IBM to Acquire Tealeaf Technology

IBM today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Tealeaf Technology, a provider of customer experience analytics software. Financial details were not disclosed.

With this agreement, IBM extends its Smarter Commerce initiative by adding qualitative analytics capabilities that provide chief marketing officers, e-commerce and customer service professionals with real-time and automated insights into online customer buying experiences across online and mobile devices. As a result, organizations can gain actionable insight that allows them to improve customer support, transform site usability, tailor marketing campaigns, and increase online conversion rates.

Tealeaf, which is based in San Francisco, has more than 450 customers worldwide, predominantly in financial services, travel, retail, and communications services. Current clients include Dell, Wells Fargo, Air Canada, GEICO, Orbitz, Crate & Barrel, Neiman Marcus, Expedia, Zappos, ING Direct, Best Buy, DirecTV, McKesson, and StubHub.

Tealeaf provides a full suite of customer experience management software, which records and analyzes a customer's Web site and mobile interactions. As a result, marketers can spot patterns and address issues in Web site and mobile application design.

"Marketers must continuously deliver a better customer experience on both the Web and mobile devices to meet the expectations of today's empowered consumers," said Craig Hayman, general manager of industry solutions at IBM, in a statement. "With these new capabilities from Tealeaf, we can not only provide chief marketing officers and other marketing leaders the qualitative insights into how customers actually experience their brands, but show them how to react in real time across marketing, sales and service.

"Tealeaf's patented technology can be deployed into a business's current environment with no needed modifications so they begin capturing customer data and delivering optimal experiences immediately," said Rebecca Ward, chairman and CEO of Tealeaf, in the statement. "IBM Smarter Commerce is the perfect fit for Tealeaf and further establishes IBM as the leading partner for businesses looking to succeed in today's fast-evolving environment."

Tealeaf will extend IBM's Smarter Commerce by giving companies qualitative Web and digital analytics capabilities, allowing them to capture and replay a customer's Web and mobile interactions to provide a more granular and richer view of a customer's experience.

Following the closing of the transaction, IBM will continue to support and enhance Tealeaf's technologies and clients while allowing them to take advantage of the broader IBM portfolio. Tealeaf will be integrated into IBM's Enterprise Marketing and Management (EMM) Group, which includes previously acquired assets from Coremetrics, Unica, and DemandTec. IBM has invested more than $3 billion in building its Smarter Commerce initiative, a key driver of growth and profitability.

The Tealeaf acquisition comes less than a week after IBM announced its acquisition of Vivisimo, a data analysis firm.

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