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Cision Canada
36 minutes ago
- Cision Canada
Imparta Releases Fully Agentic AI Sales Enablement Ecosystem
LONDON, Aug. 11, 2025 /CNW/ -- Imparta has just released a fully agentic version of its award-winning i-Coach ® AI system, delivering enablement at enterprise scale, to make every seller a top performer. Personalised: i-Coach ® AI gets to know each user's role, context, goals, and strengths, and it remembers past discussions. It looks for patterns and delivers deeply tailored coaching, training, insights, methodology-aware roleplays, and more. Proactive: i-Coach ® AI gets in touch to follow up on coaching conversations, driving accountability and results. It proactively suggests ideas to front-line staff and managers alike, to help drive performance. Powerful: i-Coach ® AI draws on 1.5 million words of researched best practice across sales, service, and management, to power 20+ agents to perform. It also taps into the organisation's own data sources to deliver expert, adaptive support, coaching, and learning. Richard Barkey, Founder and CEO of Imparta, commented: "Imparta was first to market in 2023 with AI coaching powered by sales IP, and we have added multiple AI use-cases since. But the agentic version of i-Coach AI takes everything to the next level. It doesn't just respond; it anticipates. It recalls who you are, what you've accomplished, and what you're aiming to improve. Our proprietary agents cover everything from call analysis and conversation intelligence to learning curation, adaptive coaching, deal planning, and creative problem-solving. They support front-line managers directly, as well as sales and service teams, and critically, they re-form the connection between analysis and learning that so many platforms break. We are adding new agents all the time, and I am incredibly excited about the potential to transform commercial results at a global scale". Megan Andrew, Head of Platform and AI, said: "Our enterprise clients have been clear that they don't want another AI platform – they already have too many 'islands of AI' that lead to siloed data and a poor user experience. i-Coach ® AI is truly integrated. It connects to your data. It fits into your tech stack as an orchestrator (with text, voice, and video avatar options) and manages multiple vendor agents, or it can work as headless agents within an existing AI ecosystem." To mark the launch, Imparta will host a series of live webinars and interactive demonstrations starting with sessions taking place on August 28 th and September 9 th. These sessions will provide insights such as: How agentic AI differs from other AI models, drives, and tracks performance The 20 AI agents that your sales team needs, and the 5 types of human agent that make them stick. The key data integrations that improve AI effectiveness. How to avoid AI silos and create a unified user experience Click here to register: About Imparta Imparta is a global leader in performance improvement for Sales, CX and Leadership. Imparta's 25 years of research and experience with leading global organisations allows it to deliver: The skills to win: Imparta's modern, research-based methodology equips sellers to make sense of each situation, choose the right response, and deliver results based on 180+ best practice skill modules. Embedded at scale: Imparta's expert designers, consultants and trainers help you assess, develop, coach, and continuously improve sales capabilities at scale, globally, in local language. Powered by agentic AI: i-Coach ® AI is an agentic solution that delivers proactive and personalised assessment, learning, coaching and task support for every user, integrated into your AI infrastructure. Together, these elements allow organisations to assess, develop, coach, practice, and continuously improve sales capabilities at global scale, while tracking results and adjusting as the team and markets evolve. They can be used to plug gaps in sales enablement, or to build an entire enablement solution.
Globe and Mail
36 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
The Smartest Quantum Computing Stocks to Buy Now
Key Points Nvidia's DGX Quantum system can help developers rapidly advance quantum programming. IBM's Qiskit has become the leading software platform for quantum programming. Microsoft is making rapid progress toward commercial-scale quantum systems. 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia › The artificial intelligence (AI)-fueled technology revolution has taken the world by storm. However, quantum computing is now promising to be the next paradigm-shifting technology. This transformative technology aims to reshape computational capabilities across every industry. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » Despite the high future growth potential, monetization opportunities in quantum computing are still limited. Therefore, it makes sense for investors to select companies involved in quantum computing that are already generating revenue and profits. Here are three top-notch companies that can give investors exposure to the quantum computing revolution with limited risk. Nvidia Semiconductor giant Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the undisputed leader in accelerated computing. Thanks to its critical role in building the global AI infrastructure (hardware and software), the company is generating massive cash flows. This, in turn, allowed it to invest in technologies like quantum computing. Nvidia is not building quantum computing chips directly. Instead, it announced the launch of Nvidia DGX Quantum, the first GPU-accelerated quantum computing system globally. The system is powered by Nvidia's advanced Grace Hopper Superchip (CPU+GPU) and open-source CUDA Quantum programming model. Nvidia is providing the essential software and hardware infrastructure that quantum developers require today. Hence, Nvidia plans to start generating revenue even though the quantum industry has not yet matured. Nvidia has already formed partnerships with companies including IQM Quantum Computers, Pasqal, Honeywell subsidiary Quantinuum, Quantum Brilliance, and Xanadu. These deals allow software developers to work effectively with quantum hardware through Nvidia's platform. Unlike pure quantum start-ups struggling financially, Nvidia boasts strong profitability. The company generated $60.8 billion in free cash flow in fiscal 2025 (ending Jan. 26). Nvidia's revenue surged 69% year over year to $44.1 billion, while net income was up 26% year over year to $18.8 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 (ending April 27). This financial strength enables the company to invest in new opportunities without risking the core business. Trading at almost 36 times forward earnings, Nvidia commands a premium valuation. However, as the company provides essential tools that every quantum company needs rather than developing specific quantum hardware, its stock is positioned to grow even higher in the coming years. International Business Machines International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), or IBM, quietly transformed itself from a legacy technology company to a major enterprise AI player that generates revenue through enterprise software sales, consulting services, infrastructure systems, and cloud-based solutions. The company has also been making inroads in the quantum computing space since the 1980s. However, it is only in the past few years that its quantum investments have begun delivering tangible results. IBM's launch of the 127-qubit Eagle processor in 2021 and the recent deployment of its Quantum System Two in Japan are significant milestones in the company's quantum strategy. The company offers quantum computing capabilities through the IBM Cloud and is powered by its quantum software stack called Qiskit. Qiskit is already the most popular software platform for quantum programming. Through the IBM Quantum Network, over 250 organizations collaborate on practical quantum applications. Since the launch of the quantum business in 2017, the company earned cumulative revenue of around $1 billion from quantum computing initiatives. Unlike smaller quantum start-ups, IBM has a cash-generating and profitable core business. The company made rapid progress in the enterprise AI segment, as is evident from its generative AI book of business worth $7.5 billion from inception to date. With free-cash-flow guidance of over $13.5 billion for 2025, IBM has sufficient financial flexibility to build quantum capabilities. Yet the company is committed to returning capital and boasts a dividend yield of around 2.69%. Hence, although quantum represents a growing but still modest portion of IBM's business, the technology can prove to be a significant growth catalyst in the long run. Microsoft Technology giant Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also at the forefront of the emerging quantum computing technology. The company's recent breakthroughs, including creating 24 advanced quantum bits with partner Atom Computing and unveiling the Majorana 1 quantum processor in February 2025, demonstrate its quantum computing leadership. Microsoft's Azure Quantum service offers customers cloud-based quantum compute capabilities. The service provides clients access to quantum hardware, quantum software, and quantum services for running quantum programs on real quantum hardware, simulating quantum algorithms, and estimating resources needed to scale quantum programs. Even CEO Satya Nadella recently pointed out that "The next big accelerator in the cloud will be Quantum." Azure Quantum offers quantum hardware from various third-party providers such as IonQ, Quantinuum, Pasqal, and Rigetti Computing. Microsoft and Atom Computing have planned to ship commercial quantum computers in 2025, featuring over 1,000 physical qubits (unlike regular binary bits used in traditional computing, which can be expressed either as 0 or 1, qubits can exist in multiple states simultaneously), thereby starting to monetize its quantum technology. Microsoft achieved the first operational deployment of a Level 2 Quantum computer with Atom Computing in July 2025, marking significant progress toward commercial viability. Microsoft is integrating quantum computing with AI to deliver a decisive competitive advantage. In January 2025, the company launched its Quantum Ready program to help businesses prepare for quantum transformation. Its Azure cloud computing business generated more than $75 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025, up 34% year over year. Microsoft's revenue also surged 15% year over year to $281.7 billion, while free cash flow was $71.6 billion in fiscal 2025, which ended June 30. Hence, it is clear that Microsoft has sufficient financial strength to support its quantum ambitions without straining resources. Considering all the factors, Microsoft offers a low-risk way of investing in the quantum computing opportunity. Should you invest $1,000 in Nvidia right now? Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,427!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,119,863!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 Manali Pradhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends International Business Machines, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
National Post
36 minutes ago
- National Post
Ian Bremmer: The death of the internet as a democratizing force a harbinger of the death of democracy
Technology was supposed to scatter power. Early internet visionaries hoped that the digital revolution would empower individuals to break free from ignorance, poverty and tyranny. And, for a while at least, it did. But today, ever-smarter algorithms are learning to predict — and shape — our every choice, enabling unprecedentedly effective forms of centralized, unaccountable surveillance and control. The coming AI revolution may even render closed political systems more stable than open ones — where transparency, pluralism, checks and balances, and other key democratic features could prove liabilities in an age of exponential change. If openness long gave democracies their edge, could it be their undoing tomorrow? Article content Article content Two decades ago I sketched the 'J-curve,' which links a country's openness to its stability: mature democracies are stable because they are open, consolidated autocracies are stable because they are closed and countries stuck in the messy middle tend to crack under stress. Article content Article content Article content Article content But this relationship isn't static; it's shaped by technology. Back then, the world was riding a decentralizing telecommunications and internet revolution that connected people everywhere and armed them with more information than they'd ever had access to before, tipping the scales toward citizens and open political systems. From the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union to the colour revolutions in eastern Europe and the Arab Spring in the Middle East, global liberalization appeared inexorable. Article content That momentum has since slammed into reverse. The decentralizing information and communications technology revolution gave way to a centralizing data revolution built on network effects, digital surveillance and algorithmic nudging. Instead of diffusing power, this technology concentrated it, handing the small number of actors who control the largest datasets — whether governments or technology companies — the ability to shape what billions see, do and believe. Article content Article content As citizens were turned from principal agents to objects of technological filters and data collection, closed systems gained ground. And so, the gains made by the colour revolutions and the Arab Spring were reversed. Hungary and Turkey have muzzled their free press and politicized their independent judiciaries. Chinese President Xi Jinping has consolidated power and reversed two decades of Chinese economic opening. Most dramatically, the United States has turned from the world's leading exporter of democracy — however inconsistently and hypocritically — to the leading exporter of the tools that undermine it. Article content Article content The explosion of artificial intelligence capabilities is about to supercharge these trends. Models trained on our individual private data will soon 'know' us better than we know ourselves, programming humans faster than we can program them and transferring even more power to the handful of actors who control the data and algorithms.
