Cision Ltd., which provides software tools for tracking and analyzing the impact of public relations campaigns and media content, is updating its Communications Cloud platform with new features that enable “more intelligent and interactive reporting and better campaign execution.”

Cision tries to help companies assess the impact of their public relations campaigns through advanced data analytics. It says C-suite executives are showing more interest in finding a direct correlation between PR programs and business results, and that metrics such as “millions of people reached” or “total impressions” are being increasingly scrutinized as communications and marketing leaders struggle to find new data-driven ways to demonstrate impact.

“No one has ever tracked the press releases, the articles or any of the earned media content the way people have tracked banner ads or e-commerce emails,” Cision Chief Executive Kevin Akeroyd (pictured) said during a recent interview on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s video studio. “We are for the chief communications officer what Adobe is for the chief marketing officer, what Salesforce is for the chief revenue officer, what Workday is for the chief human resources officer.”

The company earlier this year acquired a couple of startups called TrendKite and Falcon.io ApS to help boost its offering. TrendKite had developed some unique monitoring and analytics tools that are now integrated with Cision’s platform, while Falcon specialized in tracking the impact of media content on social media platforms.

The new Cision Communications Cloud, which incorporates the technologies from those acquisitions, now has faster and more flexible monitoring and analytics capabilities. Its acquisition of TrendKite in January brought new earned media monitoring and analytics, including unlimited dashboards, real-time alerts, AI-powered insights, image monitoring and social listening, the company said.

Other new capabilities include being able to engage with audiences on a more personal level and at greater scale, thanks to the addition of a contact database containing more than 1.4 million professional media profiles and 910 million social influencer profiles. Cision’s platform now also integrates with Google LLC’s G Suite and Microsoft Corp.’s Office 365 tools, providing the ability to create custom interest audiences based on media engagement to help deliver and measure the success of PR campaigns.

“According to a 2018 Cision/PR Week Survey, 77% of comms professionals feel they could better measure the ROI of their work, and the next generation of Cision Communications Cloud is built to empower them to do so,” Akeroyd said in a statement today. “We’re offering an end-to-end workflow, real-time insights and the only communications platform that truly measures the value of earned media.”

Cision said the new version of its Communications Cloud is available now in the U.S. and will be rolled out to its global customers soon.

Photo: SiliconANGLE