A new stage begins today for AT Internet: we join forces with Piano.
First of all, it is hard to express how proud I am of the women and men who have led AT to its current position: a remarkable product, repeatedly recognized by Forrester as a world leader, service and support of unparalleled quality, a solid and loyal customer base, and above all, teams that are expert, reliable and united.
To take the next step, and become not the European reference, but the world reference, we have found an ideal partner with Piano. The complementarity is perfect, as much from a product point of view as from a marketing, commercial and geographical point of view. Above all, we share the same conviction: analytics must help companies digitalize, improve the user experience and respect user privacy, and not serve the advertising interests of third parties. We want to offer (especially for the media, but not only) a complete, coherent and open alternative to the mastodons who seek to reduce the Internet to their own closed ecosystem.
With Piano, we share the need to provide an exemplary solution in terms of privacy-by-design. More than ever, we want to offer a solution that meets the strictest criteria in terms of user data protection. Many customers have decided to implement our solutions over other vendors thanks to the high standards we’ve been offering for many years now. And as legislative change is accelerating around the world to protect people, we are prepared to defend this conviction more than ever.
Of course, the complementarity of AT and Piano products is the cornerstone of our common project. Piano provides its customers with a wide range of innovative software that acts on the entire customer journey to stimulate engagement, conversion, monetization and retention. Along this path, AT Internet will be able to enrich the experience of Internet users with qualitative data and allow relevant, fair, value-creating interactions, while respecting the expectations of the end user. Our joint offer based on data intelligence will allow, for example, to create engagement or personalization scenarios in order to optimize content as well as conversions or the fluidity of navigation.
After 3 years of development, our new Analytics Suite Delta version (launched last November) allows us to imagine the unimaginable with a Data Model of unlimited flexibility. In addition, Analytics Suite Delta offers the most advanced functionalities to efficiently exploit this data directly in our interfaces or via third party Cloud solutions. It is therefore the ideal time to imagine gateways between our two platforms. For each company’s activities and each sector, it is now possible to obtain an analytical schema that is both adapted and actionable.
Finally, if the complementarity between analytics and orchestration of the customer experience within the same platform offers unique benefits, we are convinced, with Piano, that it is essential to continue to develop our integrations with all the best-of-breed players on the market. Our historical partners will therefore remain so. Not only because we owe them a lot and our customers demand it, but above all because we are convinced that analytics must meet two imperatives:
- to guarantee, a priori, watertight barriers between each type of data collected, and total transparency about the purposes and uses of the data.
- but also to be able to communicate with a maximum of Martech actors, in order to simplify data flows and enrichments, if (and only if) Internet users see their interest and have given a clear consent.
We are going to invest more than ever to strengthen and develop these links. Our fight remains the one of our partners: an open Internet, made up of specialized and interconnected players.
Of course, we will continue and even accelerate our innovation program (video, e-commerce, automatic insight thanks to Machine Learning…), in all the sectors where our customers operate (media, classifieds, e-commerce, banking, insurance, institutions, administrations, industries etc.). No change of direction, only a greater development strike force and new R&D skills.
On the ecological side we also have a common ambition. We want to work together to continue the efforts we have already made to reduce our environmental footprint and greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible. The data minimization at the core of our strategy is to always seek to “do better with less [data]”. To this end, several actions are already underway: reducing computing power to the maximum without compromising data reliability, reducing the amount of historical data stored, or encouraging the collection of only the strictly useful information. Minimization also has obvious virtues in terms of privacy.
Our international ambition is now tenfold. AT Internet will be deployed in North and South America and in Asia (particularly Japan), supported by marketing and sales resources that are far beyond what we have had available until now, while Piano will be able to strengthen and accelerate its presence in Europe. We know that translating the interface into Japanese is not going to be so easy and that we will have to learn how to negotiate with Brazilian buyers, but the HR departments are on deck to strengthen the teams. If you’re interested in the adventure, there are positions open in all departments (R&D, sales, service…), now is the right time to get on the train, it was already going fast, but it will accelerate.
Thanks to Trevor, the CEO of Piano, who has been able to convince both the teams and the financial partners during these last strange months. While the complementary nature of the companies quickly became apparent to all concerned, the pandemic context inevitably made exchanges acrobatic, and it took a great deal of determination to bring the project to a successful conclusion in such an environment.
Finally, I would like to thank the customers who have placed their trust in us and helped us co-construct our product for so long. Some major accounts have shown notable boldness in choosing the challenger and betting on the Bordeaux SME vs a Big Tech with an insatiable appetite. All of our clients share a common concern for privacy that distinguishes and honors them. And I am happy that the choice of AT offers them a favorable competitive situation now that the laws (GDPR, CCPA…) are in line with the legitimate concerns of Internet users. No, you were not too picky, you were just visionary. A big thank you to our customers, therefore, who made the bet of AT, more than 20 years ago for some of them, and who have been with us since. Rest assured that we are more determined than ever to serve you, to accelerate our innovation cycles and the defense of our common values. And don’t worry, the teams that accompany you on a daily basis remain exactly the same (including yours truly), they have become too attached to you over the years. Loyalty creates bonds.
Finally, I would like to thank my father, who showed extraordinary imagination and courage when he created AT 25 years ago, and who then accompanied our adventures with a kindness and enthusiasm sometimes close to unconsciousness.
Season 1 was unpredictable, sometimes violent, full of twists, turns and happy moments. Season 2 promises to be even more exciting, with the same determination and new ambitions.
Thank you.
Mathieu Llorens
