IBM to Acquire DemandTec: Delivers Analytics via the Cloud

I see in a press release that IBM has agreed to acquire DemandTec.    Our enterprise retail innovation center was an early evaluator of DemandTec, which brought advanced analytics to key retail and manufacturing  processes.  I was impressed that they had delivered approaches that we had long examined and leveraged to improve operational systems.  Aiming to deliver smarter commerce through analytics.

 Later, they were an innovator using social network interaction to help manufacturers and retailers to collaborate using business analytics.   This new acquisition looks to the Cloud to make those capabilities even easier to connect to data, provide analytics and share results.   This should add nicely to IBM's already impressive vertical analytics capabilities.  To see where this plugs in, see IBM's Smarter Commerce  initiative.

" ... The acquisition of DemandTec will extend IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative by adding cloud-based price, promotion and other merchandising and marketing analytics to help companies better define the best price points and product mix based on customer buying trends.

Organizations are struggling to meet the demands of rapidly shifting customer buying patterns in the era of mobile and social networks. This new digital marketplace requires companies to be highly responsive to consumer demands on the fly. Whether it's setting and executing the right pricing strategy or the ability to automatically adjust pricing based on online and offline data, being able to rapidly shift to market changes has become a key competitive advantage for global businesses ...  "