IBM Rolls Out Cloud Analytics Software
IBM this week launched cloud analytics software for marketers during Unica’s Marketing Innovation Summit in Boston. Coremetrics Lifecycle is designed to help customers “capitalize on every marketing milestone” while making the most of their interactions with prospective clients across online marketing channels, such as email, display advertising, search marketing, and social media.
The solution, which will include prebuilt and customizable templates and insight into online marketing program effectiveness, will seamlessly integrate with other Coremetrics software.
The company is “dedicated to delivering capabilities that equip marketers with analytics-based insight,” says John Squire, chief strategy officer for Coremetrics. “We started to consider this eight months ago,” he recalls. “We asked ourselves: What are the things we do really well, and what can we do to upgrade the next generation of Web analytics?”
According to Squire, the software will be appropriate for businesses of a variety of sizes. “We cover a whole bunch of industries, whether that’s retail, transportation, travel and hospitality, B2B, financial services, media, or entertainment,” he explains. “We have a lot of customers.”
Yuchun Lee, founder and former CEO of Unica and current vice president and general manager for IBM’s enterprise marketing management (EMM) group, expressed optimism about cloud-based solutions. “We see this growing rapidly,” he says. “I think Coremetrics, Unica, and the EMM group will be able to influence IBM’s direction in the software-as-a-service space.”
Lee also distinguished between a mostly consumer concern about privacy in the cloud and security. “I think a lot more concerns are truly about security and not about privacy,” he says. “You don’t want your identity stolen, you don’t want your data to land in the wrong hands, etc.”
As a result, Lee expects a higher level of security requirements for cloud-based solutions. “IBM is ranked number one in terms of security infrastructure,” he says. “They have a very rigorous process on every software release. It’s not loosey-goosey within software production for IBM. With that, as the pendulum swings toward higher security, we are going to have a differentiator there.”
The introduction of Coremetrics Lifecycle follows IBM’s recent announcement of other software solutions, as well as “smarter commerce,” a new consulting practice dedicated to helping companies adapt to customer demands in an increasingly digital marketplace.