As part of its Smarter Commerce strategy, IBM announced a new cloud-based analytics suite that combines software from its Coremetrics and Unica acquisitions.
IBM has announced a new
cloud-based Web analytics and digital marketing suite aimed at helping its
business customers automate online marketing campaigns across digital channels,
such as Websites, social media networks and mobile phones.
The new IBM offering
combines software IBM got in its acquisitions of Coremetrics and Unica and
provides analytics that help companies better determine the effectiveness of new
products and services, fine-tune marketing campaigns and create personalized
offers in real-time across all online channels, IBM officials said.
The technology comes as part
of IBM's
Smarter Commerce initiative, which is focused on helping companies more
effectively market, sell and secure greater customer loyalty in the era of
social networking and mobile computing. With 64 percent of consumers making a
first purchase because of a digital experience, it is more critical than ever
that marketers understand this online behavior and refine their marketing
activities accordingly, IBM said.
The combined Coremetrics and
Unica software enables companies to better understand their customers' buying
preferences and patterns across all digital media, including Websites, social
media networks, mobile phones and tablets. This intelligence is used to quickly
develop and deliver the most relevant customer experience, transforming
marketing from an uninvited intrusion to an intuitive client service.
For example, businesses
would be able to evaluate Facebook or Twitter activity, and offer customers
tailored promotions delivered to their mobile devices on the fly. IBM's suite
also enables businesses to deliver and fine-tune digital marketing programs
based on what customers are doing offline. For instance, a consumer who
purchased a new tablet in a brick-and-mortar store would receive special offers
via email to purchase tablet accessories. The benefit to the customer is a
consistent, relevant brand experience that reflects all their online preferences,
not just what they did, read or saw on one specific site, IBM said.
"The convergence of social
networking and mobile computing has given rise to empowered consumers who
demand a tailored, compelling online experience," Robert Gilbreath, e-commerce
director at Calendars.com, said in a
statement. "IBM is the company we trust to help us continue to evolve our
approach to customer-centric online marketing, and identify new opportunities
as they arise."
The IBM
Coremetrics Web Analytics and Digital Marketing Optimization Suite
automates and simplifies a company's ability to design and deliver a tailored
online experience and marketing promotions through real-time personalized recommendations,
email ad targeting and more. The new suite also enables marketers to perform
advanced segmentation and automate marketing execution based on multichannel
data, including offline data sources. And it delivers real-time product
recommendations for all online channels-including social, mobile, email and
display ads.
Moreover, the suite provides A/B testing capabilities to help
search-engine marketers compare pairs of search terms to determine the most
cost-effective terms and associated ads. In addition, IBM's new analytics suite
supports deep analysis into how customers interact with a brand over time and
when each marketing program is the most effective, IBM officials said.
"We're seeing
increasing client demand for a single source of truth in understanding customer
online behavior and buying trends as businesses strive to identify and seize
new revenue streams," Yuchun Lee, vice president and general manager of
IBM Enterprise Marketing Management, said in a statement. "We are defining
a powerful, integrated and data-driven approach to marketing, one that drives
higher-margin sales while using analytics to place the customer's needs
squarely at the center of all campaigns and promotions."
The IBM Coremetrics Web
Analytics and Digital Marketing Optimization Suite is the newest addition to
the company's family of Smarter Commerce solutions. With its Smarter Commerce
initiative, IBM is forging ahead into a new market that it estimates will grow
to $20 billion in software opportunity alone by 2015, driven by the demands
from organizations that are increasingly looking for ways to bring new levels
of automation to marketing, sales and fulfillment to secure greater customer
loyalty.
"Smarter Commerce"
transforms how companies manage and swiftly adapt to customer and industry
trends across marketing, selling and service processes that span the entire
commerce cycle, putting the customer at the center of their decisions and
actions, IBM said.
Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.
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