Decidedly, this is a busy week in the Web Analytics sphere. I just saw (8:00 AM ET) that IBM announced it was to buy Unica (wonder if the latter will still want the blog post I was finishing for them).
I haven’t read anything besides the press release, but this comes to a surprise to me since IBM had just recently acquired Coremetrics. Says a lot about the data orientation Big Blue has been taking for a few years, with now a huge presence in the online marketing analytics sphere.
I guess we will have to wait for the comments of more educated people than me, I’m just a simple analyst after all, but my first impression is that the Web Analytics industry, as we have known it since 1993, is now really over.
It was an industry founded, formed, and lead by the tool makers. Now that they’re gone, the paradigm will shift dramatically. I know, there’s Webtrends left, but I think they are evolving beyond the “pure” analytical field, especially in light of this week’s announcement (Webtrends Apps). And there’s Google Analytics, which will reinforce its position as the major, maybe sole, player in the field. The gadget that will be on everyone’s site, while the hard core web analytics is done somewhere else, in the Business Intelligence Department.
I actually wonder if GA won’t be a hurdle to the natural analytics integration/shift that is now taking place.
Anyway, the Web Analytics Blog/Twittersphere is going to be red hot today with that news.
2011 will be fascinating.
Indeed, it seems that the day when WA data will integrate with other systems (DB, CRM, BI…) is getting closer. It seems less and less a dream. But we are not there yet. For the moment, tools are changing owners, still have to see how these will be integrated.
We can hope that WA tools & technology will get more mature. Will “people” and “organization” will follow same path? What’s the point of having integrated technology if people can’t figure out how to use the data and take action on it? Just more data pukes? 🙂
(Yes, the WA blogosphre/Twittersphere is getting crazy but seems like you are the first one to give your view on it (well, at least in the ones I read/follow :-))
Hello Michael
Yes, to me, the conceptual gap is the most difficult one to overcome, not the technological one. By that, I mean learnning how to think the new capabilities.