Enterprise Applications: Why IBM Smarter Commerce Focuses on the Digital Customer

IBM is trying to make it easier for the marketing department and IT to play better together to help organizations reach their customers and constituents through more direct interaction, among other things. At its IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit­ in Orlando, Fla., Big Blue announced new software and services designed to help chief marketing officers (CMOs), chief procurement officers and other key line-of-business executives realize quicker business results by delivering intelligence-guided customer experiences across all digital channels, aligned to the buying and shopping preferences of each individual. IBM announced the expansion of its Smarter Commerce initiative with new cloud-based software and services that enable businesses to immediately put the customer at the center of their operations in order to drive revenue and ensure sustainable brand loyalty. The new initiatives include the IBM Marketing Center, an IBM SmartCloud Solution that integrates digital analytics with real-time marketing execution capabilities into a single solution that allows CMOs to better meet customer needs by quickly analyzing customer shopping patterns and turning these insights into intelligent offers that are personalized to each person. IBM also announced a new Smarter Commerce Managed Services offering that helps clients more rapidly and effectively deploy and manage their e-commerce environments, as well as a new offering for Strategic Supply Management, available on-premises and as a SmartCloud solution, which speeds and improves supplier governance, risk and compliance. This slide show shows some of the ways IBM is connecting with digital customers. The numbers come primarily from IBM, with some help from Forrester, Nielsen and ComScore.