Updating which Sales Enablement adjacent vendors are working on the metaverse

Since Meta (Metaverse, Workplace by Facebook, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus / Reality Labs, etc), Microsoft and Dropbox announced their plans for the metaverse, I have updated the stand-alone blog post: Sales Enablement in mixed reality 3D / AR / VR.

Now, these updates are also reflected on the latest version of my overview of the market size (expected $10Bn USD in annual revenue 2023) and I made it clearer on how to submit edits/changes via a quest that has already gotten great use.

In the Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) of Shareholders of Bigtincan Holdings Limited 24-Nov-2021 the company confirmed its FY 22 (financial year 2022) guidance for $109M AUD.

29-Aug-2022. Bigtincan Holdings Limited provided earnings guidance for the fiscal year 2023. For the year, the company expected annualised Recurring Revenue in the range of $137M AUD to $143M AUD & revenue in the range of $123M AUD to $128M AUD.

sales_enablement_martech_market_2024

Given how difficult it is to zoom in and read this chart, here are the larger acquisitions I’m aware of; in no particular order:

hubspot (Kemvi)
Outreach (Sales Hacker)
Persistent Systems (GENWI)
Smartsheet (Brandfolder DAM)
EQT (EQT Partners AB): Sitecore (Boxever, STYLELABS, Moosend)
Adobe: Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) / Adobe Experience Cloud / Marketo / ToutApp / Figma / Adobe Firefly
Cincom Systems cincom.com TeamSync CPQ Sync
Canva canva.com record & download “talking presentations”. Edit video
SAP (Callidus, iCentera, Litmos LMS, Emarsys, Signavio) CRM, CPQ, CLM
Alphabet: Google Bard (AI) / Google Cloud Platform (G Suite / Drive / Docs / Sheets / Slides / Keep / Forms / Sites / Currents/Spaces / programmablesearchengine.google.com )
Meta (Metaverse, Oculus / Reality Labs, Workplace by Facebook, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc)
Sprinklr Inc. also known as Demand Media, Inc. Sprinklr Modern Marketing; CMS
Dropbox building a metaverse. Dropbox Paper, Dropbox for Business (HelloSign, DocSend docsend.com)
Atlassian Corporation Plc: Confluence Cloud, Trello, etc (doctape.com tape.io @doctapers)
ServiceNow, Inc. (Attivio, Loom Systems, Passage AI, Sweagle, Montrêal-based Element AI)
ZoomInfo Technologies (Predecessor DiscoverOrg) TellWise, Clickagy AI, Komiko, Chorus.ai
Permira permira.com: Nu:Pitch became Seismic: Seismic (SAVO / SAVO Group, KnowledgeTree, Zensight, Percolate, Grapevine6, Lessonly)
Microsoft (working on metaverse) Office / Teams / SharePoint / Dynamics / Azure / Delve / Xbox / Mesh / Loop / Yammer / Skype / LinkedIn (PointDrive) LinkedIn Learning (LinkedIn’s SlideShare sold to Scribd)
DemandScience (PureB2B, Klarity, Internal Results, Leadiro, Tidings, BIOMES, Airborne App Airborneapp airborneapp.io @Airborneapp_io)
Salesforce CRM / CMS / Sites / Content / Chatter / Quip / Einstein / AppExchange / Trailhead / Slack / LevelJump formerly known as Lurniture
Ziff Davis, Inc was J2 Global, Inc (Landslide Technologies Inc / CampaignerCRM / Campaigner campaigner.com @CampaignerEmail)
Gong.io (Vayo, ONDiGO)
Dialpad dialpad.com @Dialpad acquired TalkIQ @Talk_iq
Showpad (LearnCore, LIA, Voicefox, Hickup, Taptera)
Vista Equity Partners: ACQUIA INC acquia.com (Widen Enterprises, Inc. widen.com), SalesLoft (Costello, Noteninja), Drift drift.com (@GiantOtterTech AI), Pipedrive pipedrive.com (Mailigen) Sales Docs
Coveo coveo.com (Qubit. qubit.com)
Highspot (Highspot Spark Community)
Bigtincan [Contondo, FatStax, Zunos, Veelo (mobilepaks), Asdeq Labs, XINN, Agnitio, Clearslide (SlideRocket), VoiceVibes, Vidinoti, Brainshark]
MindTickle (conversation intelligence solution Call AI, Readiness Index)
Episerver Inc. (Insite Software acquired Storyworks Ondemand / Storyworks1. Optimizely acquired Insite optimizely.com/insite/ Sep-2020, Episerver [Acquired by Insight Partners] acquired Optimizely In Bid To Drive ‘Experimentation’)
Oracle CPQ Cloud former BigMachines Inc + InQuira
DocuSign (Revenue of SpringCM)
Act! (The Sage Group) = ACT! by Sage = Swiftpage (Kuvana kuvana.com [the makers of InboxGuru]) act.com
Private Equity Firm HGGC, LLC invested in Upland: Altify, Kapost, RO|innovation, Qvidian (Sant & Kadient), BlueVenn, Objectif Lune Inc. objectiflune.com @objlune
Allego (Refract refract.ai)
mediafly (Alinean / iPresent / Presentify presentify.co.uk / InsightSquared [acquired Olono Olono.ai])
Aurea, Inc. an ESW Capital Group Company (Jive Software / XANT, Inc. XANT.ai [now once again insidesales.com] PLAYBOOKS)
Unily unily.com (BrightStarr is now “Unily”)
Foleon (Foleon B.V. formerly Instant Magazine)
Nitro Software, Inc. (doxIQ @doxiqteam / Connective connective.eu a European eSign company)
Impartner (Treehouse Interactive) acquiring TIE Kinetix’s TCMA business
Cirrus Insight (Attach.io)
NICE nice.com @NICELtd NICE Ltd / NICE Systems Ltd. (ContentEngine / MindTouch @MindTouch)

Screen Shot 2022-01-12 at 9.01.39 pmMindTouch mindtouch.com @MindTouch knowledge management solution: Improves support agent productivity, increases case deflection, & fuels self-service support. NICE nice.com @NICELtd NICE Ltd / NICE Systems Ltd. snapped up privately held ContentEngine in Jul-2021, which came soon after its Apr-2021 acquisition of MindTouch to expand its CXone offering. “Our recent acquisitions of ContactEngine and MindTouch, plus our native Enlighten AI and data lake investments, puts NICE CXone in the unique position to cover 100% of customer need events through the addition of proactive outbound, intelligent self-service, and self-learning AI to make better bots faster,” said Chris Bauserman, NICE CXone vice president of marketing.

I track the number of LinkedIn users with Sales Enablement in their current job title:

LinkedIN-Users_with_Sales-Enablement

I keep a work in progress list of vendors / services / solutions for…

Sales Enablement platforms (SEP), Digital B2B Marketing/Brand Asset Management (DAM), B2B Sales Knowledge Management (KM), Sales asset management (SAM), B2B Sales Content Management Systems (CMS), Digital Content Management for Sales (DCMS), Sales Engagement Platforms, Learning Management Systems (LMS) for sales…

…with a focus on improving the intranet & mobile experience of B2B enterprises for all staff / partners who touch accounts.

My count is over 186 vendors and I’m estimating the market size for 2024 to be $11.06Bn USD:

Besides updating my chart…

sales_enablement_martech_market_2024

…I’m also updating an Airtable that you can export/download yourself:

If you are aware of something I got wrong or that is missing anywhere on my blog, please complete this quest.

Metaverse immersive 2D & 3D Augmented reality AR & Virtual & mixed reality VR b2b Sales Enablement software

Last edit 25-May-2023:

Screen Shot 2023-05-25 at 10.19.46 amArvec arvec.com.au @Arvec3 3D Marketing for Complex Products. Dynamic cost-effective 3D product configurators which are delivered efficiently, to embed on business websites as well as Shopify & WooCommerce online stores. Arvec offers a simple 3D product configurator service & product. Send your product designs or images with their details, & they will create 3D models that will be integrated into a 3D app, which can be embedded anywhere for your clients/sellers to interact with your products. Everything is hosted on their platform so installation is easy with no CMS required. Arvec Pty Ltd. Sydney, NSW, Australia

ByteDance, has ambitions to follow in the footsteps of Meta & grab a piece of the nascent market for AR&VR. 2020, when Meta launched its Quest 2 VR headset, ByteDance worked on AR glasses & in Apr-2021 bought Chinese VR headset developer Pico for $1.28Bn, outbidding Tencent (WeChat). So far, ByteDance struggled to make Pico a force in VR. Pico’s 2021 shipments turned out to be just 510k units (market share of 4.7%), compared to the market leader Meta with 81% (according to IDC).

Dropbox dropbox.com @Dropbox (acquired HelloSign) Dropbox for Business helps companies seamlessly collaborate with secure file sharing, access from anywhere, & robust admin controls. Building a metaverse:

“Our strength is in content so helping get your stuff into that virtual world. So making what document or presentation you want to give… the infrastructure that we’ve built make that happen. So we’re certainly integrating with the metaverse,” said Houston. “We want to help you get your stuff in and out of the metaverse from your Dropbox into the metaverse and vice versa, so creating that experience where everybody could be in the same virtual room and everybody could be seeing the same content.”

Dropbox for Business (DocSend docsend.com) San Francisco, CA, US. Acquired HelloSign hellosign.com @HelloSign Simplifying work for the businesses of tomorrow: We are HelloSign, HelloFax & HelloWorks. 10-Mar-2021, Dropbox acquired DocSend for $165MDocSend docsend.com @DocSend helps customers share & track documents by sending a secure link instead of an attachment.

Screen Shot 2021-09-11 at 9.31.25 amengageVR engagevr.io @vreducation immersivevreducation.com Immersive VR Education, creators of the ENGAGE virtual communications platform are developing a business metaverse #ENGAGEOasis set to launch in 2022. ENGAGE Oasis aims to be the LinkedIn of the metaverse. VR Education, the team behind the virtual education & training platform ENGAGE, announced a new addition to its growing ecosystem of virtual communication solutions, ENGAGE Oasis. Launching H1 2022, this corporate metaverse serves as a virtual meeting ground for businesses, professionals, & students looking to sell their products or services while developing key business relationships remotely anywhere. The VR platform is designed for corporate use, allowing everyone, from large to smaller operations, the opportunity to expand their user base by providing various remote services in immersive VR. IMMERSIVE VR EDUCATION LIMITED, Waterford, Munster, IE (Ireland)

Screen Shot 2021-07-16 at 6.48.44 pmFilo filo.co @meetfilo collaborative platform for virtual events, meetings & teams. Provider of flexible virtual spaces for collaborative teams, meetings & events. Flexible platform for virtual events, meetings & teams. Built on the video conferencing platform Zoom. Integrates directly with Zoom so you can scale your virtual event, meeting or team to any size while still delivering the best quality audio & video experience. Brings teams together with virtual spaces for many sales gatherings. The sales process has changed in the virtual & hybrid world. With Filo Virtual Sales Hub, you do more than Zoom. You drive business. Give your team the space they need to succeed. Filo Software, Inc., a High Alpha company @highalpha: Venture studio that creates and invests in B2B SaaS companies. Indianapolis, IN, USA & Remote

a_PW3K0v_400x400Gather gather.town @gather_town Video chat in 2D customizable spaces. Virtual spaces for more meaningful human connections. Create a space for your community. Better spaces to
 gather around. Spend time with your friends, coworkers, and communities like you would in real life. “Gather for work” remote work features. Gather App. Gather Presence Inc. San Bruno, California, United States

Hoppin’ World hoppin.world/business/ @HoppinVr THE FUTURE OF REMOTE GROUP TELEPRESENCE: Want to meet remotely in real world locations? Allow your prospects, clients & collaborators to get a live face-to-face guided tour of your real world location without anyone needing to be physically present. Avoid unnecessary travel, saving time & money with our VRaaS Platform. Remote group telepresence into real world locations using 360videos. Upgrade the way you do business with Hoppin’. Hoppin’ World Ltd. Montreal, Canada

Screen Shot 2021-10-31 at 8.37.10 pmMeta meta.com @meta (Metaverse, Oculus / Reality Labs / Project Cambria / Meta Quest Pro / Workplace by Facebook, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc) Workplace – marketed as Workplace from Facebook & formerly Workplace by Facebook: An online collaborative software tool developed by Meta Platforms. Menlo Park, California, USA
Screen Shot 2022-10-24 at 2.25.41 pm

Screen Shot 2021-11-05 at 9.29.39 amMicrosoft microsoft.com @microsoft getting into the metaverse & its corporate version of the metaverse via Microsoft Teams & rolling out updates to Xbox consoles: Collectively known as Mesh: Combines the mixed-reality capabilities of Microsoft Mesh, people in different locations join collaborative & shared holographic experiences, with productivity tools of Microsoft Teams, where people can join virtual meetings, send chats, collaborate on shared documents etc. “Microsoft Forms New Team to Target ‘Industrial Metaverse’”, 12-Oct-2022:

“[…] Microsoft internally announced the formation of a new team, Industrial Metaverse Core, that plans to help customers create immersive new software interfaces for operating the industrial control systems behind electrical power plants, industrial robotics and transportation networks. […]”

Microsoft has Loop as a Notion clone for Office:

“The Fluid Framework is coming to life as Microsoft Loop, a new Microsoft 365 application that takes collaboration beyond the traditional document”

Screen Shot 2021-11-05 at 9.56.53 amMicrosoft makes SharePoint, Microsoft CRM Dynamics 365, Microsoft Azure the cloud computing service, owns Yammer / Skype / LinkedIn (PointDrivePointDrive acquired by LinkedIn 26-Jul-2016 / LinkedIn Learning. 3-May-2012, LinkedIn acquired professional content sharing platform SlideShare for $119M. 8-Dec-2016, Microsoft & LinkedIn announced that Microsoft’s $26.2bn acquisition of LinkedIn, the social networking site, officially closed. 11-Aug-2020, LinkedIn sold the presentation-sharing service scribd scribd.com @Scribd Scribd Inc. began operating the SlideShare slideshare.net @SlideShare business on 24-Sep-2020.

Screen Shot 2021-10-22 at 9.41.05 amQuestmate questmate.com @QuestmateApp No Code. Making work simple, rewarding & consistent. For any recurring tasks / work with multiple steps. Define a specific reward / incentive to be paid out / accessed right at the end of the workflow / job / task. In that sense almost a NoCode Smart Contract. Engaging Workflows. For teams of any type, size & mission. Team onboarding, training, tasks, etc. The simplicity of to-do lists 9G7dlbJj_400x400with straightforward guidance & powerful integrations of external systems & applications. Enabling you to build empowering workflows that connect the what to the how. Also perfect for Customer Onboarding, Staff Onboarding & Surveys. Register for BETA access. Avalon Beach, Sydney, NSW, Australia. (Full disclosure: I’m an angel investor)

Screen Shot 2021-10-22 at 9.54.07 am

Screen Shot 2021-10-22 at 9.54.22 am

Screen Shot 2021-04-18 at 9.01.04 pmSciolytix sciolytix.com @sciolytix revolutionizing the way organizations onboard & develop people, & align training with performance. Through experiential learning & predictive analytics, we’re changing the way organizations onboard & develop people, & align training with performance. UPtick Sales Simulation Training Ecosystem: Unlock the power of immersive 3D simulations for all organizations to train & develop their sales teams. UPtick: The Practice Simulator for Salespeople: 3D immersive simulations & analytics to onboard & develop salespeople more effectively. Enables reps to practice the real-life customer interactions they face. Like playing a video game, reps work their way through challenging scenarios & receive consistent, expert feedback from UPtick’s virtual coach. Simulators are effective tools for developing mission-critical skills:Screen Shot 2023-04-25 at 6.58.01 pm Challenging, engaging video game-like experience applied to sales training. Creates an emotional connection to training content that drives repetition. Extensive simulation library, fully customizable to your selling situation. Founded 1998. New York, NY, USA. DigitalChalk digitalchalk.uk is a product of Sciolytix: Learning Management System. No matter who you train, from our platform to our people, DigitalChalk provides the functionality & expertise you need for your eLearning program.

HIfv4cwK_400x400Vidinoti vidinoti.com @Vidinoti User-friendly platform to create, deploy & manage localised Augmented Reality content. Implementation of solutions in AR & VR for events & expos / trade shows. Enterprises can benefit from AR to better train & onboard their employees & reduce maintenance & intervention costs thanks to immersive manuals & AR-based remote assistance. Augment your content with more engaging content, in just a few clicks & track the popularity of articles via analytics dashboards. Create & deploy AR-based interaction & tours using Vidinoti’s CMS. That content can then be easily accessed using an installed mobile app. Switzerland. 17-Jun-2021, Bigtincan @bigtincan Australian sales enablement vendor acquired 100% of Switzerland-based tech company Vidinoti SA for roughly $770k in cash & shares. The Swiss acquisition specialises in augmented & virtual reality systems: Suite of tools to create, deploy & manage augmented reality content including V-Director, V-Player & the Vidinoti SDK.

Screen Shot 2022-03-29 at 6.19.22 pmVRtuoso formerly vrtuoso.io @VRtuosoGlobal now aruvr.com & @ARuVRGlobal turnkey XR learning solution for Enterprise training. Trusted by 1m+ users worldwide. Say “Yes” to ARuVR. PowerPoint + Webex for VR & much more!” Making VR-based enterprise learning & marketing a reality for all. Immerse. Experience. Enjoy. Creating VR content-based presentations, training & any immersive experiences has never been easier. Presenters can rapidly create slides with 360° & 2D content, like video, images, text, shapes & polls. PowerPoint for VR & much more! TOGETHER WITH OUR ECOSYSTEM PARTNERS & RESELLERS WE MARKET & SUPPORT WORLDWIDE VR / AR ENTERPRISE’S ROLLOUTS AT SCALE. Enterprise product to create VR presentations in-house. VR live content creation, real-time guided content consumption & live VR streaming platform over 5G network for enterprise rollouts at scale. Available as either Cloud or private On-Premise SaaS – enables any in-house team to quickly & easily create & deliver real-time, guided, on- & off-line, immersive VR business presentations & interactive training experiences. During any meeting or training session with VRtuoso you can also interact, moderate & control what the audience views on either their VR headsets or personal devices in real time. Capture & create your own VR content & use rich content libraries. 500k+ stock VR images & videos & 5k+ stock 2D vector icons & shapes that can build or enhance your virtual experiences. Designed for people who aren’t VR experts, with near zero learning curve: VR learning product for enterprise rollouts at scale. London, England, United Kingdom VRTUOSO LIMITED Company number 11512819 – USA – ITALY. In 2022 they rebranded to ARuVR (Are you VR?) aruvr.com & @ARuVRGlobal XR Enterprise Training Platform. ARuVR Ltd.

Vuframe vuframe.com @Vuframe VUFRAME sales enablement platform that helps you present your products using 3D, augmented & virtual reality. Provides web-based platform to create enriched, sharable Augmented & Virtual Reality experiences & apps online – on any device. Ingest many types of files & online content & publish it once to many types of devices & formats. Simultaneously supports 3D, AR & VR and offers a great on-boarding with lots of templates & examples. It is not a gimmick – you benefit from real-world use cases. Pay as you go for their off-the-rack templates which neither require tech or coding resources nor R&D effort or risk for the user. Vuframe GmbH. Regensburg, Germany

1519922011651Wonda VR wondavr.com @wonda_vr Creative Learning & Collaboration Solutions. We design intuitive tools & robust solutions to make the most of emerging VR, AR & MR technologies. Wonda VR Spaces, is an all-in-one Web application to create & share immersive learning & discovery experiences on all platforms. In 5 years, our solutions have been chosen by 10k+ creators, educators & communicators working for top brands & institutions such as Salesforce, EY, VMware, NYU, Parsons or Harvard University. Brooklyn, NY, USA. Paris, France, Wonda VR, Inc.

AvayaLive Engage conferencing in 3D environments with spatial audio for meetings, training, sales & support. Collaborative browsing & presenting marketing material in on-demand, web-based, immersive collaboration environments. I worked on this at Nortel Networks when it was Nortel’s so called web.alive application: 3D spatial audio: Proximity based audio means “walking” away from others lets their voice get softer & therefore allows for break-out sessions.

web.alive meetingavaya live

Overall my count of Sales Enablement software has over 186 relevant vendors.

sales_enablement_martech_market_2024

web conferencing in a virtual 3D environment for remote meetings, training, sales enablement, and sales support

28-March-2012 Corporate Visions @corpv tweeted:

“Key findings: Sales enablement tools for customer conversations in a virtual environment are missing”

I would suggest to take a look at my posts on AvayaLive Engage.

AvayaLive Engage (formerly named web.alive and originally developed at Nortel) is was web conferencing in a virtual 3D environment for remote meetings, training, sales [enablement], and [sales] support. I’m no longer affiliated with the product or any of the companies behind it, but I used to do product marketing for it back in 2009.

“[…] rich and immersive avatar-based collaboration […]

    • […] allows you for the first time to meet with your online customer in the same way as if they crossed the physical threshold of your business’ front door. Unleash your real-time voice and existing highly skilled staff to go and talk to your customers, either one-on-one or in a crowd. By doing so, you provide them relevant information to help them down ‘off of the fence’ […]. The same environment can be used to provide support, and a community of users with knowledge can help deepen your relationship with customers, as well as providing a place to work with your customers […]”

Environment for web-based customer meetings, collaboration, eLearning and virtual conferences

I have blogged about web.alive, now “avayalive engage”, the immersive internet experience, a couple of times already.

Integrating streaming video, all kinds of documents like PDF, PPT, etc and a web browser – as in the screenshot below – this environment can be used for for web-based customer meetings, assisted eCommerce, online collaboration, eLearning and virtual conferences.

web.alive

web.alive meeting

What stands out about web.alive is:

  • It is easy to get started: Download the plug-in when you first visit a website with web.alive, grab a stereo-headset if possible and then start walking around with the A-W-D-S keys on your keyboard.
  • It can be embedded into any website.

webalive

  • It has 3D spatial audio. (That is proximity based audio, which lets you use your voice and makes using text chat the exception. Walking away from others lets their voice get softer and therefore allows for break-out sessions which conference calls don’t.)
  • You always know who is speaking and won’t be in the situation not to know someone’s name.
  • The host/admin can mute people with bad background noise.
  • It is SPAM free.
  • It has low hardware/graphics requirements.

Why not have your Sales 2.0-type webinars in web.alive?

[Disclosure: Until October 2009, I used to work for Nortel Networks; at the time the company behind web.alive]

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