Business

EGO Creative Innovations Announces Partnership With Inventive

As an answer to the pandemic crisis in 2020, EGO Creative Innovations, an app design and development provider, and Inventive, a Texas-based custom software development company, are signing a Memorandum of Cooperation

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have shifted to Digital First strategies. This in turn has led to increasing demand for app design and development services. Businesses addressing this challenge must quickly expand their resources while continuing to offer attractive pricing along with the highest quality product.

For the last several years, EGO Creative Innovations have successfully worked with Inventive on six projects. During this time, we have exchanged our business experience, revealed our sales and marketing insights, and shared our resources, all to help each other succeed in our markets. We realized we should turn our relationship into a formal strategic partnership. To capture it on paper, in October the companies are signing a Memorandum of Cooperation.

Together, the companies will continue to help businesses seeking aid in digital transformation by providing the following services:

Native and cross-platform application development
DevOps, continuous integration, and continuous delivery
Cloud and legacy migration
Digital product management
UI/ UX design and prototyping
Business analysis
IT strategy consulting

"The stronger and more reliable partner you find for your digital transformation, the less pain you'll experience in the future,” says Eugene Polyanskiy, the CEO at EGO Creative Innovations. “I’m sure our cooperation with Inventive shows you don't need any more proof we're strong and reliable enough for any tech challenge you might have."

"Over the course of two years, the great people at EGO have really become part of our team,” adds Andrew Siemer, the CEO at Inventive Group, Inc. “Signing this memorandum is our way to emphasize how we value our relationship. Yet with it, we're also looking forward to serving the market faster than ever before."

The benefits of this new partnership include:

Geographical coverage. The clients benefit from R&D teams now available in the United States and Eastern Europe.
Cross-industrial expertise. Inventive unites a few business units in various software-development-related areas, while EGO has strong business experience in healthcare, fintech, automotive, AR/VR, and other industries.
Customer success. Inventive was selected as a leader in Clutch.co’s report of the top B2B companies in the United States in 2020, while EGO Creative Innovations has twice been named a leader in App Development in Clutch and is a certified Google Cloud Partner.

About EGO Creative Innovations. Since 2005, EGO has helped over 40 companies successfully build 150+ digital products. The company offers such services as custom app development, UI & UX design, DevOps, QA, prototyping, business analysis, and resource extension for its clients.

About Inventive. Inventive is a Texas-based custom software development company. Founded in 2016, the company houses over 50 experts in all things digital. At the moment, the umbrella brand unites such business units as:

A software engineering and cybersecurity school
Software product development
Certified SDVOSB (Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business) and TIPS vendor providing development services to federal, state, and higher education organizations
A startup incubator
A non-profit aiding underrepresented groups in tech

San Diego Company, Antonio Stefano, Designs One of the Most Protective Masks on the Market to Raise Money for Abused Dogs

San Diego, CA October 14th, 2020. The COVID situation has created many unusual challenges and few solutions. Persons wearing masks have been infected and even died. Protection from COVID has become a primary concern and 3M N95 masks are unavailable to the general public. Most of the masks on the market protect ‘others’ but few protect the person wearing the mask. This is where Antonio Stefano decided to engineer its own mask for the protection of its team, their parents and children. They knew the blue disposable masks are dangerous, as many are water-resistant; if water can’t get through them, air would take the path of least resistance, meaning people inhale and exhale contaminated air from above the nose and below the chin while using them.

The Chief Creative Designer, Stefano Riznyk, is a local businessman who created Antonio Stefano to raise money for the veterinary bills of abused and abandoned dogs. It started as a company that sold high-end ties hand-made in Italy. When COVID hit, he redesigned the ties into masks and then went on to engineer a highly protective mask. His team studied the masks on the market and their protective features. This businessman actually went to fashion school on behalf of his charity and realized that cotton masks, his first choice, would be a mistake. The biggest risk for COVID is that people leave a ‘cloud’ of moisture where they speak; this cloud can linger for 3 ½ hours. COVID hangs on to the moisture and the next person inhales it, and that’s how it spreads. Cotton absorbs moisture so it would pose a major risk as you could potentially be breathing next to a concentration of the virus.

The team then researched various wicking fabrics and sought a balance between protection and the ability to breathe. Wicking fabrics, as found in sportswear, let the moisture ‘slide off’, repelling it. Antonio Stefano created a mask with powerful wicking properties. This was followed by a lining, to again protect. The third part was a container for a PM2.5 filter. Without the filter, the mask offers 3 layers of protection, with the filter, 8. Now, they had a safe mask that protected the person wearing it. The other problem the N95 presents, even if you could get one, is the pressure on the face and ears due to the elastic around the ear used for the seal; the team engineered at spandex tie mechanism to prevent that problem yet completely seal the face comfortably for day-long use.

The latest medical opinions state that even 6 feet is not enough for social distancing, and mention that breathing droplets can travel three times the distance. The easiest way to catch COVID is to breathe in the virus. A recent article illustrated that an abandoned home had COVID, that had entered through water droplets in the sewage system (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-26/coronavirus-in-vacant-apartment-suggests-toilets-role-in-spread); one cannot take any risks as we never know which of us will be fatally affected; many young persons have perished, not just our senior members. Antonio Stefano masks are available in 15 Italian designs for a world-class look. The PM 2.5 filters are easily available online for under a dollar, depending on quantity.

Antonio Stefano has 15 different designs from Lake Como, Italy, and this week is coming out with light and dark blue versions for people who work at companies that do not allow prints. The company is now offering custom masks for employers who want to show their employees they care about their safety. Interestingly, many of their customers are purchasing them for their elder parents and children, rather than themselves!

For further questions you may visit www.AntonioStefano.com, which also has a blog detailing COVID issues. Their email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Black Tie CEO StevenJ

HCP by ApostleTech Adds AI Technology to CRM Marketing Solution for Home Builders

ApostleTech, a leader in Salesforce application implementations and consulting, is the developer of HCP, a CRM solution built on the power of Salesforce and designed specifically for home builders. ApostleTech is now collaborating with AtlasRTX to enhance HCP’s marketing capabilities, adding chatbot tools, which allow users to track and engage leads through the sales process.

AtlasRTX specializes in AI sales and chatbot technology solutions that combine artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and automation to provide a real-time conversational web interface and text messaging that helps homebuilders connect with prospective buyers. HCP by ApostleTech was designed to offer small to mid-size homebuilding companies a more affordable CRM with highly effective and efficient tools for managing sales and marketing operations.

“We’ve been developing and implementing customized CRM Salesforce-based solutions for more than a decade and during that time we have worked with some of the largest home builders in the U.S. and understand that the goal for homebuilders is to take leads and turn them into buyers,” explains Kyle Aulerich, CEO of ApostleTech.

Drawing on its experience building robust customized CRM solutions, ApostleTech’s development team configured HCP with front and back end integrations that allow home builders to manage their sales team operations in one system. HCP also provides easy access to reporting and analytics for tracking and managing sales leads and customers throughout the sales process.

“We saw the need for a more affordable and efficient CRM solution and developed HCP to offer home builders a strong technology foundation to build on as a company grows. Working with AtlasRTX to integrate their AI technology gives HCP more power than ever,” adds Aulerich.

AtlasRTX’s chatbot brings sophisticated AI to homebuilder websites, lead engagement, and model home visit follow-up by engaging customers online and via SMS – all of which now downloads into the HCP CRM. HCP also features a digitized sign-in process for prospects, email communication with pre-built templates for sales associates to send messages directly from the CRM platform, and It also allows managers to create custom lists and to organize and assign upcoming tasks for the sales team. In addition, HCP offers users the ability to maintain complete inventory of all ongoing projects and to create building scenarios for home buyers.

"AtlasRTX is pleased to provide an out-of-the-box integration with ApostleTech’s new CRM. The opportunity to trigger chatbot engagements with prospects from the CRM and for sales teams to both view and engage the customer both online and over text is what modern buyers expect,” says Bassam Salem, CEO.

HCP is available as a mobile app allowing sales representatives to record information, add new prospects to the system, create mobile visitor cards, log a be-back, send an email SMS text, setup appointments and send follow-up reminders from anywhere at any time.

Pricing for HCP begins at $55 per user per month. To learn more about HCP by ApostleTech visit https://www.hcpcrm.com.

About ApostleTech

ApostleTech was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Chandler, AZ. The company employs a team of experts specializing in implementing and supporting Salesforce solutions. For more information, visit https://apostletech.com.

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New food and drink marketplace celebrates as artisans named in Great Taste Awards

Recently launched virtual marketplace www.meltedinside.com, which helps artisan food and drink producers promote their produce, has seen over 100 makers from across the UK join so far.

Around 30 of these makers' products have been named in this year's prestigious Great Taste Awards with a mix of 1, 2 and 3-star accolades. This year 12,777 products were entered and judged.

Melted Inside founder Candy Bowles said: "We try to feature the best artisan products available and seeing so many achieve Great Taste Awards shows that we have teamed up with the best of the best."

Great Taste is the world's largest and most trusted accreditation scheme for fine food and drink. Each product is fastidiously blind tasted by selected chefs, buyers, fine food retailers, restaurateurs, food critics and writers over 60 judging days.

Melted Inside makers who achieved at least one star include: La Tua Pasta; Artisan Raw; Palace Culture; Lakeland Mues; Noble and Stace; Nutcessity; Yare Valley Oils; The Ribble Valley Gin Company; Margot and Montanez; Hogg Norton; Raw and Wild Company; ChicP ; Cru 8

Candy added: “Melted Inside helps shoppers discover amazing and delicious products while giving artisan food and drinks makers a platform to share their passion. We encourage our makers to take the front stage to tell their stories through videos, images, podcasts and even recipes and blogs.

“We understand that many makers have limited resources and like to focus on creating amazing food. Melted Inside aims to make it enjoyable for shoppers to buy from these passionate producers and makes it easier for the artisan makers to engage with more customers and share their incredible stories. I strongly believe that we should all know where our food comes from, who makes it and how it is made. Provenance matters to people more than ever and passionately made, delicious food deserves to be discovered and appreciated wherever you are.”

As well as tasting amazing, some of the produce allows shoppers to make a difference by helping others when they purchase. For instance, 5th Season Fruit supports charity Farm Africa and Harry Specters chocolate provides employment opportunities to people with autism - a condition that the owner cares a lot about for personal reasons.

Candy launched Melted Inside during lockdown to offer people a greater choice of lovingly made products during a time of isolation and social distancing. She describes piloting a new marketplace during the lockdown as “a leap of faith, to put it mildly”.

“Working with the artisan makers is proving a wonderful experience. Their passion and commitment to what they do is simply inspiring and humbling. This realisation helps me appreciate what they make even more and the stories of many of our makers are just fascinating,” she added.

Melted Inside exists to share the love of what artisan makers do every day and the love they put into creating products for shoppers looking to buy real food from real people. If you are an artisan food maker and interested in joining Melted Inside please email a href="mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it." data-content="Good Market community - a curated platform that makes it easier to find and connect with social enterprises, responsible businesses and changemakers who are creating a better world.

https://www.instagram.com/meltedinside/

https://www.facebook.com/meltedinside/

https://twitter.com/MeltedInside

ENDS

For more information, interviews, images or if you would like to review one of Melted Inside’s products please contact Suzi Christie a href="mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it." data-content="This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it." data-type="mail">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 07590 591140

EU Revises POPs Recast Regulation

The European Union (EU) has recently published several amendments to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021, the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Recast Regulation.

These amendments include:

Regulation (EU) 2020/1203 – revises the exemption requirements for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). Changes include the deletion of the third paragraph in point 4 and the replacing of the first paragraph with:

“If the quantity released into the environment is minimized, manufacturing and placing on the market shall be allowed until September 7, 2025 for use as mist suppressant for non-decorative hard chromium (VI) plating in closed loop systems. Provided that those Member States where PFOS is used report to the Commission by September 7, 2024 on progress made to eliminate PFOS and justify the continuing need for this use, the Commission shall review the need for a prolongation of the derogation for this use of PFOS for a maximum of five years by September 7, 2025.”

Regulation (EU) 2020/1204 – adds dicofol (CAS No 115-32-2) to the Part A of Annex I

Both amendments were released on August 18, 2020 and came into force on the twentieth day following publication in the OJEU.

The EU has also issued draft amendments to the POPs Recast Regulation and held public consultations that closed on September 29, 2020. These include draft amendments relating to:

PFOA and its salts and PFOA-related compounds – equal to or below 2 mg/kg (0.0002 % by weight) where they are present in medical devices other than invasive devices and implantable devices
Pentachlorophenol (PCP) and its salts and esters – equal to or below 5 mg/kg (0.0005 % by weight) where they are present in substances, mixtures or articles

POPs are organic chemicals that persist in the environment, accumulate through the food chain, and have adverse effects on human health and the environment. They are highly toxic and can bio-accumulate and survive long-range transport. In 2001, several countries signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants to promote their elimination and reduction.

The EU recast the POPs Regulation on June 25, 2019, which took effect on July 15, 2019, thereby repealing the originals regulation, (EC) No. 850/2004.

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About SGS

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