IBM BCS to provide Twitter data consulting services
Twitter and IBM are to join forces, producing wide ranging Big Data products and consulting services from their joint capabilities. As part of the deal, Twitter will provide IBM with its trove of information from its user base, and the tech giant will in turn leverage its advanced cloud analytic tools and cohort of consultants to develop state-of-the-art services. In preparation for this potential, IBM is investing heavily in the data mining skills and capabilities of its management consultants.
Twitter is the world’s largest micro-blogging website, its 284 million active users generate up to 1 billion pieces of information per day. On its service, users exchange ideas, share content and express their opinions on a wide range of subjects.
In a 'landmark partnership' Twitter’s accumulated user information, dating back to 2006, will be made available to IBM’s Big Blue cloud analytics, consultancy teams and Watson AI. “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,” says 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. This is the latest example of how IBM is reimagining work.”
The deal between the two industry giants consists of three main components. Firstly, IBM and Twitter will deliver a series of solutions aiming at, for instance, the retail, travel, and transportation industries. The joint venture will also deliver a set of enterprise applications to help improve business decisions across the industries and professions. Twitter data will for instance be integrated with IBM ExperienceOne customer engagement solutions, allowing sales, marketing, and customer service professionals to map sentiment and behaviour to better engage and support their customers.
Data based consulting
The third component focuses on management and IT consulting. Professionals from IBM Global Business Services – the firm’s consulting practice – will have access to Twitter data for consulting services. Through analysis of the data, the consultants will be able to support clients with understanding Big Data and subsequently capitalise on opportunities. To prepare its consulting workforce for the new proposition, which has the potential untap a massive market, IBM says it will train 'tens of thousands' of Global Business Services consultants on relevant business processes and applications.
Together the partners believe they will create an edge in the marketplace, leveraging Twitter’s Big Data mountain and IBM’s market leading analytics capabilities. According to IBM, it can draw on more than 15,000 analytics consultants, 4,000 analytics patents, 6,000 industry solution business partners, and 400 IBM mathematicians who on a daily basis help clients use Big Data to transform their organisations.
