In a commerce environment where a business’s website is the key channel for communication, marketing, customer engagement and commerce, Web experience management addresses the customer’s experience. FatWire’s products are designed to help drive customer retention and loyalty through improved online engagement across Web, mobile and social channels, as stated in the company description.
According to Oracle’s announcement, the acquisition of FatWire extends Oracle’s offerings for customers seeking to build a unified customer experience across channels.
FatWire complements Oracle’s Fusion Middleware, Business Intelligence, Enterprise Content Management, and Portal technology.
According to David M. Raab, principal at marketing consultancy Raab Associates Inc., Oracle is now putting itself into more direct competition with Adobe, which has its own Web customer management offering. Rabb says FatWire is filling a Web content management gap in their customer management offerings, calling it “a big step in the right direction.”
Raab says the acquisition highlights a strategic difference between Oracle and IBM, SAS and Teradata, who have avoided customer-facing technologies like CRM and WCM, even though those are the missing link between their analytically driven customer management products and actual customers.
“I doubt those other vendors will reassess their strategies because of this, but perhaps they should,” Raab says.
The transaction is expected to close mid-2011. Until the deal closes, each company will continue to operate independently. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Valerie Valentine is senior editor for Information Management. You can follow her on Twitter at @va1va1entine or via email at valerie.valentine@sourcemedia.com.
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