Oracle buys Involver

customer service software aimed at the social Web, IT World Canada reports.

The deal, announced Tuesday, is expected to close within the next few months. Its terms were not disclosed.

According to PC World, Involver is known for its SML (Social Mark-up Language), which allows companies to develop "highly customised marketing applications for social media sites and Web campaigns", according to a statement. It also has a drag-and-drop design toolset and a number of pre-built applications for making social sites "more engaging and viral", Oracle said.

Its capabilities will augment those Oracle is gaining through the acquisition of social marketing vendor Vitrue, which was announced in May. Those applications are set to be part of a broader suite that includes customer-service software from Oracle's RightNow acquisition and social media monitoring tools from Collective Intellect, another recent purchase by the vendor.

All these companies' technology will form part of what Oracle calls its "social platform", although its strategy of buying its way into social marketing means this will be more of a collection of platforms for the time being, Information Age writes.

The driver for this strategy is clear: while IT budgets remain stagnant, marketing departments are spending increasing amounts on technology, as customer interaction over digital channels becomes the norm.