Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Technology

  • LoJack Italia AI to work as a ”virtual technician” for Maldarizzi Automotive

    LoJack Italia AI to work as a ”virtual technician” for Maldarizzi Automotive

    All FCA, BMW, MINI and Mercedes-Benz vehicles sold by Maldarizzi will be installed with LoJack Connect, giving customers the option to enable the Maldarizzi Business Development Center (BDC) to function as a ”virtual technician” by monitoring vehicle diagnostics.

    Maldarizzi’s long-term rental customers will also have the option to install LoJack Connect and enable the Maldarizzi BDC virtual technician. 

    By alerting the motorist to potential maintenance issues that often result from exceeding mileage thresholds, low fluid levels, tire wear and tear, and more, the Maldarizzi BDC can offer preventative services to avoid unnecessary breakdowns or more costly repairs.

    The LoJack Connect App allows the driver to track the car’s location, monitor battery levels, view trips and review driving behavior.

    Maldarizzi customers can also receive notifications relating to routine or predictive maintenance and also provide notice of approaching deadlines for the payment of road tax, car insurance, financing installments, and other vehicle-related preventative maintenance.

    In the event of theft, the driver can contact the LoJack 24/7 Command Center and send a photo of the theft report via a smartphone to quickly start the recovery process.

    If the battery is disconnected by the thief or the car is moved with the engine off, the customer will receive an alert.

    How the system works if a crash happens

    In the event of a crash, LoJack Connect’s CrashBoxx feature will alert the LoJack 24/7 Command Center and identify the severity of the crash event.

    The Command Center operator will contact the driver, notify emergency response if life-saving support is needed, and conduct an initial assessment of the incident.

    If repairs are needed, Maldarizzi’s BDC will contact the customer to offer mechanical assistance and detailed accident reconstruction information to expedite repairs and the insurance claims process.

  • Comarch to implement a Business Intelligence solution for Oney Insurance

    Comarch to implement a Business Intelligence solution for Oney Insurance

    Malta-based Oney Insurance is set to implement a BI solution from Polish software giant Comarch.

    The project encompasses building an insurance-specific data warehouse representing the main insurance activities including sales, underwriting, claims and actuarial.

    Operating in the cloud, Comarch Business Intelligence enables users to extract data from multiple sources, including both Oney core insurance systems and external systems.

    ”Our product makes it possible to combine data from multiple sources, analyse the information into a digested format, and then disseminate the information to relevant stakeholders”, says Monika Olszówka, Oney Group Account Manager of Comarch Financial Services. 

    Oney Insurance is an insurance company belonging to Oney Bank, a French bank founded in 1983.

    Oney Bank, is a subsidiary of Groupe BPCE and Auchan Holding. 

  • Tremend developed a ”world tour of yarn” for Südwolle Group

    Tremend developed a ”world tour of yarn” for Südwolle Group

    Tremend developed a ”world tour of yarn” for Südwolle Group. a worsted spinner of wool and wool blends.

    The platform supports Südwolle Group’s business during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Südwolle Group is recognized as one the world’s largest spinner of pure wool and wool blend worsted yarns for weaving, circular and flat knitting. The majority of the wool garments in the world contain one of the Südwolle Group yarns.

    The group is present in 13 countries, on 5 continents, and sells 40% of its production in Europe.

    Created to offer an emotional experience, this online fair takes industry professionals from all over the world on a unique digital balloon ride “around the globe”.

    Clients can discover the latest trends in the textile industry, as well as Südwolle Group’s flat knitting collection including a sample order function.

    TThe software engineering team developed a state-of-the-art digital fair experience, with a custom-made 3D Earth Globe showcasing Südwolle Group’s new wool collections and a straightforward sample ordering function.

  • iGenius launches the virtual advisor crystal.ai to the U.S. market

    iGenius launches the virtual advisor crystal.ai to the U.S. market

    Following 20 months of growth across Europe, iGenius, the creator of crystal.ai, a virtual advisor for business data, announced its expansion into the U.S..

    This market expansion coincides with the early access launch of the new crystal.

    As the CEO moves to the U.S. and opens a New York City office, the company will invite select companies to become early access users for the new crystal.

    Crystal is an augmented analytics advisor that combines sophisticated understanding of business data and jargon with a seamless conversational and humanized user experience.

    The platform allows any user, regardless of analytics training, to extract value from their business data stream and receive direction when making data-driven decisions.

    Putting siloed and complex data into one conversational interface, crystal answers questions and gives data-based insights via voice or easy-to-read data stories.

  • Delivery Hero app to integrate UN’s WFP ShareTheMeal feature

    Delivery Hero app to integrate UN’s WFP ShareTheMeal feature

    Delivery Hero announced a global partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme to roll out the organization’s ShareTheMeal donation feature to its delivery platforms.

    ShareTheMeal is a WFP initiative and app that enables people to help feed hungry families around the world by making a donation via the ShareTheMeal app.

    Since launching in 2015, ShareTheMeal has engaged over 3 million users to fundraise 41 million US dollars to support a variety of WFP operations across the world.

    Customers in Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Malaysia, Norway, Romania and Sweden will soon be able to support the fight against global hunger at the tap of a finger. The donation feature is planned to launch in additional markets shortly.

  • Fresh Property Group has chosen Yardi solutions to manage its portfolio

    Fresh Property Group has chosen Yardi solutions to manage its portfolio

    Fresh Property Group has chosen cloud-based technology by Yardi to manage its 20,000+ unit student, build to rent and co-living portfolio.  

    Fresh Property Group will implement Yardi Voyager for property management and accounting as well as ancillary products to fully connect the resident lifecycle and maximise returns.

    With £1.6 billion assets under management, Fresh will eliminate a number of disparate systems thanks to Yardi’s single connected platform.

    Fresh will achieve marketing automation with Yardi’s RENTCafé Suite

    It includes RENTCafé for property marketing, website optimisation, online leasing and resident services; RENTCafé CRM Flex for prospect management and flexibility to handle workflows for multiple lease types; and MyCafé by RENTCafé a white-label app that provides a full range of resident services plus community engagement.

    Fresh will also adopt Yardi Job Cost for project cost control, Yardi Procure to Pay to streamline procurement and vendor managment, and a facility management solution for maintenance management and mobile inspections.

  • What payment methods do Europeans use and love

    What payment methods do Europeans use and love

    Around 13.000 people in 13 European countries were asked by ING how they pay and why they use their selected payment methods.

    When asked how true or untrue the statement ”The more payment options I have, the better” is, 25% across Europe considered the statement to be completely true. Opposed to this, 13% considered the statement not true at all.

    Subtracting the untrue from the true responses gives a net figure of 12% who consider the statement to be true.

    But there was considerable variation between countries ranging from a net low of -16% in the Netherlands, to a high of 36% in Romania.

    People employed full-time use an average of 5.3 different payment methods

    Those employed full-time use an average of 5.3 different payment methods, compared to 4.0 for those who are not working due to being unemployed.

    Similarly, those with a master’s or PhD use an average of 5.7 different payment methods, compared to 3.7 for those who did not finish high school.

    Consistent trends are also seen across incomes, those earning more than €7k per month use an average of 6.0 different payment methods, those without an income use an average of 3.1.

    People who own lots of technology devices tend to use more options

    Own 8 different devices and you will use an average of 10.2 different payment options, compared to the 3.1 that are used by those who own one piece of technology.

    This is potentially also a reflection of an early adoption mentality. Own more tech devices, be open to experimenting with the latest trends.

    Most people tend to use between four and six methods to make payments in-store and online

    In the last six months, three in-store payment options – cash (69%), bank card with pin (65%), and tapping a card without a pin (57%) – were used by more than half of survey respondents.

    To make online payments over the past month, two options dominated: entering card details on a website (42%) or using online payments system PayPal (48%).

    Very few Europeans, just 4%, say they prefer to use their phone to pay for small expenses in-store, over all other options, for example.

  • Loomis launches ”Loomis Pay”, a complete payment solution

    Loomis launches ”Loomis Pay”, a complete payment solution

    Loomis Pay is a complete end-to-end payment platform for merchants and manages all types of payments, including cash, card and other digital alternatives, both in store and online.

    The ambition, in the first initial stage, is to achieve revenue, within 5 years, exceeding SEK 3 billion. Loomis Pay is expected to generate a positive operating result during 2023.

    During 2020-2022, investments will be made in product development and other activities for Loomis Pay.

    The company expects approximately SEK 100 million per year will be recorded as net costs in the income statement.

    Loomis Pay will first be offered to merchant customers in Denmark during the autumn of this year and to customers in the Swedish market at the beginning of 2021.

  • LMS365 added new capabilities to its learning platform

    LMS365 added new capabilities to its learning platform

    Danish software developer LMS365 added new capabilities to its learning platform to improve navigation, accessibility and security.

    LMS365 has 700+ enterprise and public customers with over 4 million users.

    50+ trusted partners have implemented the solution in more than 40 countries, with customers in all sectors, and deployments ranging from a few hundred employees to 50,000+ employees. 

    How the new and improved LMS365 looks

    Re-designed personal training dashboard: Optimized to seamlessly match the Microsoft Teams user interface. The updated dashboard provides a clear and easy overview of each individual learner’s required coursework, making it easier for learners to complete training benchmarks.

    New privacy configurations: Options to disable access to learner details for line managers and course administrators provides organizations with better means to control the privacy of personal information for compliance requirements.  

    Improved accessibility: Learners can enroll in training from the Course and Training Plan homepage, using a screen reader or a keyboard.

    Microsoft Exchange integration option: Supports OAuth and two-factor authentication for enhanced security.

    Improved administrative interface: Upgrades to the admin user interface and API key management provide better ease of use and navigation.  

    Ability to pin training or course catalog tab in Teams channels: Team members can easily pin a training or course catalog tab within their project channel to direct the team’s attention to relevant content.

  • PwC Romania launched an online tool that simulates the workforce costs

    PwC Romania launched an online tool that simulates the workforce costs

    PwC Romania is launching an online tool to help organisations simulate the workforce costs of the COVID-19 legislative measures recently enforced in Romania.

    Companies can perform simulations to streamline workforce costs by testing the various legislative measures available in the current context: reducing working hours, unemployment with or without state aid, parental leave, dismissals or the concept of “kurzarbeit”.

    Also, scenarios can be differentiated by employee categories (eg by grades or organizational structures).

    ”Workforce Cost Projection” can design reward schemes, model compensation budgets and workforce planning scenarios.

    A pre-configured HR dashboard was developed considering market trends, legislation and industry requirements. The product is available in the cloud and applicable to any industry and is meant for both large and small organisations.

    PwC Romania plans to continue developing this tool with new visualizations to model organizational impact of decisions relating workforce planning and HR budgeting.

    ”Given the conditions determined by the lockdown and pandemic, organizations have accelerated their digitization strategies and are increasingly adopting tax and HR technologies, in order to respond more quickly to the changes in the workforce market and the legislation ones”, says Ionuț Sas, Partener and People & Organisation Leader, PwC Romania.

  • Adverty launched In-Menu, a new in-game brand advertising format

    Adverty launched In-Menu, a new in-game brand advertising format

    Adverty has invented and launched a new in-game brand advertising format called In-Menu, which enables contextually relevant IAB display banner ads on menu screens in between gameplay.

    Deeply integrated at game design level, In-Menu is an in-game advertising unit that brings performance-based, programmatic advertising to Adverty’s range of seamless ad solutions.

    In-Menu enhances a highly innovative product suite that also includes Adverty’s current In-Play format, which allows brands to take over billboards and other virtual outdoor sites within games.

    Compared to other solutions on the market, Adverty’s proprietary, patent-pending ad technology is completely unique in its ability to keep users within the game throughout the complete ad experience – a sought-after feature among both game developers and brands.

  • Silo AI plans to build an artifical intelligence lab in Stockholm

    Silo AI plans to build an artifical intelligence lab in Stockholm

    Finnish company Silo AI opens its sixth office in Stockholm and is planning to hire 20 new AI scientists and AI engineers in the upcoming six months.

    They will join a team of close to 100 senior AI experts and a full development and deployment infrastructure to deliver AI-driven solutions and products. 

    Silo AI will continue to work in Sweden with the same customer segments as it has been so far: smart vehicles, smart industry, smart devices, smart health and smart cities. 

    In Sweden, the company delivered building a computer vision-powered sewage pipe robot for Linköping-based Tekniska Verken and an AI-driven lead generation solution for a Stockholm-based investment company Infranode. 

    Currently Silo AI operates out of its three Finland-based offices in Helsinki, Turku and Oulu and its two international locations in Palo Alto, US and London, UK.