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"Customer experience has become the primary lens through which organizations are looking to achieve competitive advantage and drive top-line growth," said Paul Papas, global leader for Digital Front Office, IBM Global Business Services.  "In our view, IBM's leadership position in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for CRM service providers is an important recognition of our strategic focus and deep expertise in helping enterprises transform how they deliver value to their customers, partners and suppliers in today's rapidly changing digital world."

Among the 15 vendors evaluated in the report, IBM placed the furthest in "Completeness of Vision."  Gartner analysts evaluate service providers on their ability to convincingly articulate logical statements about current and future market direction, innovation, customer needs and competitive forces.

IBM is helping clients design, build and execute new approaches to customer engagement that integrate commerce, Big Data and analytics, social, mobile and cloud technologies.  Bringing together consulting services, including digital agency capabilities from IBM Interactive, deep industry expertise, R&D investments like the IBM Customer Experience Lab, and technology solutions like Watson, IBM provides its clients the advanced capabilities they need to architect and deliver differentiated customer experiences with greater personalization and speed.  The company has invested in CRM-related software acquisitions, including SPSS, Unica, Coremetrics, Tealeaf, Varicent, Vivisimo and Cast Iron.  IBM integrates these assets into its CRM analytics capabilities, as well as part of its CRM marketing services.

Gartner states in the report that CRM implementation services continue to be in high demand.  Service providers are widening beyond CRM software to include consulting, analytics, digital enterprise and social CRM.  This Magic Quadrant evaluation focused on the CRM consulting and solution implementation service market worldwide.

To view the full report, visit:  http://www.gartner.com/reprints/ibm-v8-v7?id=1-1KM8C49&ct=130920&st=sb

(1) Gartner, Magic Quadrant for CRM Service Providers, Worldwide, Patrick J, Sullivan, Ed Thompson, September 18, 2013.

About IBM
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Disclaimer: Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Contact:
Leslie Monreal-Feil
IBM External Relations
561.862.3074
lmonreal@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM