The Wall Street Journal just posted this article in advance of IBM's 2Q earnings announcement tomorrow, leading with this sentence: "Technology companies have found a new customer -- the marketing department."
The story goes on to highlight the fact that marketing organizations are increasingly taking the lead in technology acquisition, and that "Companies are deemphasizing traditional productivity tools like PCs and standard business software in favor of advanced programs that help them boost revenue, for example by tracking customers across channels and better targeting offers and advertising."
The article reminded me of a post I wrote back in May leading up to IBM's Smarter Commerce Summit in Madrid, Spain -- entitled "No More Business As Usual" -- which I'll quote freely from again below:
Today, circa 2012, we find ourselves at another inflection point in the history of commerce, one which begins and ends with the customer. Today's commerce environment features a customer who is dictating a new set of terms in the dynamic between buyers and sellers, and these are very smart consumers, ones empowered by technology, transparency, and an abundance of information.
Just simply walk through your closest local retailer or your nearest airport, and you'll see signs of this new and smarter consumer. Via smartphones and other mobile devices, they are connected real-time to an absurd amount of information that empowers them as buyers, and, in turn, requires an accelerated sophistication on the part of sellers, no matter the product or service.
These consumers expect to engage with companies when and how they want, through physical, digital, and mobile means, and they want a consistent experience across all channels.
Because they are empowered and connected, they can compare notes, quickly, and they can champion a brand or sully a reputation with the click of a mouse or the stroke of their tablet computer.
In the Journal article, author Spencer Ante points out that Gartner recently predicted by 2017, the chief marketing officer will control more technology spending than the company CIO. Gartner estimates that around a third of marketing department expense budgets are devoted to purchases such as systems to manage customer relationships, predict customer behavior, and run online storefronts, and that the global spend on marketing software already rose from $20 billion to $25 billion over the past year.
Yuchun Lee, an IBM vice president who is one of the "Smarter Commerce" strategy's architects and who was quoted in the article, says that "IBM is making investments in technology that could help clients manage online customer interactions, analyze social media data and craft targeted pitches."
Specifically, IBM has spent some $3 billion making acquisitions in this growing market over the past several years, including the acquisitions of Coremetrics, DemandTec, TeaLeaf, and Unica.
Following is an interview my compadre, Scott Laningham, conducted with Yuchun in Madrid on the topic of smarter commerce.
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In advance of the IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Nashville next week (see my last post for some background), IBM announced a major three-year agreement today with L'Oréal USA USA for expert procurement services using an advanced cloud analytics solution that will transform how L'Oréal USA buys from its network of North American suppliers.
I'm going to be returning to the historical center of country music-dom next week, and yes, I will finally have the opportunity to visit the Grand Ole Opry House.
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The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
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Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
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