IBM Smarter Commerce Summit Ushers in Era of Cognitive Computing for Consumers with Watson

SOURCE: IBM

Nashville, TN, May 22, 2013 – This week at the IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit, IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced a series of advanced solutions, market studies and transformation projects that demonstrate how its solutions and services are revealing profound insights to help businesses connect with customers, accelerate the supply chain and increase profits. Headlined by the debut of the first consumer-facing Watson offering for Smarter Commerce, the conference showcases how leading-edge executives are deploying big data analytics delivered through cloud-based solutions on mobile devices to stay one step ahead of changing market expectations in fiercely competitive industries.

More than 3,000 global business and technology leaders have gathered in Nashville, Tennessee, this week at the conference to learn how Smarter Commerce can evolve their businesses and transform how they buy supplies, sell, market and provide service to their customers. Key news and developments announced this week in Nashville at the conference include:

Technology Innovation

• * Watson engages with customers via the IBM Watson Engagement Advisor – Two years after its triumph on Jeopardy!, the IBM Watson Engagement Advisor is the industry’s first consumer facing cognitive computing breakthrough. In one simple click, the solution’s “Ask Watson” feature will quickly address customers’ questions, offer advice to guide their purchase decisions and troubleshoot their problems. The system will continually learn from those interactions via cognitive computing intellect, enabling it to provide fast, accurate and personalized customer service and natural conversations.
• * MobileFirst innovations
• * Tealeaf now comes included in IBM Worklight, enabling IBM clients building mobile applications to assess what their customers are experiencing and to make improvements faster.
• * WebSphere Commerce now comes pre-integrated for Tealeaf.
• * Mobile versions of Emptoris Procurement solutions, Digital Marketing, Web Analytics and WebSphere Commerce are now available.
• * IBM Research is demonstrating a new technology called Presence Zones in the Summit Solution Center. It delivers insight into customer behavior and preferences that can be used to personalize and enhance the customer experience across all channels.

Market Intelligence

• * Breakthrough Global CPO survey – In the largest procurement study ever conducted, a new IBM Institute for Business Value survey finds that top performing Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) are increasing their influence in the c-suite and, as a result, are making a direct impact on the bottom line. The study showed that high performing CPOs drove 7.12 percent profit margins compared to just 5.83 percent for companies with low performing CPOs.
• * New State of Marketing survey – A new IBM survey of marketing professional finds that leading marketers are separating themselves from the competition by crunching big data and personalizing marketing campaigns, however those that don’t are losing over $83 billion in sales due to poor customer experiences. The survey also finds that top Chief Marketing Officers are adjusting offers in real time based on customer needs and using social media and mobile channels to better connect with customers wherever they may be.

Industry Leadership

• * CEVA Logistics develops new information exchange – CEVA Logistics has deployed cloud-based solutions from IBM’s SmartCloud portfolio to accelerate business delivery results for its customers through a new cloud-based information exchange for its supply network. CEVA Logistics estimates the solution will help the company reduce IT-related supply chain costs by upwards of five percent over the four-year contract.
• * The Dannon Company increases forecasting accuracy – The Dannon Company, the best-selling brand of yogurt worldwide, is working with IBM’s cloud-based predictive analytics solutions to make smarter decisions on pricing and promotion activities. Through the use of integrated analytics planning delivered as a service, Dannon is able to tune pricing in real time to what the market will bear while dramatically improving forecasting abilities from 78 percent to 98 percent.
• * L’Oreal gains purchasing power – L’Oreal USA will use an advanced IBM cloud-based analytics solution that will transform the way it buys from its network of North American suppliers under a new three-year agreement. The new services will enable the company to bring beauty products to consumers more quickly and efficiently.
• * Security First Insurance gets closer to storm victim clients – Security First Insurance, headquartered in Ormond Beach with over 180,000 customers, is using a Smarter Commerce solution from IBM to collect and analyze big data to quickly begin the claims resolution process for those who have been impacted by a storm. This will help build a bridge between social media posts and the claim process and better serve its customers.

Ecosystem Expansion

• * Free IBM Marketing Center licenses for Business Partners –  IBM will now offer business partners one-year free access to the cloud-based IBM Marketing Center solution that helps businesses analyze big data to identify patterns in customer preferences and transform real-time marketing strategies to target the individual consumer more effectively. With this capability, businesses can mine data on interactions via web, mobile and other digital channels, including interactions referred from all major social networks, to better adjust and personalize market campaigns based on that insight.
• * 300 Partners grow their Smarter Commerce skills and their businesses – In the last year, more than 2200 individuals were certified for key skills in the first quarter of 2013 alone. The newest certified partners include: COE, Oxford Consulting, Royal Cyber, SapientNitro and CEBS.

IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative features software and services that help companies transform their business processes to more quickly respond to shifting customer demands in today’s digitally-transformed marketplace. The initiative is driven by organizations that are increasingly looking for ways to bring new levels of automation to marketing, sales and fulfillment to secure greater customer loyalty.

More information on Smarter Commerce can be found at www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/smarter_commerce/overview/