I had some problems with my RSS feed last week, and hadn’t realized how much I depended on it, until it came back and I was submerged with over 70 posts I had missed. More shocking was the discovery that a debate was going on without me knowing about it! It was quite interesting to see all the posts and comments about whether Google Analytics is an Enterprise class solution of not. It seems there’s a passage in some GA literature that says just that. It got the blood flowing for some people who think this is a bit of a stretch. Quickly, the sentiment one could get from many in the blogosphere was: 1) paying for Web Analytics is dumb and 2) “Enterprise class” should be banned from any decent marketer’s vocabulary.
Discussions around applications tend to bore me a lot. Especially the “Pay vs Free” one. I think there are many excellent products out there in behavioral (clickstream) analysis, and, true, one must basically choose one and live with it. Whichever one you choose, what you will do with it will have the greatest impact. I don’t mean to say all those products are all equal, of the same quality, able to do the exact same things, but those with obvious differentiation should appeal to clearly defined needs.
I love debates, and I think our blogosphere, the Web Analytics one that is, suffers a little too much of agreeing, and of not enough arguing. That is how many knowledge fields evolved. I am not saying we should call each other names; after all, we’re all together in this, fighting against denial and wasted budgets.
Products should be the last item on our list of debates and discussions. We should only argue about them on rainy days when all other matters have been settled: what we are to make of cookie deletion, the true value of analyzing anonymous traffic, analytics adoption, site optimization, etc., etc., etc.
If Google wants to say GA is an enterprise class product, what’s the harm in letting them say so; we know it’s not.
Jacques, I could not agree more with this statement:
“I love debates, and I think our blogosphere, the Web Analytics one that is, suffers a little too much of agreeing, and of not enough arguing.”
Aurelie Pols and I were discussing the exact same thing two days ago. It’s easy to agree, and just as easy to say so; it’s much more difficult (and thusly valuable!) to critically examine an idea and express that criticism in an appropriate way.
I personally love it when smart people critically examine my work and assumptions. When someone I respect says, “Hmmm, I disagree with you, and here is why …” it forces me to re-examine my assumptions and, occasionally my core beliefs.
Great post!
Eric T. Peterson
http://www.webanalyticsdemystified.com
Not that you needed me to second Eric’s notion, but he (and you) are right on here.
I, too, love it when smart people critically examine my work. I just hate it when the stupid people do it. (just kidding). (ok, half kidding).
But we can’t criticize others for agreeing with each other. That’s a big reason why they blog and read blogs — to connect with like-minded people. They’re looking for affirmation of their beliefs and actions. Not necessarily for critical thinking and analysis.
Hi Ron,
You might be right about the “normal” tone of the blogosphere. Maybe WA is in need of some kind of “Journal of Web Analyics” in which we would play academics 😉