IBM to buy customer experience specialist Tealeaf Technology

IBM is to buy customer experience analytics software provider Tealeaf Technology for an undisclosed sum.

The technology giant is set to build on its February acquisition of cloud-based analytics provider DemandTec as part of its wider Smarter Commerce initiative.

The initiative was launched in March 2011 and aims to help enterprises respond to shifts in customers' buying patterns.

IBM said Tealeaf Technology will provide chief marketing officers, e-commerce and customer service professionals with real-time and automated insights into customer buying experiences online and on mobile devices.

Yuchun Lee, vice-president and general manager of IBM enterprise marketing management group, told Computing that the move would address a shift in power from organisations to consumers. "Companies need to be more relevant and consistent in their delivery of customer experience," he said.

Lee also explained what IBM hoped Tealeaf Technology would provide for its customers.

"Companies are struggling to make sure they can diagnose customer experience [buying, selling and researching] issues on their website or on their mobile delivery sites. What Tealeaf provides is a video replay of the entire customer session whether it is online or on mobile, so that when a customer does not complete their shopping cart process the company can pinpoint the problem and resolve the issue by looking at the exact sequence," he said.

Lee claimed that IBM has differentiated itself from its competitors as he believes that aside from a few privately held companies there is no company that provides the same capabilities as Tealeaf Technology.

"There is no other company that can offer this on a large scale, doing this in real-time for the service centre in marketing and sales," he said.

IBM said Tealeaf will be integrated into IBM's enterprise marketing and management group, which includes Coremetrics, Unica and DemandTec, all of which were acquired by the technology giant.

IBM has invested more than $3bn (£1.8bn) in its Smarter Commerce initiative so far.