The high-profile data breach Epsilon Interactive reported April 1 caused quite a stir, as the company noted on its web site that “a subset of Epsilon clients' customer data were exposed by an unauthorized entry into Epsilon's email system.” BtoC brands including Best Buy, Kroger and Walgreen were among the estimated 2% (of Epsilon’s approximately 2,500 clients) affected by the attack.

While the breach was primarily limited to BtoC organizations, industry experts caution that the incident should serve as a serious wakeup call to BtoB firms. Realizing that a breach like this could have even deeper implications for BtoB organizations, many vendors have been taking proactive steps to help their customers secure email data.

iCentera recently announced the availability of iCentera 8.0, the latest edition of the company’s on-demand sales enablement platform. The new release, tabbed "SSE" (Social Sales Enablement), is designed to help sales and marketing professionals streamline internal collaboration and communication, as well as external communication with prospects, customers and channel partners.

iCentera 8.0 also marks the debut of SE-TV (Sales Enablement TV), a navigational interface designed provide an “interactive, TV-like user experience” to off “prescriptive content, tools, forums and subject matter expertise to help organizations meet the growing demands of sales teams and channel partners,” according to the company.

iCentera recently announced the availability of iCentera 8.0, the latest edition of the company’s on-demand sales enablement platform. The new release, tabbed "SSE" (Social Sales Enablement), is designed to help sales and marketing professionals streamline internal collaboration and communication, as well as external communication with prospects, customers and channel partners.

iCentera 8.0 also marks the debut of SE-TV (Sales Enablement TV), a navigational interface designed provide an “interactive, TV-like user experience” to off “prescriptive content, tools, forums and subject matter expertise to help organizations meet the growing demands of sales teams and channel partners,” according to the company.

Alinean, a creator of value-based interactive sales and marketing tools for BtoB solution providers, announced a new channel partnership agreement with Demand Creation Specialists (DCS), a custom content agency and publisher of DemandGen Report.

The basic white paper is still one of the most important pieces of marketing content — used and trusted as the key decision tool by over 60% of buyers, according to research from SiriusDecisions. However, the effectiveness of white paper marketing campaigns has declined over the past two years, as the current one-size-fits-all content and information overload no longer resonate with today's inundated, skeptical and frugal buyers. To cater to this growing shift in buying patterns, Alinean's Interactive White Paper offers BtoB marketers the opportunity to leverage the large current content investment, drive more high quality leads, reduce sales cycles and maximize new white paper relevance to buyers.

Alinean, a creator of value-based interactive sales and marketing tools for BtoB solution providers, announced a new channel partnership agreement with Demand Creation Specialists (DCS), a custom content agency and publisher of DemandGen Report.

The basic white paper is still one of the most important pieces of marketing content — used and trusted as the key decision tool by over 60% of buyers, according to research from SiriusDecisions. However, the effectiveness of white paper marketing campaigns has declined over the past two years, as the current one-size-fits-all content and information overload no longer resonate with today's inundated, skeptical and frugal buyers. To cater to this growing shift in buying patterns, Alinean's Interactive White Paper offers BtoB marketers the opportunity to leverage the large current content investment, drive more high quality leads, reduce sales cycles and maximize new white paper relevance to buyers.

The marketing automation category may have lost some of the limelight to social media in the first few months of 2011, but industry insiders report that growth in the category is tracking ahead of 2010. With Q1 officially in the books, top consultants in the category predict the increased attention given to social media will increase the need for measurement, which should bode well for the marketing automation space.

“We’re seeing huge in the category,” reported David Lewis, CEO of DemandGen International, a leading consultancy in the marketing automation space based in the Silicon Valley. “Q1 was our busiest and largest quarter in the company’s history--not just from a new client perspective, but also from the depth of the work we are doing with clients. We are seeing a huge uptick in sophistication in the types of programs our clients are doing around lead scoring, lead nurturing and funnel management.”

After introducing the somewhat radical idea that sales reps actually need fewer leads, author Dan McDade’s new book “The Truth About Leads,” has generated a lot of buzz among marketing and sales execs. Noting that many organizations still struggle to define and agree a quality lead, McDade points out that the pressure to fill the pipeline often finds marketing teams passing off leads to sales too early.

After introducing the somewhat radical idea that sales reps actually need fewer leads, author Dan McDade’s new book “The Truth About Leads,” has generated a lot of buzz among marketing and sales execs. Noting that many organizations still struggle to define and agree a quality lead, McDade points out that the pressure to fill the pipeline often finds marketing teams passing off leads to sales too early.

After introducing the somewhat radical idea that sales reps actually need fewer leads, author Dan McDade’s new book “The Truth About Leads,” has generated a lot of buzz among marketing and sales execs. Noting that many organizations still struggle to define and agree a quality lead, McDade points out that the pressure to fill the pipeline often finds marketing teams passing off leads to sales too early.

Act-On Software recently released a new “early experience program” enticing SugarCRM users to take a test drive of its cloud-based Integrated Marketing Platform.

As part of the “early experience program,” trial customers will have full-use access to the Act-On Integrated Marketing Platform, which combines email management with a menu of marketing tools. Early experience users will also have access to the pre-release version of the SugarCRM connector that provides seamless integration with SugarCRM data, according to a company press release.