Who is Thomas Esmann
Thomas Esmann is a digital professional that has worked in marketing, e-commerce, IT project management and sales since 2000. He is currently in the role of Tech CMO at AesirX.
When it comes to data privacy, it is starting to seem like it’s difficult to avoid risks. Big tech companies are frequently fined for using of illegal cookies, while data breaches seem like an all too often occurrence. As we become more immersed in the digital world, it is becoming easier for our information to be misused. That’s where the extreme importance of privacy-first technology comes in.
AesirX, the first free, open-source digital marketing automation platform, provides a variety of tech solutions for businesses to enhance their marketing and customer experiences. With over 20 solutions planned for release in the next two years, AesirX is once again making surfing the net ethical and safe.
We spoke with Thomas Esmann, Tech CMO of AesirX, about their product roadmap, Web3 technology and providing privacy-first technology to businesses, both big and small.
Spotlight: With 79% of internet users feeling like they have completely lost control over their personal information, how does AesirX protect consumers’ privacy while providing a tailor-made experience?
Thomas Esmann: We are solely focused on providing privacy-first technology to everyone so that they can take back control of their data privacy. AesirX is launching 20 Solutions in two years and offers protection for consumer privacy in a variety of ways. All of our technology is Open Source so that everyone has access to the code. AesirX Analytics and AesirX BI (Business intelligence) only ever collect and store first-party data, never third-party data. As you likely know, normally, illegal third-party tracking cookies are used to collect customer data for profit and BigTech has been heavily fined for sharing data with third parties unknowingly. AesirX can gather the same customer insights but even better because the first-party JS Collector technology gathers and stores the data legally, including storage of citizens’ data in-country. So, the data can still be used to enhance the customer experience, for pretargeting and retargeting, but in a more respectful way that’s also GDPR compliant.
As an additional layer of protection, AesirX SSO (Single Sign On) has Web3 wallet integrations (using Concordium blockchain zero knowledge ID technology) which allow any users visiting a site to ‘1-click’ consent for their data to be used to create more meaningful experiences. This data is collected in real-time so it can be used for prediction or personalization.
AesirX proposes embracing the combination of Web2 and Web3 tech to achieve data ownership instead of writing one of the options off entirely. Can you tell us a bit about this?
The existing Web2 MarTech stack will be heavily impacted in all areas of digital marketing due to privacy becoming a global priority for consumers, and Web2 is essentially failing to address the problems. For example, current strategies for retargeting, customer analytics and lead generation are failing. Data-driven digital marketing and display advertising face major challenges requiring a new mindset for the digital marketing industry.
Although Web 2 is failing, Web3 isn't suddenly going to be “switched on '' overnight - we are in a phase where we know Web2 has flaws and Web3 can help with that - and vice versa - the best of both worlds.
AesirX with Web2 + Web3 technology is a new stack for MarTech - a compliant and decentralized future for the world wide web. It uses Web3 technology to enhance and promote customer privacy, offering benefits like greater data freedom, no more data exploitation, more efficient customer (and staff) journeys, greater usefulness and so much more.
You now have developed four AesirX solutions with more planned for the future. And AesirX solutions are even being showcased by users as an alternative to Google Analytics. What do your solutions offer to users that Google does not?
AesirX DMA (Digital Marketing Automation), AesirX DAM (Digital Asset Management), AesirX Analytics and AesirX BI (Business Intelligence), are already available with multiple features and benefits to improve workflow automation and gain customer insights.
A further three solutions are being released over the next few weeks - AesirX SSO (Single Sign On), AesirX MCMS (Metaverse CMS), and AesirX PIM (Product Information Management). Plus, a further 13 are planned in our roadmap.
AesirX BI (Business Intelligence) provides analysis capabilities to the first-party data that are stored by AesirX Analytics on your premises. Basically, a central storage for analytics data where the server is provided and owned by you, so it’s your own data and completely anonymized, making it impossible to identify final users. Instead of BigTech owning the data, you do.
We don’t allow for personal data harvesting across sites and apps, don’t use third-party cookies or hosted JavaScript, is respectful of people’s privacy, collects/stores/uses data compliantly and it’s all available now - no need to wait until other services get blocked or rejected and therefore you will not lose your data as a result.
The tech industry can be unpredictable. How did AesirX come up with a specific roadmap for your tech solutions and what are the challenges of doing so?
Seeing how the world has been losing ownership of their personal data since the dawn of the web, AesirX is changing privacy, MarTech and the world wide web forever. We started with 10 solutions and realized that was not enough to ensure consumers have the best all-in-one optimized platform that traverses all Web iterations and provides all marketing solutions any customer could need, now and in the future. More than 50 staff have been committed to the task which was conceptualized over a decade ago and we grow bigger and bigger globally which is a fantastic challenge to have.
Your primary goal is to find and convert relevant Partner Channel candidates globally to become AesirX Partners and resellers of the AesirX Solutions Series. Can you guide us through your business strategy in achieving this goal?
All AesirX Solutions have published pricing and a customer strategy based on an ideal deployment into the Microsoft Partner Network, or any similar IT Solution Consultancy Partner Channel, offering full support and services as well as 1 click installs on all Azure, AWS and Google Cloud regions.
Tiered licensing incentives for Partners range from 10-50% depending on package sizes as well as direct sales of hosting solutions on Azure and ongoing support gives the MS partner channel, plus any other similar partner channel (AWS, Google, etc.), a very high incentive structure to become an AesirX Partner.
We can see names such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon on your list of partners. How do you select these and how can collaboration with them help achieve your goal?
As an organization, one of our fundamental goals is to identify, engage, and convert digital agencies, IT solution agencies and other relevant candidates globally into becoming AesirX Partners and resellers of AesirX Solutions. We aim to support and manage the Partner Channel as well as drive awareness to build an ongoing global brand for AesirX so that the Partner Channel is attractive to all relevant partner types around the world.
Deployment partnerships are prepared for Azure, AWS & Google Cloud as well as with a full range of options to self-host and utilize easy 1-click installers and simple installation procedures. Creating trust with ID is a key to the mass migration of Web2 to Web3 and beyond, and Concordium is in a class of its own when it comes to Web3 services. The partnership with Concordium will allow AesirX to ensure additional privacy, security, ease-of-use and compliance for its partners and users.
The end of third-party cookies has been on the horizon for quite some time. What does it mean for marketers and what role will AesirX play in a cookieless world?
All browsers are going to block third-party JavaScript and cookies during 2023 and you are already losing more than 50% of your data because it’s being rejected by consumers as well as by the browser manufacturers. Once the main AesirX privacy-first modules are in place - Analytics, BI and SSO - that takes care of the third-party cookies. Instead of waiting for the fallout, organizations can switch to a respectful analytics service now.
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