Oracle Boosts its Customer Experience Cloud with Eloqua Marketing Buy

Contact centers soon will have another tool in their toolbox: a comprehensive marketing component to Oracle’s (News - Alert) Customer Experience Cloud. This became reality with the December announcement that Oracle is buying Eloqua Inc. for $23.50 per share or approximately $871 million, net of Eloqua’s (News - Alert) cash. Eloqua is a leading provider of cloud-based marketing automation and revenue performance management software.

Eloqua’s modern marketing cloud delivers best-in-class capabilities to ensure every component of marketing works harder and more efficiently to drive revenue, according to Oracle.

The purchase will improve Oracle’s Customer Experience Cloud, helping companies transform the way they market, sell and--important for contact centers—support and serve customers.

The combined offering will enable contact centers to provide a highly personalized and unified experience across channels, create brand loyalty through social and online interactions, grow revenue by driving more qualified leads to sales teams, and provide superior service at every touchpoint, according to Oracle.

“Modern marketing practices are driving revenue growth and is a critical area of investment for companies today,” said Thomas Kurian in the statement, executive vice president for Oracle Development. “Eloqua’s leading marketing automation cloud will become the centerpiece of the Oracle Marketing Cloud and is an important addition to the Oracle Customer Experience offering, which includes the Oracle Sales Cloud, Oracle Commerce Cloud, Oracle Service Cloud, Oracle Content Cloud and Oracle Social Cloud.”

Eloqua uses marketing automation expertise and technology to power revenue performance and business growth, according to the Eloqua web site. More marketers rely on Eloqua than all other marketing automation platforms combined, the company claims.

The technology helps companies reveal the “digital body language” of their prospects and customers. This can help contact centers better assist their customers.

Eloqua combines the art and science of marketing, it notes on its site. It helps its customers become marketing experts in campaign execution, testing, measurement, prospect profiling and lead nurturing.

With Eloqua, companies can increase revenue performance with qualified marketing leads, align marketing to sales with process and system integration, boost demand generation efficiency and effectiveness, demonstrate marketing value and accountability, and establish a modern marketing system of record.

“Exceptional customer experience starts with knowing your customer’s preferences and delivering a highly personalized buying experience,” said Joe Payne in the Oracle statement, chairman and CEO at Eloqua. “Together with Oracle, we expect to accelerate the pace of the modern marketing revolution and help our customers transform the way they market, sell, support and serve their customers.”

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