Multi-tiered technology supplier IBM late last week announced plans to acquire Unica Corp. for approximately $480 million, a deal that IBM said would give it the technology to “help organizations analyze and predict customer preferences and develop more targeted marketing campaigns.”
The proposed acquisition is Big Blue’s response, it said in a press release, to a trend among marketers toward using technology to “automate and manage marketing planning and execution to help them better analyze customer preferences and trends and, in turn, predict buying needs and drive relevant campaigns.”
Unica is a public company that was founded in 1992 and is based in Waltham, MA. Its primary markets include financial services, publishing, retail, telecommunications, and travel and hospitality industries, but it also lists automotive and high tech among its target verticals. It counts 1,000 companies among its active customers.
The Unica Enterprise product suite includes tools for delivering marketing messages, facilitating process improvements in marketing operations, optimizing marketing strategies, and other technologies that help a company assess whether and when its prospects are most likely to respond to purchase and upsell opportunities. Unica also maintains on-demand versions of its software for customers that prefer the cloud computing model.