New Orleans, 29 Feb 2012
Cloud computing is expected to grow to more than $214 billion by 2020, according to Forrester Research, serving as a catalyst for capturing new business value through innovation, faster time to market and reduced cost and complexity.
With this in mind, IBM has introduced a set of offerings aimed at helping its business partners more tightly integrate with SmartCloud - IBM's set of cloud computing technologies.
The new resources include an online directory to help make it easier for clients to find technology from business partners certified for the IBM SmartCloud; Tech Talk for Cloud Computing, a monthly virtual learning series by IBM experts to help business partners improve their technical skills in cloud computing; and the Social Business Tool Kit, which allows business partners to integrate custom applications that interface with IBM SmartCloud for social business services.
Finally, the SmartCloud Entry on IBM System x will enable business partners to offer small businesses the benefits of cloud computing with the new lower-cost reference configuration of SmartCloud Entry on IBM System x. SmartCloud Entry features a self-service portal for workload provisioning, virtualised image management and monitoring.
At the same time it is rolling out these cloud offerings, IBM also announced two new collaborations aimed at better understanding consumer sentiments and behaviour.
The Swiss Link Institute, a market research firm, is working with IBM business partner nViso to help gauge consumers' emotional reaction to online adverts and media. nViso specialises in emotion recognition, using video to capture the responses people have while watching an ad online. Using the IBM SmartCloud and IBM analytics software, the images are analysed for seven basic emotions, giving clients of the Swiss Link Institute detailed insight into how people respond to brands and messages.
For example, an insurance company could quickly understand how people in its target demographic respond to its brand as compared to that of competitors.
“Marketing is increasingly driven by visual impact and emotional experiences, and in this context, nViso's 3D facial imaging technology running on the IBM SmartCloud can help our clients collect richer data to make better business decisions,” says Felix Bernet, senior project manager of media/online research at the Link Institute, Switzerland and Germany.
In a similar way, online ticket sales company Tele Ticket Service is working with IBM business partner Numius to better understand consumer buying patterns. Numius partnered with fellow business partners Iris ICT and Ondit to develop an analytics solution in the cloud.
With this new system, Numius analyses consumer buying trends in real-time, enabling Tele Ticket Service to offer event organisers better insights to help improve sales. As opposed to relying on guesstimates, organisers can now plan and promote events based on real data, including who is buying the tickets, at what price and which type of seat, and historical buying patterns.
For example, when selling tickets for a recent U2 tour, Tele Ticket Service used the real-time analysis of sales to successfully make a case for a second concert to be added, doubling its revenue.
“Cloud computing is changing the very fabric of the enterprise,” said Mark Hennessy, GM of global business partners at IBM. “The cost-effectiveness, security and simplicity it can bring to clients will make it easy for organisations to try new things and identify new growth opportunities,” he concluded.
(Lezette Engelbrecht is hosted in New Orleans by IBM SA.)
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