Business Intelligence (BI)

Armonk, N.Y. -- With consumers engaging more directly with businesses through mobile and social media, more than 60% of CIOs will focus more heavily on improving the customer experience and getting closer to customers, according to a new report released by IBM.

The report, entitled "Moving from the Back Office to the Front Lines — CIO Insights from the Global C-suite Study” is based on face-to-face conversations with more than 1,600 CIOs from 70 countries and 20 industries worldwide.

Lakewood, Colo. -- Einstein Noah Restaurant Group Inc. has adopted MicroStrategy as its enterprise analytics standard. The company said an expansion of MicroStrategy licenses will allow it to rapidly deploy and extend its mobile application that provides store-level information to its management team.  

Minneapolis – Target Corp. reportedly had early notice of the holiday data breach that exposed the personal and financial information of millions of customers but did not act upon it. According to Bloomberg, a $1.6 million security application called FireEye notified Target of a possible intrusion in to its network, but the retailer failed to respond.

Radnor, Pa. – E-commerce platform provider FreedomPay has named Marc Pereira as VP of technology. Pereira joins FreedomPay after serving nearly 12 years in strategic executive roles at eEBay Enterprises.

Yonkers, N.Y. — Forest City Ratner Cos. has joined Yonkers Partners in Education to create Ridge Hill Academy, a pilot program in which local businesses teach local students about the “behind the scenes” operations of retail management.

Twenty-five students selected from local high schools have just begun the pilot’s third of five 10-week sessions, which take place at Westchester’s Ridge Hill shopping, dining and entertainment center.

Seattle -- Starbucks has announced upcoming enhancements to its mobile app for iPhone, which will allow customers to provide Starbucks employees with a tip directly from the Starbucks App for iPhone. Beginning March 19, customers using Starbucks App for iPhone in the U.S., U.K., and Canada will experience a streamlined design and access to their account and My Starbucks Rewards information.

E-commerce platform provider FreedomPay has appointed former eBay executive Marc Pereira as VP of technology.

Pereira most recently spent nearly 12 years at eBay Enterprises, serving in several strategic executive roles and has 20 years of e-commerce and technology experience. He will be responsible for overseeing, envisioning and maintaining the company's technology infrastructure, which covers both the development process and the network infrastructure management operations.

Research Triangle Park, N.C. - ChannelAdvisor Corp. is launching a new digital marketing solution. ChannelAdvisor Digital Marketing integrates ChannelAdvisor’s feed management and bid management capabilities, including paid search campaigns, Google Product Listing Ads and other advertising channels, from affiliate marketing to social media.