• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 10, 2009

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has signed on as the first client to deploy Yieldex's BusinessIQ module set to debut today. The module automates yield management processes, replacing papers shoved under piles of backlogged work on desks and manual procedures that rely on computer spreadsheets.

BusinessIQ provides accurate revenue, inventory and availability forecasting, eliminates manual spreadsheets, increases transparency of data across the organization and offers fact-based data for use in decision-making. It sits on the DynamicIQ platform.

Designed as an intuitive dashboard, it relies on algorithms to deliver analytic reports and provide planning features that enable publishers to forecast demand for specific ad inventory.

Matt Gay, assistant vice president of advertising operations for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, said the platform will give the publisher insight into prices charged for its online ad packages, as well as project revenue based on sales. "One thing we're looking for Yieldex to do is give us a good picture of forecasting to determine future inventory and revenue," he said.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia will rely on Yieldex to support ad packages on marthastewart.com, wholeliving.com, and marthastewartweddings.com.

DynamicIQ's cloud computing infrastructure allows the system to process large amounts of complex ad data quickly, so publishers can determine available inventory and pricing, as well as forecast potential problems and opportunities before they occur.

"The technology has not been built before," said Yieldex President Larry Allen. "Other companies look at the most basic inventory set, rather than the many dimensions that might conflict. Every impression means 14 or 15 different things, and you need to understand the underlying attributes and how campaigns compete."

Yieldex prices the BusinessIQ license by volume, Allen said. And while the new module focuses on analysts and forecasting, the San Francisco-based company also plans to launch a series of apps during the year that support performance, network optimization and pipeline management.

The DynamicIQ platform took one year to build, and the BusinessIQ module took six months. The module integrates with platforms such as DoubleClick's DART, for example. Yieldex recently won the top award in the Amazon Web Services Start-up Challenge for their use of cloud computing to provide robust inventory analytics and forecasting.