IBM updates commerce software with real-time brand monitoring

IBM has released an update to its consumer and business-to-business transactions platform as part of the Smarter Commerce initiative that pushes software and services for marketing and tools to conduct and process transactions.

The platform includes additions to the IBM CoreMetrics and WebSphere brands, helping companies to track user feedback and behaviour on web sites and providing analytics tools to track and analyse marketing programmes.

The update also delivers tools to help companies track supply chains and manage inventory.

Craig Hayman, industry solutions general manager at IBM, said that the Smarter Commerce campaign addresses issues that arise as customers increasingly look to the web and social networking for information, while enterprises also look to adapt to new platforms.

"These businesses must connect to these customers where and how they prefer to buy to be successful," he said.

"At the same time, they need to make sure they have the means of effectively managing their supplier and trading partner network to ensure they have the products at the right time and place to meet this new customer demand."