from Sales Cadences and Einstein Lead Scoring—which uses machine learning to automatically analyze which leads are most likely to convert into opportunities—Work Queues ensure that inside sales reps know exactly what next steps to take, in order to build the strongest pipeline.
Connecting Finance and Sales with Salesforce Billing
Billing processes are often the last and most difficult mile in completing the sales cycle, particularly as new recurring business models emerge. Powered by Lightning, new Salesforce Billing is the latest addition to Salesforce CPQ, enabling businesses to build deeper, recurring relationships with their customers. Now, it is easier than ever to automate renewals and adjustments, and streamline the revenue lifecycle without ever leaving Salesforce. Salesforce Billing includes:
Usage-Based Pricing allows companies to deliver more purchase flexibility to their customers. Companies are now able to deliver quotes, contracts and orders based on the consumption of goods and services. Because it is built on the Sales Cloud Platform, all usage information, renewals, order changes and more are automatically updated and applied to the customer account—removing the need to toggle between systems.
Evergreen Subscriptions automatically renew customer contracts. Now, customer opportunities, quotes, payments and revenue reports seamlessly update at set intervals—enabling companies to complete orders faster and generate accurate and timely revenue reports.
Flexible Invoicing enables companies to automatically bill customers when predetermined intervals and milestones are achieved. With Flexible Invoicing, now any company has the agility required to invoice based upon the delivery of goods and services. For example if a roofing company is re-roofing a commercial building, they are able to send invoices to the building owner monthly or quarterly, or as each stage of the project is completed.
Arming Marketers with Pardot, Now Powered by Einstein and Lightning
Collaboration between sales and marketing teams is notoriously difficult to accomplish, because their systems and processes tend to be disconnected. Pardot makes collaboration between marketing and sales seamless—enabling marketers to create more leads, increase pipeline and arm sales with personalized content at the right time. With Pardot now on Lightning and Einstein, sales and marketing teams are even more closely aligned on a single platform and able to work from the same data sets, campaign insights and customer engagement history. New features for Pardot include:
Einstein Campaign Insights enables marketers to drill down into what drives campaign engagement. Powered by machine learning, Einstein Campaign Insights uncovers which marketing campaigns are most successful based on content and subject line engagement. Now, marketers can use those insights to create even more tailored campaigns that resonate with prospects.
Einstein Behavior Scoring identifies prospects most likely to convert, based on their engagement behavior. Einstein is able to leverage engagement history within Pardot to determine which prospects are most likely to turn into a customer, based on how they interact with website and email campaigns.
Availability and Pricing
High Velocity Sales, including Sales Cadences and Work Queues will be generally available in February 2019.
Salesforce Billing, including Flexible Invoicing, is generally available today. Evergreen Subscriptions for Salesforce Billing is currently in beta and will be generally available in October 2018. Usage-Based Pricing for Salesforce Billing will be available in beta in October 2018 and generally available in February 2019.
Pardot in Lightning will be generally available in October 2018. Einstein Campaign Insights and Einstein Behavior Scoring for Pardot Einstein are currently in pilot and are expected to be generally available in February 2019.
NEW DELHI: Yotta Data Services, an end-to-end Digital Transformation service provider, has announced that its state-of-the-art data centre facility, “Yotta G1”, located in GIFT city, Gandhinagar is ready for service (RFS).
The opening of this data center marks the debut of Yotta in Gujarat and progresses the company’s mission to provide digital services in India’s high-growth markets.
G1 is Yotta’s fifth data center facility in the country. It joins four large operational data centers, two of which, at Navi Mumbai and Greater Noida are part of hyperscale campuses. Yotta G1 is uniquely located inside the International Financial Services Center (IFSC) zone of Gandhinagar’s Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT city).
G1 represents an investment of more than INR 500 cr. over five years across critical non-IT and IT / Cloud / AI compute infrastructure. The data center has a capacity of over 350 high-density racks and 2 MW power (which can be scaled further as per demand). The facility is designed to meet the most demanding digital needs of its customers, who may be located within GIFT City or anywhere in the world, by seamlessly delivering fault-tolerant facility infrastructure, high-performance Cloud compute and storage infrastructure, advanced physical and cyber security, unmatched connectivity, and steadfast sustainability.
For large global enterprises operating in the GIFT City IFSC zone, the G1 data center functions as a potential data embassy, whereby their data stored is subject to the laws and regulations of their home country, thus allowing them to maintain sovereignty over their data, even when stored in India. By storing data in a physically different location, global enterprises can ensure continuity of operations in case of major disruptions within their borders. The data center’s location also ensures compliance with the IFSC regulations, providing businesses in the zone with distinct advantages like free foreign exchange convertibility, a liberalised regulatory environment, and business-friendly policies. It also helps enterprises adhere to IFSC’s compliance requirements, including being mandated to host their data within the IFSC zone.
Commenting on the announcement, Darshan Hiranandani, Co-founder and Chairman, Yotta Data Services, said, “The state of Gujarat, with GIFT City, has been at the forefront of providing a viable and sustainable platform for global businesses to set up base in India. The setting up of the IFSC zone is a further testament to their vision for financial services companies. We are proud to support this vision of the Gujarat government with a state-of-the-art data center within the IFSC zone, providing the latest and best in cutting-edge technologies to help businesses set up and scale their businesses while also adhering to all regulatory requirements.”
Adding to this, Sunil Gupta, Co-Founder, MD & CEO, Yotta Data Services, said, “Yotta’s G1 marks a pivotal milestone in delivering high-end data center, Cloud, AI compute, storage, connectivity and cybersecurity services to enterprises both on a global and local scale in the Gujarat region. Besides serving the domestic enterprises within and outside GIFT City, our data center shall serve as a potential data embassy for global enterprises, enabling them to adhere to their respective country’s laws while offering a dependable and secure locale for offshore data storage.”
G1 data centre stands distinct in GIFT city for being a data center offering more than just colocation services. True to Yotta’s stature as the end-to-end digital transformation partner of choice for enterprises, G1 brings forth a suite of key features, ranging from advanced data security and customised business solutions to an indigenous hyperscale cloud offering, AI-GPU compute offering, state-of-the-art infrastructure, cybersecurity expertise, seamless integration with managed IT services, 24/7 customer support, cost optimisation, and an overall competitive edge.
This announcement follows on the heels of Yotta’s recent launch of its cloud services – Shakti Cloud and Yntraa Cloud. Powered by NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line GPUs, Shakti Cloud is India’s largest & fastest AI-HPC supercomputer, delivering cutting-edge GPU computing infrastructure, platforms, and services, including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Yntraa Cloud, on the other hand, is a truly indigenous hyperscale cloud platform at par with global cloud platforms, offering an exhaustive range of cloud products and services.
NEW DELHI: Domestic contract manufacturer Optiemus Infracom has entered into a joint venture with US-based speciality glassmaker Corning International to set up India’s first manufacturing facility for producing high-quality finished cover glass parts for the mobile consumer electronics industry.
The collaboration between both the companies will help expand India’s electronics manufacturing ecosystem, as the Indian government strengthens its Make in India initiative. As a part of the joint venture, the companies strategically aim to set up a world-class manufacturing facility in India, powered by cutting-edge technologies and processes.
Driven by a shared commitment to innovation and technological excellence, this collaboration will pave the way for the manufacturing of “Made in India” finished cover glass parts for use in mobile consumer electronic devices, and other cover glass applications, to meet the needs of next-generation mobile consumer electronic devices.
The joint venture signifies a powerful synergy between Optiemus’s deep domestic industry and manufacturing knowledge of electronics and telecom market and Corning’s globally-acclaimed expertise in advanced glass technology. By combining these strengths, the joint venture aspires to not only establish cover glass manufacturing capabilities and capacity in India, but also to contribute significantly to the creation of jobs and skill development within India’s thriving technology sector, the companies said in a statement.
Ashok Kumar Gupta, Chairman, Optiemus Infracom, said, “It is a matter of great pride for us to actively contribute to the growing manufacturing ecosystem in the country. With this joint venture, initiated in line with the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India of ‘Make in India’ programme and the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiative, we are committed to make available world-class high-quality products for global and local brands.”
“Embarking on this new journey, we intend to emerge as one of the top manufacturers of finished cover glass parts for use in mobile consumer electronic devices in the next five years. Our collective expertise in innovation, design, and manufacturing, will provide holistic solutions for the brands,” Gupta added.
NEW DELHI: Chipset maker MediaTek, which claims to power more than two billion connected devices every year, hosted ‘Catch-up with Tech’ in collaboration with handset brand Infinix on August 28 to share insightful and engaging conversations about the new-age smartphones and innovative technologies powering everyday lives.
The meet-up threw the spotlight on the MediaTek Dimensity Auto, Satellite solutions and Generative AI along with an extensive showcase of newly-launched Infinix Zero 30 5G powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8020, Infinix GT 10 Pro powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8050, and Infinix QLED TV powered by MediaTek.
In terms of specs, the Infinix Zero 30 5G is tailored for young storytellers and creators, featuring the first-ever smartphone to deliver 4K 60fps video recording from its 108 MP OIS rear camera and ultra-high resolution 50MP front camera. The Zero 30 series powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8020 is said to be a game changer for the front camera vlogging experience along with being the slimmest curved AMOLED smartphone in the segment with glass and a vegan leather back panel. It also claims to be one of the most premium-looking devices in the segment.
The event witnessed a panel discussion moderated by Anuj Sidharth, Deputy Director Marketing & Corporate Communications, MediaTek and included expert panelists from Infinix, MediaTek and two renowned professional photographers.
“With the fifth edition of Catch-up with Tech, we aim to bring consumers closer to the technology and enable them to make informed buying decisions based on their diverse needs. In collaboration with Infinix, this meet-up is in-line with MediaTek’s vision of technology democratization and making innovative technology accessible to everyone,” said Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India. “The MediaTek Dimensity 8020 in Infinix Zero 30 5G brings faster displays, brilliant cameras and ultra-fast performance. Further, MediaTek Imagiq technologies enrich the capture experience by combining dedicated AI, imaging processors and accelerators to provide incredible results,” he added.
Anish Kapoor, CEO, Infinix Mobile India, said, “Featuring India’s first 50MP 4K 60 fps video recording, Infinix Zero 30 5G is primed to redefine smartphone imaging capabilities, setting a new standard for the creators and vlogging enthusiasts. Our collaboration with MediaTek has played a pivotal role in shaping our exceptional smartphone portfolio, and the Zero 30 5G stands as evidence of our unwavering commitment to innovation and delivering unmatched experiences to our users. The display and design of the device represent a leap forward in smartphone technology. As Infinix Zero 30 5G hits the shelves, we are positive that our customers will find this new offering as exhilarating as we do, further empowering creators to capture their story like never before.”
Radhakrishnan Chakyat, a photography evangelist, founder and host of Pixel Viilage, said, “Infinix Zero 30 5G smartphone powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8020 chipset has amazing hardware features, an excellent camera, dual-view video mode and is primed for optimal content creation and saves a tremendous amount of editing time.”
Aarzoo Khurana, a wildlife photographer, said, “Over the last few days, I clicked various pictures and recorded a few videos with the newly-launched Infinix Zero 30 5G powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8020, and the experience has been truly inspiring. Infinix’s smartphone’s OIS feature helps content creators click shake-free pictures and the front camera, which is extremely sharp and detailed, enables content creators to click countless selfies.”
