Halee Sommer

I'm a US-based content marketer with 5+ years experience. Before writing for tech, I worked in marketing for art museums and galleries. 

I've written for top B2B and SaaS companies, specializing in martech, edtech, and fintech.

Let's work together.

Jellyfish •

3 Things That Keep Engineering Managers Up At Night | Blog

The role of an engineering manager (EM) sometimes feels like a game of tug-of-war. Executives want to know if you can speed up delivery timelines while you need to make sure your engineers have enough support to produce high-quality work — and avoid burnout.

If you’re working around the clock and stressing over deliverables, you’re not alone.

Here are the three biggest challenges we see EMs face and how to combat them to fuel productive work.

Efficient delivery management remains one of the b
Jellyfish •

3 Leadership Skills for Engineering Managers | Blog

Any seasoned engineering manager (EM) knows the secret to producing high-quality products is rooted in a content and motivated team. However, figuring out which levers to pull to build team engagement and satisfaction can be tricky — especially since every person on your team likely has different motivators, likes, and dislikes.

Leading your team to success requires more than technical know-how and hard skills. It requires a delicate dance that balances individual developer wants and business n
Planful •

CMO-CFO Alignment: How and Why to Strengthen this Strategic Relationship

The relationship between a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is well-positioned for cross-functional alignment. Both are working toward the same strategic objectives to fuel organizational growth, but the journey to those goals looks completely different.

Despite their differences, leaders in marketing and finance are well-positioned for cross-functional alignment, leveraging their backgrounds to work together to combat industry disruptions and grow their organizat
Snyk •

Your Guide to AI Bills of Materials (AIBOMs)

James Govenor says the You Only Live Once (YOLO) approach behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool “is not going to provide end users with the confidence they need to adopt AI models in strategic initiatives.”

Translation: if you want your AI-based tool to be trustworthy, back it with an AI bill of materials (AIBOM).

AI and machine learning (ML) serve many practical use cases today — like voice assistants, coding assistants, customer support chatbots, writing tools, etc. — all designed to simplify everyda
Planful •

Annual Planning Season is Here. Are You Prepared?

Annual Planning Season is Here. Are You Prepared? What is annual planning? Why is annual planning important? Best practices to make the most of your annual plan How National DCP boosted its annual planning Build a better plan with Planful

Annual Planning Season is Here. Are You Prepared? Even though it happens every year, for most financial planning & analysis (FP&A) teams, annual planning feels like a chore. That’s because, while every organization conducts annual planning, few can execute the
Gorgias •

Customer Effort Score: How to Measure & Improve It

It’s true that a great customer experience is key to winning happy customers — but to keep a pulse on customer satisfaction, you need to dig a little deeper.

To understand the quality of a customer’s experience with your brand, you need to track Customer Effort Score (CES). This metric lets you evaluate your customer service efforts by tracking the level of effort a shopper must exert to fix an issue with your customer support team.

In this article, you’ll learn exactly how to track and monito
Together •

People Strategy: What It Is and Why You Need One | Together Mentoring Software

Your greatest asset isn’t a product or a service — it’s the people. And happy people lead to positive effects for your organization.

According to Gallup, engaged employees see a 41% increase in work quality and are 23% more profitable for their organizations.

Clearly, a strong connection between the organization and its workforce is essential. A solid people strategy is the key to building that connection for the present and the future.

In this article, you’ll learn precisely why a good peopl
Planful •

How to Level Up Your Marketing Leadership

CMOs have the shortest tenure of any C-Suite executive



Today, it’s not enough for a CMO to simply be a marketing expert. They need to be impeccable leaders. Most serve as strategic advisors who must understand their customer base perfectly and handle demands from their CEO. Plus, they do all this while also proving the value of marketing efforts to their fellow executives. To put it simply: CMOs have big shoes to fill. That’s why we wrote an eBook to help you upgrade your marketing leadersh
Planful •

Cloud-based financial planning software: Your key to support FP&A

Spreadsheets are a useful tool, but they can only take you so far.

Sure, they’re handy resources to store data. But what happens if you accidentally lock yourself out of your spreadsheet or if your team passes around multiple file versions?

These days, FP&A teams are leveraging cloud-based financing solutions to host their data. Planful’s recent findings reveal that 94% of finance executives trust cloud solutions to replace more manual financial operations and reporting tools. CFOs use these s
Planful •

How to Harness the Power of AI in FP&A

Thanks to AI, FP&A professionals can rely less on clunky, manual labor and more on strategic thinking. This means that CFOs are becoming more confident in data accuracy and have shifted their focus to strategy.

The best part is, AI doesn’t have to replace your current workforce. Rather, automation helps to take on the more redundant, manual tasks that eat up your team’s time so that they can think creatively about new solutions to help you reach your goals.

Let’s look at three ways AI works wi
Together •

Feedback vs. Feedforward: Which Management Method Should You Use? | Together Mentoring Software

When it comes to workplace communication tactics, feedback and feedforward are crucial tools for employee improvement that serve different purposes.

While feedback looks at the past, feedforward is all about the future — and they work together to push employees toward positive change.

In this article, you’ll learn about the differences between feedback and feedforward within a workplace dynamic. You’ll also explore the benefits of each concept, along with the best time to apply them at your or
Together •

How Activision’s mentoring program adoption shot up from 3% to 46% | Together Mentoring Software

Global video game publisher Activision had a massive need for learning and development.

The organization had all of the legally obligated and cursory training in place, like anti-discrimination and compliance. Still, it needed a more robust investment in L&D.

Then, the company invested in Together to revamp its mentoring program. Heather Gift, ​​Global Employee Networks Manager at Activision, led the charge to adoption and shared the tremendous impact mentoring has had on the organization.

In
Together •

Mentoring topics: Agendas that encourage meaningful discussion | Together Mentoring Software

If you struggle with communication in the workplace, you’re not alone.


Research from Forbes found that 89% of remote and in-person US-based workers need more effective communication. Even more, those same workers cite that poor communication impacts their trust in leadership and reduces their job satisfaction.

Building rapport among colleagues is tricky, especially within a mentorship context. That’s where mentoring topics come in. Mentoring discussion topics provide a framework for both th
Gorgias •

Repeat Customer Rate: Your Guide to Track & Improve the Metric

Repeat customers are a revenue-boosting engine in the world of ecommerce.

According to data from Gorgias’s merchants, repeat customers generate 300% more revenue than first-time customers. The small act of winning back a customer has a huge impact on your brand.

That’s why it's important for brands to understand repeat customer rate (RCR), or the percentage of customers who shop with your brand beyond a one-time transaction.

In this article, you’ll learn how to track and measure repeat custom
Together •

Mentoring Models: 7 Types + How to Use Them in the Workplace | Together Mentoring Software

It’s no surprise that workplace mentoring programs hold tremendous value for individual employees. A recent study with CNBC found that 91% of workers with a mentor are happy in their role.

Mentorship programs benefit entire organizations as a relatively low-lift tactic to increase employee engagement, improve relationships, and encourage knowledge-sharing.

With so many different kinds of mentorship models, how do you choose the right one for your organization?

In this guide, you’ll learn abou
Gorgias •

How to Track & Optimize First Response Time

It's tough to point to a single most important metric in customer service. But if we had to, first response time would be a top contender.

First response time (FRT) is the time between a customer asking a question and your team’s initial response. When your FRT is too long, customers are left wondering whether you even received their question, let alone will get them an answer.

Let’s dive into first response time to understand why it’s so make-or-break for your team. Then, we’ll unpack best pr
Gorgias •

6 Most Important Customer Service Channels to Focus On

Customer expectations are higher than ever. According to Intercom’s recent Customer Service Trends report, 83% of customer service teams are noticing an increase.

Most customers want an answer about their issues immediately, and without a hitch. That’s a big reason why you need to think strategically about how you communicate with customers and the customer service channels you invest in.

While it’s tempting to sprinkle your attention across a dozen different channels, consider choosing just a
Gorgias •

How to Use 16 Essential Customer Service Skills in Any Situation

Customer service professionals (and the customer service skills they possess) are at the frontline of creating great brand experiences.

All too often, customer service workers aren’t valued as truly skilled or strategic members of the business. It’s a shame (and a missed opportunity), given how big a role customer service agents play in the success of a business.

According to 2022 McKinsey research, three out of five customer service leaders view attracting, training, and retaining skilled cus
Planful •

8 Tips to Increase Collaboration Between Finance and Accounting Teams

Unlock the full potential of your finance and accounting departments. They fall under the same umbrella but don’t always see eye to eye. It’s time to bridge the gap, build collaboration, and transform Finance and Accounting into an unstoppable team.

You may think this sounds simple: take the two departments and make sure they’re speaking to each other about the processes. Rinse and repeat. In practice, achieving true collaboration comes with a special set of challenges.

We’ve cracked the code
diginomica •

Budget agility is king. Here's how CMOs can achieve it

There’s no way to sugarcoat it — it’s a tough time for growth for most businesses today.

And when companies struggle or simply face economic uncertainty, marketing usually becomes the first budget slashed.

We’ve already talked at length about why cutting marketing’s budget is a mistake — but if you’re dealing with the reality of doing more with less, you need to adopt an agile mindset.

Agility doesn’t mean abandoning your marketing goals at the first sign of trouble. Rather, it’s about using
360Learning •

3 Real-Life Customer Education Examples and What They Can Teach Us

There’s no way to sugarcoat it; it’s a tough time for SaaS. While the state of the market is uneasy, the last thing you want to worry about is unhappy customers. Customer education is the number-one way to improve customer satisfaction (and, ultimately, customer retention), but many companies still rely on old-fashioned one-on-one training. Maybe it’s the upfront financial investment giving them pause. However, the time and money spent on a customer education strategy always pays off. We’ve got
Extole | Customer Engagement Platform •

How Birdies Shoes Used Social Media to Fuel Its 200% Growth | Extole

Countless people increased their social media time during COVID-19. San Francisco-based shoe brand Birdies used this increase to its advantage, employing a hyper-focused social media strategy to grow revenue by over 200%.

Between its user-generated content, influencer contracts, and branded hashtag campaigns, it’s no surprise Birdies is such a fast-growing company. The team behind its iron-clad social media strategy has figured out exactly how to connect with its target audience of femme wearer
Gorgias •

A Complete Guide to Black Friday Ecommerce in 2023

Black Friday is the strongest revenue-generating day of the year for retailers, with $11.3 billion in sales reported in 2022, according to a report by Adobe. For online merchants, the revenue potential is even sweeter, with the online shopping period extended into Cyber Monday.

But, it takes a coordinated effort by customer support, sales, and marketing to encourage a shopper to click “checkout.” Without a solid ecommerce strategy in place, many online retailers will miss out on the Black Frida
Load More