Alterian Acquires Contact Optimization Technology Product

Data analytics vendor Alterian on Monday announced its acquisition of the contact optimization technology product Campaign Calculus 2.0 from The Customer Partnership.

Campaign Calculus is now integrated into Alterian's customer data analysis solution, the Alterian Marketing Services Platform.

Campaign Calculus uses advanced algorithms to evaluate the financial impact of all of the possible permutations for contacting prospects across channels and product offers over time, while incorporating business rules and factoring in return on investment requirements, customer preferences and channel capacity to determine the best course of action.

The New Buzz

Contact optimization is "the new buzz word," Joe Stanhope, director of global product marketing for Alterian, told CRM Buyer. It is important technology for the very large marketing firms dealing in databases of millions of records, in which such a tool can improve business processes. Ultimately, "it is about process and about saving time," he said.

"Marketers are under severe pressure to show results in an increasingly difficult environment. Our clients realize that basic segmentation based on transaction history and demographics is simply not enough. They are demanding the ability to fully leverage the entirety of their marketing data and situational knowledge to make holistic marketing decisions," said Don Patrick, chief operating officer at the database marketing firm Merkle.

Scenario-Driven Optimization Technology

The contact optimization features in Campaign Calculus are intended to complement the Alterian Marketing Services Platform's existing analytics, campaign management and marketing resource management functions, according to Alterian.

"The only way to practically take all of the factors driving marketing performance into account is by integrating scenario-driven optimization technology into the marketing process," said Luke McKeever, executive vice president of corporate development at Alterian.

The addition of Campaign Calculus to the Alterian solution "provides a huge leap in terms of what we can do with analytics and campaign data," Stanhope noted.

"It is right on the leading edge of optimization technology," he said, adding that the technology makes practical and cost effective the process marketers use to gain insight into their data and, in turn, implement a marketing strategy across multiple online and offline channels.

A Clear Message

The product "competes with others in the same space, like Unica, SAS, Experian Marketswitch and SPSS (Nasdaq: SPSS). This acquisition improves the depth and functionality of Alterian's solution for database and direct marketers," Suresh Vittal, senior analyst at Forrester, told CRM Buyer.

Contact optimization as a new product niche has enchanted marketing professionals but it is not for everyone, Vittal said. "High volume direct marketing organizations should look at it," as well as organizations with high product or offer overlap and organizations with sophisticated analytic capabilities, he said.

"Contact optimization shifts focus from products to customers, solves complex offer assignment problems and allows organizations to evaluate marketing decisions before implementing," Vittal added.

Alterian will make Campaign Calculus immediately available through its global partner network. The vendor has not announced pricing information.