Twitter, IBM Strike Major Partnership to Integrate Social Media Data with Cloud Analytics

Twitter and IBM today announced a landmark partnership that aims to transform how businesses and institutions understand their customers, markets and trends.

The alliance brings together Twitter data with IBM’s cloud-based analytics, customer engagement platforms, and consulting services.

According to the two companies, the collaboration will focus on three areas:

1. Integration of Twitter data with IBM analytics services on the cloud. “IBM plans to offer Twitter data as part of select cloud-based services, including IBM Watson Analytics, a new cognitive service in the palm of your hand that brings intuitive visualization and predictive capabilities to business users; and a cloud-based data refinery service that enables application developers to embed data services in applications.”

2. New data-intensive capabilities for the enterprise. “IBM and Twitter will deliver a set of enterprise applications to help improve business decisions across industries and professions.”

3. Specialized enterprise consulting. “IBM Global Business Services professionals will have access to Twitter data to enrich consulting services for clients across business. Additionally, IBM and Twitter will collaborate to develop unique solutions for specific industries such as banking, consumer products, retail, and travel and transportation.”

“Twitter provides a powerful new lens through which to look at the world—as both a platform for hundreds of millions of consumers and business professionals, and as a synthesizer of trends,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM Chairman, President and CEO.

“This partnership, drawing on IBM’s leading cloud-based analytics platform, will help clients enrich business decisions with an entirely new class of data,” he added.

“When it comes to enterprise transformation, IBM is an undisputed global leader in enabling companies to take advantage of emerging technologies and platforms,” said Dick Costolo, Twitter CEO.

“This important partnership with IBM will change the way business decisions are made—from identifying emerging market opportunities to better engaging clients, partners and employees,” he added.

“IBM brings a unique combination of cloud-based analytics solutions and a global services team that can help companies utilize this truly unique data,” said Chris Moody, Vice President of Twitter Data Strategy. “Companies have had successes with Twitter data, from manufacturers more effectively managing inventory to consumer electronic companies doing rapid product development.”

“This partnership with IBM will allow faster innovation across a broader range of use cases at scale,” he affirmed.