Twitter and IBM tie the knot in analytics deal
Duo claims alliance will "transform" the use of customer data
Twitter and IBM have announced plans to form an alliance that they claim will "transform" how businesses understand their customers, markets and trends.
The two firms said that the alliance "brings together Twitter data that distinctively represents the public pulse of the planet with IBM's industry-leading cloud-based analytics, customer engagement platforms, and consulting services".
Three key areas will be focused on, according to the announcement:
• Integration of Twitter data with IBM analytics services on the cloud: IBM plans to offer Twitter data as part of select cloud-based services, including IBM Watson Analytics and a cloud-based data refinery service that enables application developers to embed data services in applications. Entrepreneurs and software developers will also be able to integrate Twitter data into new cloud services they are building with IBM's Watson Developer Cloud or IBM Bluemix platform-as-a-service.
• New data-intensive capabilities for the enterprise: IBM and Twitter will deliver a set of enterprise applications to help improve business decisions across industries and professions. The first joint solution will integrate Twitter data with IBM ExperienceOne customer engagement solutions, allowing sales, marketing, and customer service professionals to map sentiment and behavior to better engage and support their customers.
• Specialised enterprise consulting: IBM Global Business Services professionals will have access to Twitter data to enrich consulting services for clients across business. Additionally, IBM and Twitter will collaborate to develop unique solutions for specific industries such as banking, consumer products, retail, and travel and transportation. The partnership will draw upon the skills of tens of thousands of IBM Global Business Services consultants and application professionals including consultants from the industry's only integrated strategy and analytics practice, and IBM Interactive Experience, the world's largest digital agency.
Ginni Rometty, IBM's chief executive, said the partnership will draw on IBM's leading cloud-based analytics platform and help clients enrich business decisions with an entirely new class of data.
"Twitter provides a powerful new lens through which to look at the world - as both a platform for hundreds of millions of consumers and business professionals, and as a synthesiser of trends," she said, adding that the alliance is the latest example of how IBM is reimagining work.
Twitter's CEO, Dick Costolo, said the partnership will change the way business decisions are made. He cited identifying emerging market opportunities and better engaging clients, partners and employees as areas that will change.
"When it comes to enterprise transformation, IBM is an undisputed global leader in enabling companies to take advantage of emerging technologies and platforms," he added.
The two firms are claiming that together - and with the development of new solutions to improve business decisions across industries and professions - they will be able to enrich existing enterprise data streams to improve business decisions.
"For example, the integration of social data with enterprise data can help accelerate product development by predicting long-term trends or drive real-time-demand forecasting based on real-time situations like weather patterns," their announcement said.