IBM's plans for SPSS

IBM's agreement to buy SPSS for $1.2 billion confirms that it thinks analytics and intelligence will be a big seller in the financial services industry. One could argue that of all industries, financial services would be among the easiest sales for IBM--the lowest hanging fruit for a company that would like to be all things to all banks, suggests Bank Technology News.

The magazine reports that until the deal, IBM was relatively weak in the business intelligence field. Now, IBM is forming a new, 4,000-employee strong service line, Business Analytics Optimization, built around the SPSS assets. This certainly allows it to round out its offering.

Banks are obsessed with figuring out what to do with all their data. At some banks, the rise of BI has been a game changer. Clearly, banks have a lot riding on their ability to leverage their customers. You can cross sell and upsell in so many ways, but you've got to optimize. That's the pitch. 

For more:
- here's the Bank Technology News article

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