Tag: Pakistan

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Zoom Launches Zoom Phone Appliances, Empowering the Hybrid Workforce

Zoom Phone Appliances Provide an All-In-One Desk Phone Solution for Calls and Meetings, with Hardware Solutions from Poly and Yealink

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) today announced the launch of Zoom Phone Appliances, a new category of hardware optimized for the hybrid workforce, from home offices to shared huddle spaces, addressing use cases across industries. Zoom Phone Appliances combine Zoom technology with hardware from Poly and Yealink to provide video and audio capabilities and touch display, in an all-in-one desk phone solution for HD video meetings, phone calls, and interactive whiteboarding.

“Zoom continues to demonstrate fast pace of innovation and ability to scale globally with its robust cloud phone offering, Zoom Phone,” said Elka Popova, VP of Connected Work Research at Frost & Sullivan. “Zoom Phone has always been a disruptive alternative to legacy phone solutions and the new appliance program further enhances its value proposition by enabling businesses to video-enable workspaces with purpose-built appliances that are easy to procure, deploy, and manage.”

“The traditional workplace is evolving and adapting, and our goal is to empower the workforce to accomplish more by blurring the lines between voice and video,” said Graeme Geddes, Head of Zoom Phone and Zoom Rooms at Zoom. “The new Zoom Phone Appliance program boasts a selection of purpose-built Zoom Phone hardware from Poly and Yealink, streamlining communications, removing friction, and enabling a powerful communications experience.”

Zoom Phone Appliances simplify licensing, installation, use, and management, benefitting both the end users and IT departments. Additional highlights of Zoom Phone Appliances include:

  • A full-featured desk phone with powerful Zoom capabilities. Zoom Phone Appliances are always on, and always ready for instant communication and collaboration. Easily start ad-hoc or scheduled meetings, make and receive phone calls, check voicemail, and virtually collaborate with content sharing and annotation
  • Centralized management through Zoom Admin Portal: Simplified, scalable, centralized management with remote provisioning and updates
  • No additional licensing required: Login to a Zoom Phone Appliance with your Zoom account and create an instant office experience
  • Personalized for the user: Syncs with the user calendar, status, meeting settings, and phone for an integrated video-first unified communications experience
  • Simplified onboarding with Zero-touch provisioning: Minimizes need for IT support with a simplified set-up and user experience
  • Touch display with interactive whiteboarding: Collaborate with colleagues with interactive whiteboarding that can easily be exported and shared
  • Zoom Certified: Zoom Phone Appliances are introducing a new certified hardware category, ensuring these devices are purpose-built for an optimal Zoom Phone and meetings experience. More devices will be added to this category over time

The inaugural class of Zoom Phone Appliances features innovative solutions from two Zoom hardware partners — Poly and Yealink — with others to follow.

Poly CCX 600 Desk Phone and CCX 700 Desk Phone with integrated video camera

“We are excited to be among the first to integrate a native Zoom experience into our Poly CCX family, as Zoom Phone Appliances,” said John Lamarque, Vice President and General Manager, Voice Collaboration, Poly. “This brings the Zoom platform that we all know and love front and center on the device’s touch display, providing a powerful and immersive experience.”

Yealink VP59 Smart Video Phone

“We are delighted to unveil the new, reliable, and cutting-edge VP59 video phone, a Zoom Phone Appliance,” said Alvin Liao, Vice President of Product, at Yealink. “The VP59 video phone’s touch display will be powered by Zoom’s industry-leading video communications platform, providing customers with a user-friendly interface and intuitive experience.”

Zoom Phone Appliances are available through the Zoom Hardware-as-a-Service program as well as from authorized Poly and Yealink resellers. To learn more about Zoom Phone Appliances, visit the Zoom Phone Appliances website and read our blog.

About Zoom
Zoom is for you. We help you express ideas, connect to others, and build toward a future limited only by your imagination. Our frictionless communications platform is the only one that started with video as its foundation, and we have set the standard for innovation ever since. That is why we are an intuitive, scalable, and secure choice for individuals, small businesses, and large enterprises alike. Founded in 2011, Zoom is publicly traded (NASDAQ:ZM) and headquartered in San Jose, California. Visit zoom.com and follow @zoom.

Zoom Public Relations
Farshad Hashmatulla
Product PR Manager
press@zoom.us

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Aafaq Islamic Finance forges transformational partnership with The Social Loan Company to drive financial inclusion

Alliance to set up AI-powered financial wellness platform in the MENA region

Dubai, UAE; June 9, 2021:, June 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Social Loan Company (TSLC), a Singapore-based AI/ML-powered cutting-edge big data-driven credit enablement platform company, has forged a transformational partnership with Aafaq Islamic Finance to set up a trend-setting non-bank, mobile-first loan platform to deliver financial access to the underserved young digital natives in the MENA region. At a press conference at The Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre, the two parties announced plans to launch the industry-leading platform across chosen markets in the region to deliver appropriate, affordable, accessible, and differentiated financial solutions to drive the inclusion of credit-thin, new-to-credit, and credit-invisible everyday consumers.

Rashed Mahboob Al Qubaisi, CEO of Aafaq Islamic Finance said: “We are pleased that Aafaq was selected by TSLC as a strategic partner in the MENA region. This partnership allows Aafaq to connect more deeply with its customers by providing differentiated Sharia-compliant financial transactions in an environment that is end-to-end digital, safe and secure.”

Al Qubaisi pointed out that “what distinguishes this new partnership between Aafaq and TSLC is the new possibility of extending our client base to include the young and underserved digital natives in this region.”

“TSLC is looking to usher in a new era of Artificial Intelligence-based financial services in the MENA region. There is no doubt that our current and future customers will reap rich rewards from the formidable combination of our legacy infrastructure with their proven expertise and track record of success in financial technology,” added Al Qubaisi.

Deepak Saluja, Co-Founder, Group CEO & Board Member, TSLC said: “At TSLC we are laser-focused on bringing in strong in-house R&D and building a unique technology-based, big data-driven, mobile-only digital-first alternative global financial services organisation. To launch in the Middle East, we needed a super-progressive institution with an impeccable track record, connected with us on a common mission to bring the underserved, everyday consumers into mainstream banking. Our partnership with Aafaq is a testimony to our global advocation of a JV-driven win-win model of co-operation between incumbents and challengers. Our hyper-inclusive proprietary platform, nuanced for this region, is designed to serve the moderate income, near-prime consumers. This transformational partnership is expected to bring about a paradigm shift in the fundamentals of credit assessment and delivery, anchored on the joint objective of building a more inclusive financial system.”

He added: “Together with Aafaq, we will redefine the financial landscape, transform the world of online lending in the Middle East and fundamentally change the way everyday people approach their relationship with money and banking in this region. We are proud to have partnered with Aafaq as our Social-Loan Partner, as we recognise a shared commitment to building a mission-driven enterprise that can help transform traditional financial services for the average-income underserved consumers in this region. Our ground-breaking ML-powered alternate data-driven credit-scoring engine will enable faster and better credit decisions, lower the barriers of borrowing and deliver access to honest, affordable and transparent credit.

TSLC recently set up Digital Collective Technologies Ltd., its wholly-owned subsidiary in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) for its centralized world-class tech and product leadership teams to operate from its regional headquarters at One Central, Dubai, UAE.

TSLC is currently fully functional in India as an end-to-end tech enabled, integrated, fully-automated diversified millennial consumer finance company under the brand name, CASHe – India’s leading consumer lending platform supported with proprietary AI-driven underwriting, and straddling the entire value chain of digital lending from in-app loans to embedded finance and BNPL. TSLC is on an ambitious global expansion drive, looking at key markets in West, South and Southeast Asia, as well as Latin America and Sub Saharan Africa.

Saluja added, “UAE’s regulatory framework is designed to foster innovation within this region. Given that MENA region has amongst the highest smartphone penetration and Fintech adoption rates in the world, going end-to-end digital has moved from being a side-show to the front and centre as a ‘must-have’ and a key strategic imperative to help achieve the digital transformation in the most holistic way possible. We are here for the long haul, committed to building a top-notch centralised tech innovation and R&D centre in this region and leading from the front of the battlelines to contribute significantly to the fintech landscape and help achieve breakthrough growth in the digital transformation of this region.

TSLC and Aafaq will enable Personal Loans, Pay Later and Virtual Credit Lines all in one digital wallet. Bundled-in, splitable and consumable within minutes of origination designed for middle-income borrowers who need help with essential day-to-day purchase decisions, paying down and consolidating high interest debt, or to meet unexpected expenses. The partnership will be committed to democratising access to banking tools to secure affordable credit, borrow and spend responsibly, build wealth and save smartly, all within a hyper-inclusive platform.

Saluja added, “We are proud to have partnered with Aafaq as our Social Loan Partner as we recognise a shared commitment to building a mission-driven, futuristic, open-banking-ready platform that can help transform traditional financial services and improve economic freedom for the clear whitespace of average-income, underserved consumers in this region. The TSLC competitive advantage resides in our scalable and portable tech infrastructure, culture, talent, track record of sustained execution and operational insights. We are on a mission to democratise banking and credit, and make it more inclusive leveraging digital and AI. Traditional brick and mortar banks have left large segments of population underserved. We aim to rewrite the relationship with money and banking for the digital natives as longer-term partners on their journey to financial independence.”

TSLC is rethinking the fundamentals of banking, leveraging newer alternative sources of data to better predict credit risk and repayment behaviours, thus aiming to open up and offer almost the full banking experience to mainstream consumers. In India it reinvented underwriting for millennials seeking access to affordable credit via appropriately packaged in-app solutions. Over the past 4 years since inception, its flagship embedded lending brand, CASHe, has had a phenomenal upward trajectory.

Saluja concluded, “By taking many of the same operating principles and DNA and applying it to a much broader set of financial products and targeted demographics across large underpenetrated markets, we can now have an even bigger positive effect on customers to help change and improve their lives.”

About Aafaq Islamic Finance

Aafaq Islamic Finance PJSC was established in 2006 and provides a wide range of high-quality Sharia-compliant banking products and services to corporate and retail clients. It stands out to be one of the most independent financing companies in the UAE. Moreover, the company’s strategy focuses on exploring opportunities within different business sectors to achieve the highest levels of happiness for all stakeholders including shareholders, customers, employees, strategic partners and the community.

Aafaq depends on the strength of its strategic partnership with leading institutions in the UAE, such as the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization, Dubai Economy, Emaratech, Trakhees, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and many Tas-heel, Amer and Business centers and others. Aafaq provides the customers of these entities with services like E-dirham, Labour Guarantees, Wages Protection System, payment services for Dubai Economy and topping up of Noqodi wallets. In addition, aafaq offers a wide range of financing solutions and smart payment tools for companies and individuals.

About The Social Loan Company (TSLC)

TSLC is a Singapore-based Artificial Intelligence-powered credit enablement Neo banking platform, currently operating as an integrated, diversified millennial consumer fintech company in India under the brand name CASHe. Setting up its regional headquarters in the UAE, TSLC is bringing its cutting-edge digital lending platform to underserved digital natives across chosen markets in the MENA region.

Its proprietary AI/ML-powered platform is safe, secure and super-efficient, leveraging data science and machine learning to automate underwriting and deliver financial access in under-penetrated markets. TSLC’s industry-leading portable, hyper-inclusive and scalable credit-enabling platform has helped it secure embedded transformational partnerships with Google Pay, Amazon, Mastercard, WhatsApp and Walmart, among others.

The Company is on a mission to become the Neo Bank of choice for young digital natives and micro entrepreneurs in select markets across the world by leveraging deep-tech and data science to unlock opportunities and make financial access possible for everyday middle-income consumers.

Since inception in 2016, it has been engaged in building a unique technology-based, big data-driven, mobile-first alternative financial services organisation offering a diverse range of digital financial products for the underbanked, as well as unparalleled user experience for the underserved.

Leveraging its existing technological infrastructure and proprietary platform, TSLC aims to continue innovating, connecting with targeted digital native demographics and expanding internationally to build IP-centric localised business models with decentralised execution in underserved emerging markets, underpinned by a strong trustworthy brand, and delivering on the promise of ESG and Financial Inclusion.

Attachments

Yusra
Aafaq Islamic Finance PSC
+971 50 653 3116
Ybaqi@aafaq.ae

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Cloudbeds Introduces New Payments Solution to Further Streamline Hotel Operations

The fully integrated, easy, and secure payments solution is now available in the US, Canada, Europe and United Kingdom, to save Hoteliers time and money.

SAN DIEGO, June 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cloudbeds, the fastest growing hospitality management platform, announced the launch of a fully integrated payments solution and a new Financial Services division in the US, Canada, UK, and EU. Cloudbeds Payments is a robust payment solution that provides hoteliers an affordable and efficient method of managing all types of payments. Cloudbeds Payments features a state-of-the-art terminal, transparent fees, built-in reporting, analytics, security, and world-class (in-house) support that hoteliers need to focus on their guests rather than time-consuming payments acceptance and reconciliation.

A video accompanying this announcement is available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8a6b2363-8d1b-4e56-9a1c-44eeda1b9bfb

Typically, hospitality payment solutions are complicated and are time-consuming, which impacts guest relations with inconsistent and slow customer service while consuming too much hoteliers’ time with management and reconciliation. Hoteliers can now avoid manual card entry and lengthy verification processes with third-party vendors. Instead, payments are quick, easy, and completely integrated into the Cloudbeds platform.

“The best part about Cloudbeds Payments is that it’s fully integrated into their existing interface,” says Tarek, Finance Manager, Convo 212 in Athens, Greece. “My guests pay directly on my website and it’s immediately reflected in their reservation and on our reports. It accepts all credit card payments, handles the verification process and makes reconciliation a breeze.”

“Our previous payments process was very lengthy – manual card entry, the verification process, reconciliation, chargebacks, disputes – it took too much time and effort. Cloudbeds Payments helped us speed up every aspect of the customer payment process. It’s easy and efficient for guests to book and for us to manage,” remarks Austin, Property Manager at Rancho Caymus Inn in Napa Valley, California. “Cloudbeds Payments saves our staff so much time.”

In keeping with its focus of innovating to help hoteliers build revenue, save time, and increase guest satisfaction, the Cloudbeds’ Financial Services division has built a next-generation solution that will save properties 10 to 15 hours per month in reconciliations. In addition to its world-class support team, Cloudbeds Payments offers an in-house dispute management team composed of industry experts who intimately understand the hospitality business to better support hoteliers and guests. Cloudbeds expects to roll out Payments to additional countries in the upcoming months, including Australia, Brazil, and New Zealand.

“Cloudbeds is on a mission to empower lodging businesses with every tool they need to emerge from the pandemic successfully,” says Richard Castle, Co-Founder, and COO. “Cloudbeds creates a seamless experience that elevates every aspect of their business – from how their staff operates to their guest experience. Our payments solution is the first of several upcoming financial services designed to help lodging businesses spend more time with their guests and less time managing their property.”

About Cloudbeds

Founded in 2012, Cloudbeds is the fastest growing hospitality management platform in the world. Its SaaS platform provides tools to manage better properties of all types and sizes, allowing property managers/owners more time to focus on their guests while building revenue, driving bookings, and increasing operational efficiencies. Trusted by more than 20,000 hotels, hostels, inns, and alternative accommodations in more than 155 countries, the Cloudbeds suite is a fully integrated platform of capabilities designed to help properties unify their management, reservations, and booking systems, grow revenue, and automate workflows with confidence and ease. For more information, visit www.cloudbeds.com.

Media Contact:

Austin Edgington
austin@austinedgecomms.com

 

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Madison Realty Capital Originates $278.5 Million Construction Loan for Three Multifamily Projects and Luxury Condominium in Austin, Texas

Portfolio Includes 734 multifamily apartments, 1,264 planned multifamily units, and 117 luxury condominium residences

NEW YORK, June 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Madison Realty Capital, a fully integrated real estate private equity firm focused on debt and equity investment strategies, today announced it has provided a $278.5 million construction loan for a portfolio of four assets located in Austin, Texas to Reger Holdings, LLC, a New York-based real estate investment and development company led by CEO Gordon Reger, a third-generation member of the Reger/Mader family who founded the company.

The portfolio is comprised of two mixed-use multifamily properties and 317 acres of entitled land with plans to develop 1,264 multifamily residential units, known as the EastVillage, located along the Parmer Lane tech corridor in northeast Austin and a luxury condominium in downtown Austin known as The Linden Residences. Reger Holdings contributed significant cash equity for the construction.

Josh Zegen, Managing Principal and Co-Founder of Madison Realty Capital, said, “This transaction highlights Madison Realty Capital’s solutions-oriented approach and unique ability to serve as a single source financing provider to a highly reputable borrower. Austin is a rapidly growing, vibrant city experiencing exceptional economic growth but faces high barriers to entry. The Parmer Lane tech corridor is home to some of the most prominent Austin employers and some of the nation’s most innovative companies, including Tesla, Apple, Samsung, Oracle, Dell, Facebook, and 3M. However, the city is facing an undersupply of the high-quality housing options that employees in the Parmer Lane tech corridor demand. We look forward to working with Reger, a best-in-class developer with a strong balance sheet, to complete future phases of development in Austin and continue to identify attractive opportunities for our investors and partners throughout Texas and the Southwest.”

“Madison Realty Capital’s senior financing for the EastVillage and the Linden marks an exciting milestone for both projects,” said Gordon Reger.  “We are pleased to work with a single capital source that has the flexibility to finance these diverse projects.”

The mixed-use residences are comprised of two development sites across 29 acres within the over 400-acre master site planned for the EastVillage. The first EastVillage development will offer 312 luxury apartment units across six garden-style apartment buildings with top-tier amenities, including a fitness center, courtyard, dog grooming station and swimming pool. The second EastVillage development will consist of an additional 422 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment units with state-of-the-art finishes, fitness center, game room, yoga studio, and 143,000 square feet of commercial space. Future phases of development for EastVillage involve 317 acres of land approved for 1,264 multifamily units, 240 hotel keys and over one million square feet of commercial space. The EastVillage is adjacent to Samsung’s Semiconductor chipmaking plant, one of Austin’s largest employers, which recently announced plans to expand with a $17 billion chipmaking facility.

Located at 313 West 17th Street in downtown Austin near the State Capital and the University of Texas at Austin, The Linden Residences is a 28-story luxury condominium project that will offer 117 one- to three-bedroom units, 5,196 square feet of ground floor retail and 251 parking spaces. The amenity rich units have been substantially sold to date.

Newmark Executive Managing Director David Douvadjian, Senior Managing Director, Brian Butler, and Director, David Douvadjian, Jr., served as advisors to Madison Realty Capital in the deal.

About Madison Realty Capital

Madison Realty Capital is a New York City based real estate private equity firm focused on debt and equity investment strategies with regional offices in key markets including Los Angeles and Dallas. Founded in 2004, MRC has closed on approximately $14 billion of transactions in the multifamily, retail, office, industrial and hotel sectors nationwide. The firm manages investments in the United States on behalf of a global investor base. MRC is a fully integrated firm with over 60 employees across all real estate investment, development, and property management disciplines. Among other industry recognitions, MRC has been named to the Commercial Observer’s prestigious “Power 100” list of New York City real estate players and is consistently cited as one of the industry’s top construction lenders. To learn more, follow us on LinkedIn and visit www.madisonrealtycapital.com.

Attachments

Nathaniel Garnick/Grace Cartwright
Gasthalter & Co.
(212) 257-4170
madisonrealty@gasthalter.com
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King Abdullah University of Science and Technology taps Canonical for cloud computing overhaul

New OpenStack and Kubernetes deployments improve computing performance for researchers, ease management pains for IT staff

THUWAL, Saudi Arabia, June 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu, announced today that it is working with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), a postgraduate university in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, on a major upgrade of its cloud computing infrastructure. The project makes it easier and more economical for KAUST to manage its cloud environment while ensuring the high levels of computing performance that researchers need.

Even by the standards of most universities, KAUST’s computing requirements are intense. The institution is dedicated exclusively to scientific and technological research, with all students undertaking PhD or master’s studies. Its network must be able to support a wide variety of workloads without downtime.

Since 2015, the university had been operating a homegrown OpenStack private cloud in which researchers provisioned computing resources on demand. But as usage grew, the system became harder for the IT team to manage. Worse, it was prone to outages, which slowed projects and, once complete, made it harder for peer reviewers to access project data.

“If we were going to scale up, we knew we needed a strategy that was more manageable, more reliable, and made it easier to implement upgrades and new services,” said Arindam Chakraborty, Senior Systems Specialist at KAUST. “We began exploring infrastructure-as-code, and we realized that the best option would be to switch to a trusted third-party platform with dedicated support.”

KAUST chose Canonical to design and implement a new, on-premises OpenStack cloud. Based on Canonical’s Charmed OpenStack, the new cluster is twice the size of the old system, going from 10 to 20 nodes. And with Ubuntu Advantage for Infrastructure support, Canonical prevents or rapidly resolves any OpenStack issues that KAUST encounters, before they affect research.

Another benefit is that the new deployment has caused no operational disruption or need to learn a new system. That’s because the university’s legacy OpenStack platform was already using Canonical’s open-source software, and Ubuntu was by far the most widely used operating system on campus.

“Canonical offered the best server/annum cost on the market for the level of support we were looking for, and we are very pleased with the results,” Chakraborty said. “The change has meant increased performance and improved uptime for our students and staff. And with Canonical handling implementation and operational issues, our IT team is free to work on other things. Problems are resolved more quickly, and from a manpower perspective, we’re saving money.”

Alongside the OpenStack migration, KAUST also has transitioned to DevOps and containers with Canonical’s Charmed Kubernetes, a turnkey, Kubernetes-conformant platform optimised for multi-cloud environments.

Adopting Kubernetes has transformed the way that KAUST researchers access computing resources. Rather than self-provisioning virtual machines, users can simply consume services via the cloud without having to worry about where or how they are running. Canonical’s support covers Kubernetes as well.

“We’re delighted to be working with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology,” said Nicholas Dimotakis, VP of Field Engineering, Canonical. “The university’s experience shows that organizations don’t have to struggle with their cloud implementations and that, by selecting the right technology partner, they can operate their infrastructure far more economically while enhancing computing performance.”

About King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Established in 2009, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is a graduate research university devoted to finding solutions for some of the world’s most pressing scientific and technological challenges in the areas of food, water, energy, and the environment. With 19 research areas related to these themes and state-of-the-art labs, KAUST has created a collaborative and interdisciplinary problem-solving environment, which has resulted in over 11,000 published papers to date.

With over 100 different nationalities living, working and studying on campus, KAUST has brought together the best minds and ideas from around the world to advance science and technology through distinctive and collaborative research. KAUST is a catalyst for innovation, economic development, and social prosperity in Saudi Arabia and the world. For additional information, visit: www.Kaust.edu.sa

About Canonical
Canonical is the company behind Ubuntu, the leading OS for container, cloud, and hyperscale computing. Most public cloud workloads use Ubuntu, as do most new smart gateways, switches, self-driving cars and advanced robots. Canonical provides enterprise security, support, and services to commercial users of Ubuntu. Established in 2004, Canonical is a privately held company.

Contact:
Cathy Wright
Offleash on behalf of Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu
canonical@offleashpr.com

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Sophi.io Wins Two INMA Global Media Awards

TORONTO, June 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sophi.io, The Globe and Mail’s artificial intelligence-powered optimization and prediction platform, was announced as a winner of the International News Media Association (INMA) Global Media Awards in two categories, Best Use of Data to Automate or Personalize, and Best in Show for North America.

“The INMA Global Media Awards focus on excellence across all areas of the media business,” said Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail. “I’m particularly pleased that Sophi’s fully dynamic, real-time, personalized paywall won in two categories, and that Sophi’s ground-breaking automated print laydown technology was nominated for its use with Naviga and Agderposten.”

Sophi also took second place in the categories of Best Initiative to Acquire Subscribers and Best Use of Data to Drive Subscriptions, Content, or Product Design and was shortlisted as a finalist in the following categories: Best Initiative to Register Users, and Best Product and Tech Innovation.

This year’s competition drew 644 entries from 212 news brands in 37 countries. The judges were 44 global media experts focused on breakthrough results, unique concepts, strong creativity, innovative thinking, and winner synergies across platforms.

“Great use of data with huge impact. Personalizing paywalls is key for success in the digital subscription business for news media. This entry presents more evidence why this is true,” one judge said about the paywall technology. “Their development of user- and content-propensity models is a best practice that others can learn from,” said another judge.

Another judge remarked: “Incredible Artificial Intelligence-driven personalization, and perfect embracing of the need to insert data-science talent into a news organization. Excellent impact and numbers.”

Sophi’s fully dynamic, personalized, real-time paywall uses natural language processing (NLP) to analyze both content and user behaviour to determine when to ask a reader for money or an email address, and when to leave them alone. It can optimize for multiple outcomes simultaneously (such as different bundles or price points) and also works well in cold-start situations.

Sophi is an AI platform that helps publishers identify their most valuable content and leverage it to achieve key business goals, such as maximizing subscriptions. Publishers on four continents now use Sophi’s AI/ML technology to power paywall decisions, website automation and print automation.

Sophi’s automated print laydown solution, which powers Naviga Publisher, earned an honourable mention in the Best Product and Tech Innovation category. An INMA judge commented: “Sophi – as the first of its kind – is a great example of an automated print laydown solution. Amazing to see that the work of the editor is reduced only to the selection of the content. The automation of up to 80% of newspapers’ editorial pages could be a game-changer of the print industry.”

Last year, Sophi also won the Online Journalism Award (OJA) for Technical Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism, handed out by the Online News Association (ONA), and both the World Digital Media Award and the North American Digital Media Award awarded by The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) in the category of Best Digital News Start-up.

About Sophi.io
Sophi.io (https://www.sophi.io) was developed by The Globe and Mail to help content publishers make important strategic and tactical decisions. It is a suite of AI and ML-powered optimization and prediction tools that includes Sophi Site Automation and Sophi Dynamic Paywall as well as Sophi Analytics, a decision-support system for content publishers. Sophi is designed to improve the metrics that matter most to your business, such as subscriber retention and acquisition, engagement, recency, frequency and volume.

Media Contact  
Jamie Rubenovitch 
Head of Marketing, Sophi 
The Globe and Mail         
416-585-3355  
jrubenovitch@globeandmail.com