IBM enters web and social media marketing analytics space

IBM's launch is just the latest entry into an aggressively competitive space, which has seen acquisitions and launches by Salesforce, Oracle, Google and agencies such as Mediabrands. 

Gartner estimates that worldwide big data IT spending will grow from US$27 billion in 2012 to US$55 billion in 2016. 

The new offerings are part of IBM’s big data platform, and includes the IBM Digital Analytics Accelerator aimed at helping CMOs analyse social media, web traffic and customer communication. Powered by Netezza and Unica technologies, this integrated offering also includes PureData System for analytics.

IBM client, direct response marketing and sales firm Trident Marketing testified that performing analytics on big data has helped the company gain insights such as choosing the precise moment to engage with customers, and anticipating the chances a customer will cancel service.

Working with IBM and partner Fuzzy Logix, the company has seen a tenfold increase in revenue in four years, a ten percent increase in sales in the first 60 days and decreased customer churn of 50 per cent.

“Without big data analytics, businesses will quickly lose out to competitors who get to know consumers better than they do," commented Brandon Brown, Trident Marketing Chief Information Officer, who spoke at the launch of the new platform during IBM’s Information On Demand & Business Analytics Forum 2012.

A recent global survey by the University of Oxford and IBM of 1,144 business and IT professionals from 95 countries and 26 industries shows 63 per cent of respondents are gaining a competitive advantage by using big data and analytics for their organizations.  This is a 70 percent increase from the 37 percent who cited a competitive advantage in a 2010 IBM study.

At the same event, IBM also launched InfoSphere Streams, software designed for communication services providers which can analyse and share big data coming from their networks to improve service, detect  fraud and reduce customer churn; InfoSphere BigInsights for industry-specific analytics; and Analytics Answers which offers SMBs predictive analytics as a service.