The analytics expertise of Toronto-based Varicent Software Inc. was just to enticing for Big Blue to ignore.
IBM today announced it has acquired the software company that specializes in analytics and compensation and sales performance management tools.
Varicent, which has 130 employees in Canada, will advance IBM’s efforts to drive analytics capabilities into the hands of front line employees, particularly in the area of sales where many organizations still rely on silos of data and antiquated spreadsheets to manage this vital area of their business.
Previous Canadian acquisitions made by IBM include: Algorithmics Inc., Clarity Systems, OpenPages, and Cognos Inc.
IBM has sought Canadian companies to support its long term strategy of strengthening its portfolio of analytics solutions and industry expertise. Canada is one of the homes for IBM analytics, with the majority of the leadership team and product development activities centered here.
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Varicent software automates and analyzes sales data across finance, sales, human resources and IT departments to uncover trends and drive improved sales performance.
The software is used by nearly 200 of the world’s largest banks, insurance companies, retailers, information technology and telecommunications providers to enable better quota planning, as well as territory and channel management, according to a press release issued by IBM.
“IBM sees enormous opportunity to apply advanced analytics to sales functions that can help organizations uncover new, untapped growth opportunities,” the release said.
Growing volumes of data, companies are increasingly looking for ways to automate and gain faster, more accurate intelligence on sales and financial management data in order to increase competitiveness.
According to Gartner, organizations that adopt compensation management solutions can expect to reduce errors by more than 90 per cent and reduce processing times by more than 40 per cent.
Over the last decade, the profitability of IBM software has nearly tripled to more than $10 billion in 2011 and revenue doubled in the same timeframe, the company said.
IBM projected its software business would become almost half of IBM’s profits by 2015.