MasterCard and IBM partner to make big data work for smaller businesses

From left - MasterCard Advisors’ Pierre Burret, Head of Delivery, Quality & Resource Management for Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and IBM ASEAN’s Yashesh Kampani, Financial Services Sector Leader

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) announced their partnership to offer smaller merchants real-time, analytics-based market insights on revenue, market share, customer demographics and competitors in a particular location and across multiple locations. 

The solution integrates IBM Watson Analytics with insights based on aggregated and anonymized MasterCard transaction data through MaserCard AdvisorsLocal Market Intelligence (LMI). 

According to MasterCard’s latest research, more than 7 out of 10 smaller businesses in Asia Pacific expect higher business costs in 2016. With this enhanced analytical platform powered by MasterCard Advisors and IBM, merchants will hence be better equipped to make informed decisions that lower costs based on a deeper knowledge of their business’ financial strengths and pitfalls. Starting mid-2016, merchants who accept MasterCard will be able to access this new offering upon subscription. Eric Schneider, Senior Vice President, MasterCard Advisors, said, “There is an increasing wealth of data today that merchants can leverage to better understand their market and consumers. However, smaller merchants often don’t have the resources to maximize the insights. That’s the value of this platform turning Big Data into smarter data that is easily accessible and actionable.”  “We are thrilled to be working hand in hand with MasterCard to help smaller merchants understand their business and competition better, and increase the strength and value of their customer relationships,” said Yashesh Kampani, Financial Services Sector Leader, IBM ASEAN. “Through this new service, merchants will discover just how easy leveraging Big Data can actually be with the analytical tools that IBM and MasterCard are making available.” 

MasterCard Advisors’ LMI provides insights that help to drive some of the most important decisions a business can make about operations, marketing and personnel. It focuses on three key areas: business performance; customer behavior; and competitive standing.