The Smarter Checkout solution also allows the customers to use their mobile devices to process orders, redeem digital coupons, access loyalty points, and pay for purchases at IBM self-service pay counters.
In addition, IBM said it is piloting a next-generation service platform, displaying public, private and hybrid enterprise computing models.
It is another move to be the kind of value-added service provider, like IBM, the company hopes to be.
On top of that in-house development, the service ties in IBM's acquisition of Web presentation company WebDialog in August 2007.
Hayman said IBM already has several customers involved with the new service, including 1-800-FLOWERS, Staples office supply, food company Danone, and various financial services firms.
FORBES: IBM Moves into Social Commerce -is this the Next ERP?
Along with the mainframe makeover, IBM has also announced that it will acquire software-as-a-service provider Kenexa (NYSE: KNXA), a company that has experienced approximately 15.9 percent revenue growth over a five-year period.
The programs, an addition to the company's "Lotus" group of applications, also represent one of IBM's most ambitious forays yet into enterprise software-as-a-service, the browser-based model of applications pioneered by companies like Salesforce.com.
IBM's Web focus also exploits the timely appeal that software-as-a-service has to IT managers' wallets in the midst of the current economic downturn, says IDC Research Analyst Frank Genz.
"Following Oracle's move into hardware and SAP's move into the database market, both of which position these leading apps companies more in IBM's traditional markets, IBM has perhaps fewer reservations about participating in the apps and software-as-a-service market, " Nomura analysts said.
International Business Machines ( IBM) is the company Hewlett Packard ( HPQ) secretly wants to be, one where high-margin service and software businesses support huge but slow-growing (at best) hardware divisions.
The agreement called for IBM to sell--rather than exclusively lease--its equipment, to create a subsidiary for after-sale service and to limit itself to producing no more than half of the country's punch cards.
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