IBM and Twitter Join Up to Offer Twitter Data to IBM Clients

By Paul Ausick Published Oct 29, 1:15PM EDT

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International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) have announced an alliance that will marry Twitter data about its users to IBM’s analytics and other services. First a stock buyback, and now a new partnership — IBM CEO Ginni Rometty is really shaking things up.

According to the announcement, “The alliance brings together Twitter data that distinctively represents the public pulse of the planet with IBM’s industry-leading cloud-based analytics, customer engagement platforms, and consulting services.” The “collaboration” includes the integration of Twitter data with IBM analytics services on the cloud, new data-intensive capabilities for the enterprise and specialized enterprise consulting. Rometty said:

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. 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 with IBM, Twitter no doubt hopes, is just another step on a path to demonstrating the value of Twitter data to the large enterprises that IBM serves. Twitter’s vice-president for data strategy said:

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.

The potential benefits for Twitter are pretty clear. What IBM gains is less clear, but the deal makes Big Blue look like it is doing something. But IBM is like an aircraft carrier — it takes a lot of space and time to turn the thing around, and a deal like this one is not going to make that turn happen any faster.

ALSO READ: Why One Analyst Sees IBM Falling to $125

IBM’s shares traded down fractionally in early Wednesday afternoon, at $163.53 in a 52-week range of $161.10 to $199.21.

Twitter’s shares were down 3%, at $42.45 in a 52-week range of $29.51 to $74.73.

About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.