Oracle is set to acquire business-to-consumer marketing software vendor Responsys for $1.5 billion in a bid to flesh out its own capabilities as well as strike back at rivals such as Salesforce.com and Microsoft.
Responsys’ board has approved the deal, which is expected to close within the first half of next year, according to Friday’s announcement.
Oracle previously bought marketing software vendor Eloqua last year for $871 million, and acquired content marketing software seller Compendium in October.
Salesforce.com has spent heavily on marketing capabilities as well, paying $2.5 billion for ExactTarget earlier this year. Microsoft has invested in this area as well, scooping up MarketingPilot in 2012.
Part of Oracle’s rationale for buying Responsys may have been to take the company off the table from rivals.
But the deal is not yet set in stone, as it’s subject to shareholder approval. It’s also not clear whether any rival offers can or would come in, but Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff has suggested the ExactTarget purchase came after a bidding war. “This was a very competitive process and we’re thrilled to be the winners here,” he said in June when the deal was announced.
The combination of Oracle and Responsys’ technologies will give chief marketing officers a one-stop shop for running both business-to-consumer and business-to-business marketing campaigns, Oracle said in a statement.
Responsys’ products help companies run marketing campaigns across multiple channels, such as e-mail, websites and social media streams. These campaigns can be fine-tuned to a particular customer’s preference. Responsys also has software that helps companies build detailed customer profiles and analyse the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
Marketing is just one component of an ongoing effort by software vendors to build out so-called ‘customer experience’ product portfolios, which encompass sales, support and service.
CMOs are viewed as having more IT spending power than in the past, as well as greater challenges reaching customers amid the explosion in digital data and emergence of new channels.
Benioff has said marketing software will help develop a $1 billion revenue stream for his company.
IDG News Service
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