IBM?s Xtify acquisition sets the stage for a broader platform addressing mobile engagements along the entire path to purchase and potentially threatens the relevancy of standalone push notification providers.

This week IBM said it has acquired in-app messaging platform Xtify to broaden its digital marketing services for brands and retailers by enabling them to easily deliver push notifications and other in-application messages to customers. In-app messaging is an increasingly important area of mobile marketing and one where IBM?s traditional strengths in data management could provide a competitive advantage.

?[Xtify] gives IBM's MobileFirst and Smarter Commerce initiatives the ability to provide clients with in-app mobile push notifications or alerts, i.e. when a retailer alerts you to a special offer,? said Jay Henderson, global strategy program director of the EMM Group at IBM, Armonk, NY .

?It also adds depth and breadth to our cloud portfolio, making our marketing cloud more attractive to CMOs - part of our 100-plus SaaS suite portfolio for line of business leaders,? he said.

Personalized offers
As smartphone adoption grows and the use of apps with it, in-app messaging is an increasingly popular strategy for driving mobile sales and in-store traffic as well as engaging customers with personalized offers.

Mobile apps can be a powerful way for marketers to engage with customers. However, one of the biggest challenges marketers face here is getting users to come back to their apps after the initial download. Xtify?s cloud-based campaign management platform address this by notifying mobile consumers when new content and promotions are available

IBM will leverage Xtify?s technology to enable marketers to deliver real-time, personalized offers via in-app messages and push notifications with the goal of engaging, converting and retaining mobile app users.

Xtify, which will become part of IBM?s Smart Commerce initiative, works with brands such as Sephora, Disney Stores, The Tribune Group and 20th Century Fox.

?IBM getting into this space makes sense,? said Sheryl Kingstone, Toronto-based research director at Yankee Group.

?A lot of these companies are out there for push marketing, mobile marketing, SMS campaigning,? she said. ?Where it really comes in is doing it effectively and that involves consulting, which is where IBM can really help.?

Mobile investments
IBM has not been a big player in mobile to date, but has started to make some investments in this area.

For example, this week the company also acquired The Now Factory, which provides customer and network analytics for wireless carriers.

?They?ve made some investments in mobile,? Ms. Kingstone said. ?They are slowly picking up pieces in understanding subscriber data.

?They need to because mobile is the future,? she said. ?It is no longer just about the digital marketing side, it is no longer about the individual channels.

?It is about creating more relevant communications, especially as you bring in mobile.?

As mobile marketing becomes more popular, users are engaging with brands and merchants via email opened from a mobile device, SMS messages, in-app messages, mobile advertising and on social media.

The challenge for marketers is figuring out which tactic will be most effective for a specific promotion.

At the same time, because users are being bombarded with marketing messages throughout the day, marketers also need to be able to engage their customers with relevant offers at the right time.

A strategic view
While IBM brings significant strength in data management to mobile messaging, one of its challenges will be convincing marketers to move towards a more strategic view on messaging. Currently, many marketers still take a one-off approach to messaging.

However, this is starting to change as marketers consider an omnichannel approach to marketing that would have them looking to deliver the right message to the right channel.

?What I am starting to see is the need for more of a platform,? Ms. Kingstone said. ?Push notifications is just one little piece of it.

?What you really need and what IBM can bring to the table is more of a listening platform,? she said. ?Looking across all of the different channels, what is going on in social, what is going on in your contact center, what?s going on with all of your other marketing campaigns and then enabling push notification through your customer segments and locations, and really tie into behaviors across multiple channels.?

One of IBM?s other challenges will be to try to work more closely with marketing agencies as they begin to work more closely with marketers on the location part of their strategies.

The right context
IBM?s move into mobile messaging could threaten some of the other players in the space that operate as standalone messaging platform since IBM can offer a broader approach.

For IBM to play a significant role as mobile messaging and omnichannel marketing become more important, the company will need to effectively integrate these new marketing services with its data management and strategic guidance capabilities.

?It is not just about push marketing anymore,? Ms. Kingstone said. ?It is about the whole mobile customer journey and mobile customer engagement.

?It is about taking all the information, all that data management that IBM is very strong at, and providing the right context for the right program,? she said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York