IBM continues to build its business analytics unit with the purchase of Clarity Systems, a privately held financial governance software maker, and the completion of its acquisition of GRC powerhouse OpenPages. IBM says it has now spent more than $14 billion on analytics and related acquisitions over the past four years.

Clarity Systems has 600 global customers in many industries. It's Clarity 7 offers budgeting, planning, forecasting and analysis functionality. It's Clarity FSR provides services to help financial managers handle regulatory reporting and filing requirements.

One implication of the deal is IBM's bullishness on the XBRL market. The field is somewhat crowded right now, with smaller companies like Edgar Online fighting it out with the likes of Thomson Reuters, Fujitsu and now IBM (by dint of the Clarity deal). Edgar Online has made a move of its own, announcing a merger agreement with UBmatrix to create the "first global end-to-end provider of solutions for the creation, validation and analysis of XBRL content."

Many issuers these days are opting for third-party firms to handle their third-party reporting needs. It's unclear if this trend will continue or if more companies will bring the process in-house. In any case, it looms as an opportunity, though it may not sustain all the current players.

For more:
- here's the release on the Edgar-UBMatrix deal
- here's a look at the IBM-Clarity deal

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