Axxana and 11 Israel-related Headlines, Week of November 15, 2009
Filed under: CRM, Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Uncategorized, VC, cloud computing
During the week of November 15, 2009, data storage and protection company, Axxana announced it had raised $9 million. Gil Schwed discussed the future of Check Point and Tufin Technologies is expanding from security into network management. For these stories and the rest of this week’s 11 headlines, check below.
Cleantech
1. Israel water tech thrives in weakened economy
3. After boom and bust, global solar energy market ready to mature, analyst says
Investments and M&A
4. Motorola acquiring Israeli company
6. ClickSoftware closes AiPoint asset acquisition
Information Technology
7. Check Point looks to ‘consolidation’
8. Tufin Expands from Security into Network Management
9. Trojan Hacked Secret Data of Syrian Nuclear Reactor
Miscellaneous
10. The future of Israeli high-tech: Jewish brains aren’t enough
11. Israel top patent producer in Western world
Ilient Ltd. announces SaaS-based solution, SysAid CSS (Customer Service and Support)
Filed under: CRM, IT management, Information Technology, SaaS, Uncategorized, Video
Ilient Ltd, a helpdesk software solutions provider, announced yesterday the latest extension to its flagship product, SysAid IT. The new solution, SysAid CSS (Customer Service and Support) is a SaaS-based solution “designed to address customer relationship management (CRM) operations” of small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) looking to secure and grow customer loyalty.
According to the news release,
“As the industry’s first free and on-demand customer service and support solution, SysAid CSS provides a comprehensive toolkit for tracking and resolving issues, increasing client response times and lowering organizational costs. Through a Web-based user interface, SysAid CSS allows customer service providers and their clients to receive feedback on submitted requests quickly with e-mail integration, self-service portals and Web form integration. With its robust feature set and highly customizable applications, service requests and processes are streamlined seamlessly across the organization.”
SysAid IT is a web-based helpdesk software that provides asset management, monitoring, reports and analysis and project and task management, among others.
Ilient recently posted a video on YouTube showing SysAid IT in action. You can view it below.
Company Facts
Founded in 2002.
Headquartered in Ohr Yehuda, Israel.
Israel Lifshitz, Founder and CEO.
Products: SysAid IT, SysAid CSS.
Website: www.ilient.com
Magic Software’s Data Replicator lets users access their data on-premise
Filed under: Business Intelligence, CRM, Data Storage, Information Technology, SOA Governance, SaaS, Uncategorized, Video
Magic Software Enterprises, Ltd., a provider of application platforms and business and process integration solutions, announced yesterday the general availability of its latest SaaS offering for CRM, the Data Replicator for Salesforce.com.
Designed to provide automatic, real-time data back-up for organizations using Salesforce.com, Data Replicator allows organizations to now “rapidly and easily reproduce any snapshot of their Salesforce.com data and make it available on their on-premise databases.” By doing such, organizations can leverage their Salesforce.com data for better reporting, forecasting and regulatory compliance.
The Data Replicator for Salesforce.com is part of Magic Software’s iBOLT business and process integration product line and can be used for business intelligence, data storage and data mining needs.
Below is an video overview from a few months ago of the iBolt for Salesforce.com suite.
Product information for the Data Replicator for Salesforce.com can be found on the Magic Software site here.
SAP layoffs in Israel likely
Filed under: CRM, IT management, Information Technology, Performance Management, Video
Globes reported today that SAP’s recent announcement that it was cutting 6% of its global workforce (3,000 jobs) would likely include some layoffs to its Israel division.
Despite its reaching €3.5 billion revenue for the fourth quarter in 2008, SAP’s software sales were down 7%. According to Globes,
SAP co-CEO Leo Apotheker said, “The cost containment measures will allow us to adapt to the tough market conditions and ensure the long term competitiveness of the company. We expect 2009 to be a year of limited visibility, making it increasingly difficult to project sales in this environment.”
Currently based in Ra’anana, SAP has had a presence in Israel since 1998 and has over 900 employees. According to the Israel R&D site, Matimop, the Israel division of SAP focuses on the following four areas: SAP Netweaver (BPM), SAP Business One (Small business solutions), supply chain execution, SAP Master Data Management (MDM).
The article also reports that despite looming layoffs, the company is hiring sales people. Here is a video example of Business One in action.
SAManage Secures Series A Funding from Xenia Venture Capital
Filed under: CRM, IT management, Information Technology, SOA Governance, SaaS, Uncategorized, VC, cloud computing
SAManage, a provider of on-demand (SaaS) IT Management services with an R&D office in Israel, announced today that it has secured an undisclosed amount of Series A Funding from Xenia Venture Capital and existing investors to help support its growth and development of new SaaS-based services.
The company, which was was founded in 2007 by Doron Gordon, offers solutions for IT Asset Management, IT Risks Management, License Management and more. In September 2008, SAManage made its IT Contract Management software available for Salesforce.com users as a free AppExchange application. The software enables users to manage the organization and tracking of IT contracts, software licenses and subscriptions.
SaaS Industry outlook
According to an InformationWeek article by Andrew Conry-Murray in November 2008, a Forrester Research report released at the time predicts that while SaaS-based IT management currently accounts for 1% of IT management software, it is expected to grow to 10% of the market by 2013 because it offers cheaper and faster deployments. The report also predicts that enterprises with 1,000 or more employees will account for 50% of SaaS installations in 2009 and that while the Big Four (BMC, IBM, HP and CA) are active in the cloud, “complex applications can’t quickly be retooled for SaaS, giving upstarts time to secure enough customers to flourish.”
Additional SaaS Information
- An Aberdeen Group survey of over 130 enterprises found that top companies are implementing SaaS successfully and “view their use or planned migration to SaaS as a long-term solution.”
- Research from Gartner analyst Michael Maoz predicts that by the year 2012, 30 percent of investments in CRM will be via software-as-a-service (SaaS). (via Lauren McKay of DestinationCRM.com)
- Interest in SaaS has lead to several acquisitions by vendors, including Cisco’s acquisition of WebEx, Dell’s purchase of MessageOne and Google’s purchase of Postini among others.
- Other Israeli SaaS companies include: Clarizen, G.ho.st, Magic Software, PNMsoft, Confidela and Nolio Ltd.
ClickSoftware launches new system for customer interaction management
Filed under: CRM, Data Storage, Information Technology, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Uncategorized
Israel-based ClickSoftware Technologies
, a mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions provider, recently announced its new solution for customer interaction management and the addition of it to the ClickSoftware’s ServiceOptimization Suite.
The new solution, ClickContact, automates the process of customers scheduling and maintaining appointments over the Internet in a way that gives them more control and flexibility while reducing the staff costs and responsibilities of the company. It also enables customers to provide feedback in an organized manner in which a company can act on.
According to ClickSoftware website, ClickContact features include:
- Integrated with ClickSchedule to maintain consistent service policy
- May be deployed on-premises or as a hosted solution
- Enables integration into corporate web site
- Online appointment scheduling, updating and/or canceling
- Automatic notifications, including appointment confirmation, reminders and real-time updates, available via text message, voicemail or email
- Customer satisfaction surveys available immediately following service visit
- Look & feel, notification defaults, notification templates and customer survey all fully configurable to meet customer needs
Other solutions making up the ServiceOptimization Suite include ClickMobile, ClickSchedule and ClickLocation.
ClickSoftware solutions are currently being used in industries such as Insurance, Telecommunications, Utilities and Home Services.
Company Facts
Founded in 1997.
Moshe BenBassat, Chairman and CEO.
Hannan Carmeli, Chief Operating Officer.
Products: ClickSchedule, ClickContact and ClickMobile.
Website: www.clicksoftware.com
Top 10 Israel Innovation 2.0 Blog Posts of 2008
Filed under: CRM, Cleantech, Data Storage, Environment, Industry pulse, Information Technology, Software, Uncategorized
The most read posts on Israel Innovation 2.0 in 2008 reflect the overall hot areas of technology in 2008 which included cleantech, CRM, data storage and casual gaming. They also provide a glimpse into what can be expected in these areas in 2009.
On the enterprise level, acquistions of Israeli companies by IBM in 2008 were part of growing trends in cloud computing and data storage that show little sign of slowing in 2009. Contributing to the need for cloud computing and better data storage solutions, will be the CRM and marketing automation solutions offered by companies, such as XMPie, which, resulting from everything from the economy to technological advances to the rise in listening to customers, are leading the way for easier cross-media dynamic publishing in an increasingly digital world in 2009.
In cleantech, along with the electric car and wind power continuing to gain momentum will be water technology in 2009. While Oberon Media, among other casual gaming companies, was forced to cut jobs in 2008 despite growth, given the poor economy and the history of success for inexpensive entertainment when the economy is down, the casual gaming market is expected to still thrive in 2009.
Without further ado, the top 10 Israel Innovation 2.0 blogposts of 2008 are:
2. Coming Soon: ooVoo.com video conference chatrooms
3. First online TV-PC network: RayV?
4. Coming soon: Your next game console innovated by Israeli sensor technology
5. Rumors of IBM being in talks to purchase Diligent Technologies Corp.
6. Company in Focus: Walla Communications Ltd.
8. Company in Focus: Oberon Media
10. Water Technology and Israel: Invest now
12 Israel-related headlines from the week of June 29, 2008 (Bonus edition)
Filed under: Business Intelligence, CRM, Company Briefs, Israeli Websites, VC, Web2.0
Israel’s hi-tech scene was in a bit of a lull during the week of June 29, 2008, perhaps because of July 4th in the United States. The biggest news was about Google AdWords killer, Peer39, which has a semantic search engine that brings back more accurate results and can thus display better ads. It also has the ability to differentiate between positive and negative contexts of words. After Peer39, Microsoft made headlines with two announcements. The first announcement was that it has partnered with Ben-Gurion University and the second was that MSN Israel will now be controlled fully by Microsoft and no longer jointly with Internet Gold. There was also a lot of technology investment-related news that took place. For these and the rest of the 12 technology-related headlines from the week of June 29, 2008, as well as a special bonus check below.
Technology
Microsoft and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev announce agreement
A First Look Inside Peer39 & Its Semantic Advertising Technology
Microsoft to take full charge of MSN Israel
Alvarion® Sets Off First Mobile WiMAX™ Internet Service in the U.S.
Business
Cleantech Index (CTIUS) Expands Globally, Adds 33 New Companies
Israel’s high-tech culture must rejigger, VC says
Options trade points to stronger shekel
VMware Completes Acquisition of B-hive Networks
IncrediMail and Google Sign AdSense Direct Agreement
Miscellaneous
What Determines the Price of Oil?
Destination: San Francisco. And Still NoGoBoingo
Bonus
This past Tuesday, popular Israel Web 2.0 blog, the.co.ils hosted its annual web startup competition, TWS2008. Ten Israeli Web 2.0 companies were selected by an impressive list of judges and gave brief presentations about what they do. Some of the winners included, Nuconomy, Dapper, HiveSight and WorkLight. WorkLight securely brings personalized Web 2.0 into the enterprise. Here are two video clips of part of WorkLight’s presentation:
About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership
Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or
inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be
directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.
XMPie unveils new products
According to a news release, XMPie, Inc., a dynamic publishing software provider, will unveil its new look and latest products at the On Demand Conference and Exposition in Boston, MA this week.
XMPie is a dynamic publishing software solutions provider of software that
enables enterprises and their marketing service providers to efficiently develop and execute highly customized, information driven, cross-media campaigns.
Participants in the On Demand conference can expect to see demos of the XMPie Marketplace, which provides “an online resource designed to support users in
the creation of personalized marketing materials,” and the latest version of the uProduce™
Marketing Console, “designed to enable users to offer tracking and
analysis of campaign results to their marketing customers in real-time.”
uProduce can be added to XMPie’s PersonalEffect™ — an all-in-one software suite for the enterprise “that unites customer databases and creative content right on the desktop for personalized one-to-one marketing.”
Marketing and IT professionals looking for CRM software that provides the resources for creating and managing personalized marketing campaigns from start-to-finish should add XMPie’s PersonalEffect to their list of possible solutions.
Company Facts
Software unit of Xerox Corporation since 2006.
Jacob Aizikowitz, President.
Reuven J. Sherwin, Co-founder and Vice President of R&D in Israel.
Products: uDirect, PersonalEffect, uStore.
Website: www.xmpie.com
About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership
Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or
inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be
directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.
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