Alterian Announces Extended Partnership with youDb in Brazil
Brazilian companies enabled to shift from mass customer database marketing to individual customer engagement

London – 22 April 2010, Alterian is pleased to announce today an extended strategic partnership with leading Brazilian Service Provider, youDb, which is designed to help Brazilian businesses achieve a competitive edge in a socially networked and customer-driven market. This partnership will bring Alterian’s marketing technology to Brazilian businesses, enabling them to move to multichannel individual customer engagement. The comprehensive offering includes Dynamic Messenger (email marketing), Content Manager (web content management) and SM2 (social media monitoring).

A leading company in the CPG sector in Brazil has already taken advantage of this extended offering with plans to take their customer service to the next level and extend their brand even further into new markets and demographics.

Alterian’s recent survey of over 1,000 marketers revealed that 51 percent of respondents are placing a ‘fair’ or ‘significant’ amount of effort on moving from a campaign-centric direct marketing model towards multichannel customer engagement – in fact only seven percent are making no effort at all. In the same survey, almost 60 percent of respondents revealed that ‘engaging individuals on the website’ was one of their top areas for investment for 2010, demonstrating that organizations understand the opportunity to engage with visitors at a time when they are proactively seeking information – interacting with them rather than interrupting them.

“We are thrilled to extend our partnership with youDb to offer our comprehensive technologies in the Brazilian market,” said Michael Fisher, senior vice president of Marketing and Sales – The Americas. “Alterian offers marketers unique visibility and flexibility to target their marketing efforts to better understand their customers, optimize the impact of personalized communications and achieve bottom line business objectives.”

Leonardo Barci, president of youDb comments, “The internet and social networks are playing an increasingly important role for brands, and the partnership of Alterian’s technology with youDb’s deep expertise in CRM and database makes us the top player in the Brazilian market.
?
“This partnership uniquely equips Brazilian businesses with innovative technology capabilities whose integration is customizable in order to best address the customer engagement challenges faced by all industries.”

This offering will support youDB’s current client base that spans across consumer product goods, automobile and healthcare industries. In addition, youDb will offer all technology products made available by Alterian to the Brazilian marketplace. For more information, please visit www.alterian.com and www.youdb.com.br.

# Ends #

About Alterian
Alterian (LSE: ALN) empowers organizations to create relevant, effective and engaging experiences with their audience that help build value and reinforce commitment to their brand, through the use of the Alterian Integrated Marketing Platform. Alterian drives the transformation of marketing and communications, making it practical and cost-effective for companies to orchestrate multichannel engagement with the individual.
Alterian’s unprecedented integration of analytics, content and execution through industry leading tools, such as the Dynamic Messenger email platform, SM2 Social Media Monitoring platform and the award winning Content Management solutions, enables companies to build integrated communication strategies which create a true picture of the individual.
Alterian works with marketing services partners, system integrators and agencies who recognize the need to plan and deliver coordinated customer engagement services in partnership with their clients. For more information about Alterian, products within the Alterian Integrated Marketing Platform or Alterian’s Partner Network, visit www.alterian.com or the Alterian blog at www.engagingtimes.com.

About youDb
youDb specializes in helping companies to measurably optimize their investments in marketing, using strategies and solutions from CRM and databases. It is part of the Group of Fábrica de Comunicação Dirigida, one of the most representative companies in direct marketing and relationship in Brazil.

For more information, contact:

Stefanie Schumann
Alterian
847.722.4144
Stefanie.Schumannn@alterian.com

Karen Gibbons
Alterian
+44 (0)117 970 3200
karen.gibbons@alterian.com
– Alterian 22-04-2010

New Juniper report finds that Smartphone apps and mobile internet are propelling the use of mobile payments

Hampshire, UK, 21st April 2010: A new study by Juniper Research has forecast that nearly half of all mobile phone users worldwide will pay by mobile for digital and physical goods by 2014, representing growth of nearly a billion users compared to 2010.

The new Mobile Payments for Digital and Physical Goods report found that segments such as ticketing and payments for physical goods are being spurred by the phenomenal take-up of apps coupled with the availability of multi-lingual versions of platforms such as eBay. Mobile payments are now becoming integrated into a wider mobile web shopping experience that includes browsing, coupons and advertising.

Report author Howard Wilcox explained: “Since our last report a recent trend we’re seeing is the launch of mobile storefronts and malls, as well as new Smartphone apps and mobile payments services from companies such as eBay, Amazon and Digby. Based on the take-up figures we’ve seen, users appreciate the convenience.”

However, the Juniper report also warns that the user experience needs to be enjoyable, easy and consistent: lack of user support and help could threaten the spread of mobile payments.

Further key research from the mobile payments report shows:
• In-app billing will play a key role in developing on-going revenue streams for payments operators;
• Growth will not be restricted to the developed regions: in excess of 500 million users in the Indian Sub Continent for example will be making a mobile payment in 2014.

The report uses an innovative new quadrant approach to compare the positioning of mobile payments vendors. The forecasts provide detailed five year regional data for mobile payments for digital & physical goods, showing key parameters including subscriber take-up, transaction sizes and volumes. The report also reveals the strategies that are being used to enable users to pay by mobile through case studies from companies such as 1-800Flowers.com and Skane Traffic.

Mobile Payments Whitepaper and further details of the study ‘Mobile Payments for Digital & Physical Goods: Players, Markets & Opportunities, 2010-2014’ can be freely downloaded from http://www.juniperresearch.com/. Alternatively please contact john.levett@juniperresearch.com, +44(0)1256 830002.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.
– John Levett 21-04-2010

Alterian and SocialEyez announce partnership to launch the world’s first
Social Media Monitoring service for the Arab market
Alterian SM2 to track Arab language social media across 31 Middle Eastern countries

London – 20 April 2010 – Today, Alterian announced its partnership with SocialEyez, the world’s first social media monitoring service designed for the Arab market. SocialEyez has adapted Alterian SM2 technology to cover more Arabic, English and French content from the Middle East as well as address Arabic-specific language complexities. SocialEyez, in conjunction with Alterian, have been working over the past year, to develop and launch an Arabic language interface for Alterian SM2 to make it the world’s first Arab language social media monitoring tool.

SocialEyez is a division of Media Watch Middle East, the leading media monitoring service in the Middle East, offering services in television, radio, social media, online news and internet monitoring across most sectors including commercial, government and PR. SocialEyez clients benefit from comprehensive Arabic and non-Arabic social media monitoring and also indepth qualitative and quantitative analysis of social media content. All of these services enable their clients to proactively manage their brand and truly engage their customers, thereby maximising their social media monitoring investment. Fadl Al Tarzi, Managing Partner, SocialEyez said of the deal, “We are delighted to be working with such a well known name as Alterian to build and launch the world’s first Arab language Social Media Monitoring tool. Media Watch has over 1000 corporate and government clients, including leading Blue Chips – many of which are excited to start getting accurate coverage of online conversations about their brands. The competitive landscape of social media monitoring forced us to review a number of solutions before selecting Alterian SM2. We are extremely confident that by working with Alterian to help develop an Arabic version of the SM2 technology, we can help our clients to get the same service that they expect in more established western markets.”

Ben Jackson, Sales Director UK & Emerging Markets at Alterian said of the partnership “We see this as a great opportunity to drive our SM2 technology and social media monitoring into one of the world’s fastest growing markets. SocialEyez has extensive knowledge of the Arab world as well as its government and business landscape which makes it perfectly placed to take advantage of the rapidly growing volume of Arabic content on the internet. Internet connectivity and the use of Social Media is expanding dramatically in the Middle East and, in most cases, the growth far outstrips that of more mature western markets. This is a great opportunity for Alterian SM2 to take the success it has had in the west and help marketers in the Middle East.”

In its first phase the partnership utilised SocialEyez’s knowledge of the Middle Eastern market to identify influential bloggers and online thought leaders and to help integrate Arab language content into SM2. Jackson continues “One of the reasons for this partnership is the mastery of the Arabic language. The challenging process of incorporating support of Arab text into SM2 is complete, and we will shortly be featuring an Arabic sentiment analysis tool along with its Arabic interface. Thanks to the partnership with SocialEyez we can now incorporate the same features into the Arab language version of SM2 that has made it the market leading social media monitoring technology for enterprises in western cultures.”

The complexity of the Arabic language is exacerbated by the possible permutations of spelling, for example, McDonalds can be spelled in more than ten different ways in Arabic, and Mohamed can be spelled in more than 25 different ways in English. In addition, the ‘new’ way of writing Arabic now includes numbers to depict Arabic letters that don’t have equivalents in the English language – for example Mohamed can also be written as ‘Mo7amad’. Alterian has worked carefully in partnership with SocialEyez to adapt SM2 technology to automatically generate all the different spelling variations which ensure comprehensive coverage. SocialEyez are the only company offering this level of insight into the Arabic social media market.

It is the reputation and functionality of the Alterian AM2 technology that has driven SocialEyez to choose this platform. Fadl Al Tarzi continues “Our clients are major, global companies and want to see trends in social media as well as be able to analyze the captured data both quantitatively and qualitatively. With SocialEyez they can now track what people are saying about their products not just on the likes of Twitter and Facebook, but on the thousands of lesser known Arabic/regional blogs, chat rooms and message boards which can allow our clients to better target their marketing and PR campaigns in the region.

With Alterian SM2 we are helping our clients to develop more targeted marketing outreach. We are also helping them to engage with online influencers in the Arab world in the same way they would anywhere else around the globe.”

# # # Ends # # #

About Alterian

Alterian (LSE: ALN) empowers organizations to create relevant, effective and engaging experiences with their audience that help build value and reinforce commitment to their brand, through the use of the Alterian Integrated Marketing Platform. Alterian drives the transformation of marketing and communications, making it practical and cost-effective for companies to orchestrate multichannel engagement with the individual.

Alterian’s unprecedented integration of analytics, content and execution through industry leading tools, such as the Dynamic Messenger email platform, SM2 Social Media Monitoring platform and the award winning Content Management solutions, enables companies to build integrated communication strategies which create a true picture of the individual.

Alterian works with marketing services partners, system integrators and agencies who recognize the need to plan and deliver coordinated customer engagement services in partnership with their clients. For more information about Alterian, products within the Alterian Integrated Marketing Platform or Alterian’s Partner Network, visit www.alterian.com or the Alterian blog at www.engagingtimes.com.

About SocialEyez

SocialEyez, a division of Media Watch, is the world’s first Arabic language social media monitoring service. SocialEyez offers a comprehensive, dedicated Arabic content monitoring and analysis service based in the heart of the Arabic region in the UAE. For more information please visit www.socialeyez.ae

For more information, contact:

Beth Handoll
Bite Communications
+44 (0)20 8741 1123
alterianuk@bitecommunications.com

Karen Gibbons
Alterian
+44 (0)117 970 3200
karen.gibbons@alterian.com
– Karen Gibbons 20-04-2010

London, England, 16 April 2010 – PEAK Consulting EU, a global business intelligence firm, today announced a partnership with Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA), the world’s leading independent developer of data integration software. The agreement enables PEAK to offer clients a full suite of Informatica’s data integration solutions and services, including access to comprehensive developer’s resources and technical support, product certification programs, and advanced training.

“The agreement with Informatica underscores our commitment to being the trusted advisor that clients need when embarking on complex data integration initiatives,” said Wael O. Elrifai, Managing Director, PEAK Consulting EU. “Informatica’s reputation for quality and its portfolio of best-of-breed products will allow us to bring even more value to our customers.”

PEAK Consulting EU provides comprehensive information technology services, including enterprise data integration; data warehouse design; data migration; adaptive business intelligence; application development and maintenance; and scalable Software-as-a-Service solutions. Acting as advisors, educators, systems integrators and implementation specialists, PEAK consultants can engage clients at any point in a project to help meet deadlines, lower IT costs, reach ROI targets and leverage data to gain a competitive advantage.

PEAK is committed to helping clients build stronger relationships with their customers, suppliers and partners, while reducing business and information technology costs.

About Informatica

Informatica Corporation provides data integration software and services that help organizations access, integrate, and trust their information assets. Informatica has a proven track record of success helping the world’s leading companies leverage their information assets to grow revenues, improve profitability, and increase customer loyalty.

About PEAK Consulting EU

PEAK Consulting EU is an international business services firm that specializes in improving productivity and competitiveness via leading edge, innovative technology and process solutions. PEAK provides guidance and training on business intelligence, artificial intelligence, expert systems, decision support systems, systems analysis and feasibility studies, project planning, ROI and tool selection, ETL development and architecture, and data quality, integration and warehousing. Founded in 2006, PEAK works with Global 2000 and enterprise customers throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East and North America. The company serves clients from offices in the United Kingdom, the Americas and an offshore location in India. For more information, visit www.peakconsulting.eu.

—

CONTACT:
Tal Russ
tal.russ@peakconsulting.eu
0207 849 3422
– Tal Russ 19-04-2010

Billy Connolly once famously worried how a guy who drives a snowplough gets to work in the morning. But in a deal announced today with TomTom, he might just be able to help out himself. One of Britain’s most popular comedians, the Big Yin is the newest voice of satellite navigation. He joins the growing line-up of voices available for use on devices made by TomTom, the world’s leading navigation solutions provider. 

Over 40 million TomTom users can now download Billy’s voice as their trusted navigator, with indispensable advice such as: “Turn around when possible. It is advisable to turn your entire car around. Do not just turn around inside the car”.

The Big One reassures you he’s no impersonator. “This really is Billy Connolly. It’s not the creepy guy you get on cheap birthday cards. It’s my real voice. No swearing, no dirty bits, I’ll keep you safe”.

Billy Connolly said today: “You’ll take the high road and I’ll take the low road, and I’ll be in Scotland afore ye with my wee canny sat nav”.

But he’ll have a go if you don’t follow his navigation instructions. “Make a U turn. None of this would have been necessary had you been listening a minute ago”. Or, more sardonically: “U turn ahead. I’ll be here when you get back”.

TomTom sat nav devices guide drivers with audible, turn-by-turn instructions and 3D maps, saving time and money through technical innovations such as IQ Routes.  This is based on the world’s largest collection of historical speed profiles – 1.8 trillion speed measurements – across 15 million kilometres of European roads.

TomTom’s Live Services include HD Traffic for real-time traffic information across borders in seven European countries, updated every three minutes – as well as five day weather forecasts anywhere in Europe.

Billy Connolly can be downloaded from today for £8.99. Visit http://www.tomtom.com/billyconnolly to hear samples of the voice. Other available voices include John Cleese, Snoop Dogg, KITT, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Kim Cattrall, Eddie Izzard, Sven Goran Eriksson – and even Homer Simpson.

-ENDS-

Billy Connolly’s sat nav instructions also include:

“After 300 yards you have reached your destination. You may thank me and remember that without me none of this would have been possible and you would have been hopelessly lost”

“Toll charge. I’m only doing my job. Don’t shoot the messenger.”

16 April, 2010

For further editorial information, high res image or broadcast quality voice files please contact Julien Speed or Grace Opong at Starfish Communications LLP on 020 7031 8146/8149 or by email: speed@starfishcommunications.com or opong@starfishcommunications.com
– Julien Speed 16-04-2010