WAA Congratulates Coremetrics on Acquisition by IBM

The Web Analytics Association (WAA) congratulates the entire team at Coremetrics on the acquisition by IBM. The commitment shown by IBM reflects Coremetrics’ accomplishments in marketing optimization and building a very successful company. Coremetrics is a tremendous supporter of the industry as a WAA corporate member and sponsor.

Another acquisition of a web analytics company by a leading technology company further emphasizes the importance, scope and role for web analytics. It is another step and mainstream recognition for web analytics in the corporate world.

For IBM, the acquisition further demonstrates its recognition of web analytics’ important role as it closely follows its October 2009 acquisition of SPSS Inc. The acquisition of the outstanding Coremetrics organization further strengthens IBM’s business analytics and optimization.

The WAA looks forward to Coremetrics’ and IBM’s continued involvement with the Association and support of the web analytics industry.

Mike Levin
Executive Director
Web Analytics Association

Press Release on Coremetrics
Press Release on IBM
Commentary on the acquisition by Stéphane Hamel, immeria.net
Commentary on the acquisition by Marketing Pilgrim
Commentary on the acquisition by Mike Moran, Biznology

Message from the President

My employer, Microsoft, is a company of 90,000 employees, $60 Billion in revenue, we have 3 of the Top 10 most trafficked web sites in the world, and yet, there is not an official career track, much less job title, of web analyst. I wish Microsoft was just an outlier, but it’s not. I’ve spoken to many analysts that report the same professional identity crises within their organizations.

I am a web analytics practitioner. Me and my team at Microsoft.com face the same challenges that the 20,000 other web practitioners worldwide face every day. Sites that launch without tags properly placed, execs that don’t know (or really care about) the difference between a visit and a visitor, career paths that require a machete to navigate.

If you are a practitioner, you know what I mean; this is not a job for the faint of heart!

So, in my first column as President, let me candidly expose my bias. This association needs to be first and foremost focused on the needs of the practitioner. The practitioner is our base, the practitioner is our boots on the ground, the practitioner is our roots in grass roots, our mass in mass market. I’m sure the rest of the WAA community – vendors, consultants, thought leaders – would agree; with a strong and empowered practitioner community we all win.

When I became President last month, it was quite natural for me to inspect the organization from the perspective of the practitioner. Does the WAA represent us? Are its programs focused on extending our knowledge and skills? Is it driven to get web analytics out of the cubicle and into the board room?

The short answer is yes. And as you read through this newsletter, I hope you will come to understand why. If you disagree, please let me know why and what we should be doing different ( or twitter).

Truth is, our industry is still relatively new and it's ours to shape – but that won’t always be the case. In order to shape our industry now, we need a strong association representing it. To have a strong association, we need you to get involved, today.

Start by taking a look at one of our committees, or get involved in the Web Analytics Championship, Web Analytics Without Borders, or one of many other opportunities. I can guarantee what you invest in time, you’ll more then get back in network and professional growth.

As I said at the start, I am a web analytics practitioner. And just as I am frustrated by the challenges of our profession, I am enthused by the opportunities we have. If you have seen the transformation that well-lit diagnostics can bring to a group running a business in the dark, if you have debunked an asinine "standard business practice" utilizing the lever of data-driven insights, if you have served a customer better because you listened and correctly interpreted what their clicks were telling you…then you know what I mean.

As web practitioners we are in a position of power. We just need a little help from WAA to blaze trails that will help unlock that power. I’m hoping my stint as President can move us closer to that, and I want you to help make it happen.

Peter Sanborn
WAA President

WAA Web Analyst Certification Program™ Update

Dear WAA Members and Potential Certified Web Analysts™

Social media means we all get to have our say and express our opinions. That's great but it is important for everyone to know the facts. So, on behalf of the WAA Board of Directors, here's the real inside info on the Web Analytics Association Certification test to help clear up the confusion.

• You do not need to be a WAA member to take the test (but you get a discount if you are).
• You do not need to take any workshops or courses to pass the test.
• You do not need to be proficient with any particular tool.
• It is not offered online for security and verification purposes.
• It's not cheap because it represents an enormous amount of work and an in-person proctoring methodology is costly.

That's the summary and here are the details:

Although the WAA certification exam is being launched at eMetrics in San Jose and London, an international proctored computer-based testing network will be available in August 2010. In order to ensure the security and integrity of the certification program, the exam will only offered at proctored exam locations.

The reason we are not offering online testing is that there is no way to ensure the actual candidate took the test or that others did not assist the candidate with answering questions. In addition, there is no way to ensure that other individuals in the room are not reading the test along with the candidate, giving them unauthorized access to the exam.

At this point, we have over 170 proctored centers in the U.S. and approximately 60 proctored international centers identified where individuals will be able to take the exam. This network will continue to expand so that we are able to adequately meet the needs of our members located across the globe.

Please note that individuals do not need to register for eMetrics in order to take the exam. We do not expect individuals to travel to San Jose or London to take the certification exam if they hadn’t planned on being in the area anyway. Instead we have designed these two sites as the location where the exams will be launched and our international network will open up in August.

The WAA Certification Program follows established best practices for the certification industry. In order to ensure the certified individuals remain current on what is going on in the industry, WAA requires individuals to participate in professional development activities, such as conferences and training activities. In order to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change in the industry, we believe it is important that individuals participate in professional development activities to retain their certification.

WAA has expended significant resources, including hiring a Certification Director with over 15 years of experience operating and managing international certification programs, to ensure that our program follows best practices that have been established by the certification industry. In addition to the fees paid to consultants over the past two years, we have spent resources on certification examination software, computer-based testing infrastructure, proctor set-up and legal fees. In addition, we have allocated resources to run several “Test the Test” sessions to ensure the quality of the exam.

In addition to the money spent to ensure a high-quality certification program that meets the needs of the industry, a tremendous amount of volunteer effort has gone into the development of this certification program. About 50 WAA members from all over the world have participated in the development of this program so far. We would not have been able to launch this certification program without the dedicated volunteers who have participated.

The WAA certification program was designed in response to requests made by our membership. Because of this, we offer 1 or 2 (depending on membership dues) complimentary certifications per year for our corporate members. Although the certification is offered to both members and non-members, in order to get the $635 member pricing on exams individuals who are not members of WAA can join for $199. All proctoring fees are included in the certification exam fee. These individuals not only get the member-pricing for exams but also can take advantage of the other benefits that are available to our membership.

For more details about the Certification exam and the whole process, please read Jim Novo's FAQ on it called Inside WAA Certification: Any Questions?

I hope that clears things up a bit. To the more than 50 people who have worked on this project for over two years, the WAA Board of Directors thanks you. To those who have provided feedback directly to the WAA, we thank you and encourage others to do the same.

Jim Sterne, Target Marketing, Chairman
on Behalf of the Board of Directors, Web Analytics Association:
Alex Langshur, PublicInsite, President
Vicky Brock, Highland Business Research, Secretary
Stéphane Hamel, Immeria Consulting Services, Treasurer
Anil Batra, POP, Director
June Dershewitz, Semphonic, Director
Matthew Langie, Omniture, Director
Dennis Mortensen, Yahoo!, Director
Peter Sanborn, Microsoft Corporation, Director
Rachel Scotto, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Director
Ed Wu, Dell, Director
Alex Yoder, WebTrends, Director

Inside WAA Certification: Any Questions?

Originally posted by Jim Novo.

The WAA has published a lot of info about the new WAA Certification Exam; you might want to first read the FAQ and take a look at the application information and Exam Handbook for the organizational details, and you can see sample questions from the Test. But something I can just about guarantee about the Certification – no matter how much info the WAA publishes about it, many people will still have questions!

So here, I will attempt to answer other kinds of questions I think people might have based on my discussions with WAA members.

However, I’m going to approach this topic a bit differently than most of the published documentation – from a Product / Marketing perspective, rather than an Educational / WAA POV. I can do this because (if you don’t know) I have worn all the hats on this project – developer, marketer, WAA project owner – and I think it might be helpful to tell the business story of the WAA Certification, from the bottom up.

And if you have other questions, feel free to leave them in Comments and I will do my best to answer them!

Where did the idea for Certification come from?

The WAA is a member-driven organization; we listen to the membership and try to accomplish what they would like us to accomplish. We heard from hiring folks and managers that ”web analysts today know a lot of the buzz words and can follow instructions as far as reporting goes, but what we’d be willing to pay a premium for is web analysts who discover things on their own, who add value in areas we don’t already know about”.

So that’s where WAA Certification came from. It addresses a specific need identified by members, what came to be known internally as the “Book Smart versus Sherlock Holmes” problem. Sure, you can read a ton of books or blogs and be a good web analyst by following best practices. But so can a lot of other people. What you need to pass the Certification Test is different; you have to be able to turn data into insight and recommend a best action given the scenario presented.

How come the WAA’s Educational efforts lack “tool focus”?

Because the tool vendors own that focus, and by definition they have the resources to be much better at tool education / certification than the WAA, so why would be want to compete with the tool vendors?

Better to add value on the business side, where there is demand we can fill and a lack of trusted resources. And if you think about it, this approach simply expands the overall WA opportunity. People who want to become experts on the tool side have a path (through the vendors), and people who want to become experts on the analysis / business side also have a path through the WAA. And if you want to be a Universal Web Analytics Soldier, I guess you could do both!

Does that mean I can pass the Test with No Tool Knowledge?

Not at all. The threshold we set is you need to be able to communicate effectively with tool experts to pass the test. That means you will need to know the basics of how the web works, how the tools accomplish their mission, and know what all the web analytics terms mean. Example: To pass the Test, you don’t need to know how to write a tag, but you do need to know when a custom tag is required and how to communicate your need effectively.

So Marketing people can Pass the Certification Test? eCommerce Managers? Usability people? Media Buyers? Etc.?

Absolutely, if they are good at transforming the data generated by web analytics tools into business insight AND have broad knowledge across the entire scope of web analytics.

This is Why the WAA’s Educational efforts lack “tool focus”?

Sure. And of course, the tool vendors already own that focus, and by definition they have the resources to be much better at tool education / certification than the WAA, so why would the WAA want to compete with the tool vendors in the same space?

Better to add value on the business side, where there is demand we can fill and a lack of trusted resources. And if you think about it, this approach simply expands the overall WA opportunity. People who want to become experts on the tool side have a path (through the vendors), and people who want to become experts on the analysis / business side also have a path through the WAA. And if you want to be a Universal Web Analytics Soldier, I guess you could do both!

Does that mean I can pass the Test with No Tool Knowledge?

Not at all. The threshold we set is you need to be able to communicate effectively with tool experts to pass the test. That means you will need to know the basics of how the web works, how the tools accomplish their mission, and know what all the web analytics terms mean. Example: To pass the Test, you don’t need to know how to write a tag, but you do need to know when a custom tag is required and how to communicate your need effectively.

So Marketing people can Pass the Certification Test? eCommerce Managers? Usability people? Media Buyers? Etc.?

Absolutely, if they are good at transforming the data generated by web analytics tools into business insight AND have broad knowledge across the entire scope of web analytics.

Who Created the Certification Test and How?

About 50 WAA members from all over the world volunteered to take on the task. We created questions, tested them across different audiences, gathered feedback, rewrote the questions based on the feedback, tested the questions again. You know, the continuous improvement thing?

If you want to participate in the ongoing process of creating the Certification Exam, there is more info here. Please note you have to be a member of the WAA to be on any WAA Committee.

Where did the Requirements to take the Test Come From?

From the 4 Test the Test sessions we held at various eMetrics events, where we asked people to volunteer to take the Test. We looked at the backgrounds of people with high scores versus people with low scores and established the benchmarks. People with higher than average scores had these characteristics:

Years of Web Analytics Experience: 5.4
Interprets reports / suggests actions to be taken: 100% of population
Training / Courses in web analytics: 100% of population
Education post High School: 4.8 Years

People with lower than average scores had these characteristics:

Years of Web Analytics Experience: 2.3
Interprets reports / suggests actions to be taken: 50% of population
Training / Courses in web analytics: 63% of population
Education post High School: 3.6 Years

But inside these averages (segmentation!), it gets much more interesting. Turns out the less experience you have, the more formal education / training helps you get a higher score. Education could be college / advanced degrees, vendor training, or classes in web analytics / e-commerce. Logical, and expected.

Not so intuitive was this on the mix of education and experience: when you have a lot of one and little of the other, you tended to get a lower score. For example, both Ph.D’s with low years experience and people with 10 years experience but lacking education / training tended to get lower scores. Likewise, people who indicated they “read blogs and books” as the only source of education did not tend to have high scores unless they had a lot of direct web analytics experience. So somewhere in the middle there is a “magic mix” of experience and education that results in higher scores.

Interestingly, the single most reliable predictor of a higher score on the test was whether or not in the current job the person regularly suggests actions to be taken based on the analysis. This data point is more subjective than years of education or experience so we did not include it as a requirement to take the Test, but it’s worth mentioning since it aligns closely with the purpose of the test.

In the end, it’s tough to predict tangible business analysis skills based on just education or experience alone, and this is why the Certification Test should be an important tool for people hiring web analysts.

I’ve heard the Test is Difficult to Pass; can you Explain Why?

In short, because we are a young industry and people tend to have narrow experience relative to the scope of the topic.

You can be an expert in e-mail and Display analytics and still not pass the test because you don’t know enough yet about PPC analysis or Optimizing Web Sites. You don’t have to be an expert at everything to pass the Test, but you do need to have some knowledge across the entire scope of web analytics to get a high score. See the Knowledge Required for Certification document for an overview of topics.

That said, I’m sure many of you have been faced before with challenges you did not understand or have any experience with – and then you figured out how to produce insight. That brainset is precisely what the WAA is testing for. So if you can take what you know from e-mail analysis and use it to figure out a question about PPC analysis, you could answer the PPC question correctly. Do that enough times across the different knowledge areas and you could pass the Test, because you essentially demonstrated the ability to think analytically – the objective of the Test.

In opposition to that scenario, blindly following best practices in any knowledge area without recognition of the changes in approach a particular business situation or model might require means you probably will not pass the Test; you will need the capacity to modify your thinking based on the business goals presented. Example: the correct answer for the publishing model may not be the correct answer for the commerce model.

How Do I Decide if I Should Take the Test?

Honestly, I personally think the Certification has much more value to people who are in the earlier stages of their web analytics career. Let’s say you have the same training and read the same books as a lot of other folks. And you are trying to establish yourself as a person who can create business value but don’t have the resume to back that position up quite yet. Passing the Certification Test could give you the edge you need to make things happen faster for you.

Conversely, if you have an awesome resume of accomplishments and references for those deeds, then why would you need the additional “proof” the Certification Test provides? Plus, experienced people often specialize to distinguish themselves from the crowd, and a Test across the universe of Web Analytics would not be particularly relevant.

So I’d expect the majority of people taking the Certification Test to be say 3 – 4 years into their WA careers, or perhaps earlier if they have been focused on WA and exposed to the right training or experience environments when doing the actual work.

The above is from the perspective of an individual. However, an agency, consultancy, or service provider might decide having their analysts Certified (including senior people) creates a competitive advantage in their particular space. Companies looking outside for analytics help may feel more comfortable hiring a resource with WAA Certified talent on staff.

Are there any Questions?

Feel free to ask about anything, I probably am the person responsible for whatever you love or hate about the WAA Certification Test, and please see the WAA FAQ for questions on execution details.

WAA member profile: Stéphane Hamel, online tutor of the UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics

This article was originally included in the "UBC Continuing Studies: Spring/Summer 2010” brochure.

Online learning can bring the world to your desktop. Just ask Stéphane Hamel, online tutor in both the UBC Certificate in Business Analysis and Award of Achievement in Web Analytics programs. In his time as an online tutor, he’s instructed hundreds of students, some from as far away as China, India, Germany and Australia.

What does Stéphane enjoy the most about the job? “I enjoy sharing knowledge and expertise with students,” he says. “It may sound selfish, but I also feed off of the interesting ideas and new challenges that arise in the online discussion forums.”

Online tutors in UBC Continuing Studies programs are typically business professionals in their area of expertise and play an important role in the delivery of online courses. They provide online instruction and guidance for students on a one-to-one and group basis and encourage interaction amongst the class. As well as guiding students through the curriculum with continuous email communication, tutors also facilitate online discussions, assignments and projects.

With a degree in computer science and an MBA specializing in electronic business, Stéphane brings many years of online analytics expertise to his courses. He is based in Quebec-city, and runs Immeria Consulting Services Inc. which assists organizations to develop their own online analytics practice. Stéphane is also a frequent presenter at eMetrics conferences and serves as a director and treasurer of the Web Analytics Association.

Despite his active schedule, Stéphane makes the time to tutor Fundamentals of Business Analysis, as well as the four courses that comprise the Award of Achievement in Web Analytics program. Through his experience, Stéphane has developed an effective approach to online learning. “The lack of face-to-face interactions can make it more challenging to engage students in conversations. But I make the courses more interesting by providing lots of real-life examples and references that raise the interest level and help students relate to the topics at hand.”

Many students enroll in online courses for the flexible learning schedule they offer. However, Stéphane cautions that discipline and perseverance are also necessary for success in online learning. “If you are taking an online class, there’s no set agenda other than submitting the assignments. Nobody will tell you when it’s time to go into class and we all have other priorities such as family, work and leisure. Online learning, and learning in general, requires commitment!”

Even with the additional dedication that online learning can require, it is an effective means of accessing the expertise of industry professionals such as Stéphane Hamel, independent of location, distance or time. The hundreds of students from across the globe who’ve been tutored by Stéphane will surely attest to that.

Additional info about the UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics can be found at http://www.tech.ubc.ca/webanalytics/

Web Analytics Championship Judging and Winners

The WAA Championship is an annual activity where members are invited to review the association’s site and traffic data and put their analyst skills to work. After some hiccups with the access to data that delayed the starting date, the analysts analyzed, submitted their reports, insights and observations about the WAA site. The judges deliberated and had to take difficult decisions. Below we present the criteria used to judge the submitted papers and, of course, the winners.

Competition Criteria

There were four criteria against which the analyses were judged:

1. Business Goals: Were they clearly identified? (25 pts)
   Macro goal: Membership
   Micro goal: Member value, Recency, Frequency, Engagement
   Note: It was OK to not identify the macro and micro goals, but it was important to clearly identify some business goals.
2. Analysis: Was there enough data? (25 pts)
   Segmentation to provide context
   Correlations or other demonstration of relationships
   Multiple data sources used (more than just the web analytics tool)
3. Recommendations: Were the insights valuable? (25 pts)
   Meet SMART criteria (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time Bound)
   Informed by data
4. Overall quality (25 pts)
   Is the analysis structured, succinct, and focused?
   Appropriate use of visuals and data (graphs, charts, etc.)
   Writing and presentation quality

Fatal Flaws

After analyzing the entries, the judges agreed that some mistakes were so significant that if made hurt the credibility of the analysis, and in turn, would make it unlikely that the recommendations would be acted upon. Entries that contained a “fatal flaw” were eliminated from consideration. These “fatal flaws” were:

• Unfocused Analysis: When the focus of the analysis is not tied to business or marketing objective(s), the analysis is at best interesting trivia, but not important insight.
• No Compelling Story: The judges were unable to come to consensus on what it means to “use the data to tell a story.” However, they easily reached consensus about which entries had this fatal flaw. In some cases, the analyses with this fatal flaw were written stream of conscience and difficult to follow. In other cases, analyses with this fatal flaw were so boring that they failed to instill a sense of relevance, importance or urgency.
• Factual Errors: One bad apple spoils the bunch. One data error calls the rest of the data into question (or more importantly, the recommendations based on that data). It was particularly easy to spot factual errors when the analyses were mostly based on the same data sets.
• Unfounded Recommendations: The judges agreed that it is easy to report data and it is easy to make recommendations. However, limiting your recommendations to those based on the data is harder than it looks, especially when all the data that you want isn’t available. The result is unfounded recommendations that undermine a data-driven culture. Many of the unfounded recommendations in the analyses were usability related, such as recommendations to shorten the registration form. This would be a valuable recommendation if it were based on data that indicated that the length of the form was the key obstacle to completion. Or, even if there was data to indicate the form is a key obstacle in the member registration process. In fact, that data might exist, but it wasn’t referenced in the analysis.
• Inappropriate Tone: Entries were given much leeway, but the judges agreed that it was inappropriate for an analysis for this competition to be condescending or whimsical.
• Excessive Typographic Errors: Having one typographical error is not a fatal flaw, but an abundance of typographic errors demonstrates inattention to detail and makes it difficult to trust that the recommendations were based on good data. Blatant typos in the file name became a particular pet peeve, but didn’t eliminate anyone from consideration.

The Winners

Unfortunately, the majority of the entries didn’t make the cut because they contained one or more fatal flaws. Of those who met the criteria, there was a wide margin between the top two finalists and the rest of the entries. So, rather than select five finalists, the judges decided to only select two. Despite the focus on data, the winning entries were outstanding because of feelings they inspired. The winning entries were compelling and motivating. The judges immediately wanted to share the analyses with the WAA board members and discuss how to begin implementing the recommendations.

You can read the winning analyses here:

1. First Place: Submitted by Joel Wright and Ed Wu, both from the Dell Online Analytics Team
2. Second Place: Submitted by Leo Burnett team

Of course, if you’re interested in helping the WAA implement any of these recommandations, please leave a comment in this post or contact us by email.

The Judges & Team

The WAA is a volunteer-based organization and we want to thank the following:

• Judges: Jennifer Veesenmeyer, Judah Phillips, Stéphane Hamel and "Wandering" Dave Rhee.
• Logistic & Organization: Daniel Waisberg, June Dershewitz, Clare Madden, Shannon Taylor, Suzanne Carter-Jackson.

Web Analytics Without Borders

We are very proud to announce a partnership between the Web Analytics Association and Save the Children (STC). This project stems from two independent proposals developed at roughly the same time (early 2009), "Web Analytics Without Borders" by WAA volunteers, and "Nonprofit Web Capacity Roadmap and Production Process" by STC. The goal of the project: to reach 74 million children by 2012.

The WAA is interested in helping NGOs as a way to share our pool of knowledge and give back to society. Once this model has proven successful, the WAA have plans to help other NGOs. Involvement from the non-profit organization is crucial. Save the Children was selected as a first project because of the expressed interest, willingness to give access to their data and provide the necessary resources while being comfortable with the fact this constitute a first attempt at this collaboration model. Once proven, the scenario should be replicable with other organizations.

Through this partnership, WAA members will be able to gain experience transforming an organization into a data-driven culture. In non-profits like Save the Children, the benefits of adaptable, test-driven teams and analytics-led decision making are appealing. Despite the appeal, tight times demand focus on contributing to the mission, so resources go to the field in order to meet our goal of reaching 74 million children by 2012. At the same time, we cannot ignore capacity building and the benefits of a data-driven culture.

Save the Children's Web Team will provide access to Google Analytics, Webtrends, and optionally other platforms like Adwords. Save the Children will also share team goals, processes, scope, and objectives, allowing WAA members to become part of our team. Together, using the Web Analytics Maturity Model as a roadmap, we will evaluate our current situation, determine appropriate strategies for increasing capacity and results, and together build a mature analytics program that drives insights and action organization-wide.

Our vision is that every analyst participating in the Web Analytics Without Borders program becomes part of Save the Children's web team, helps develop a data-driven culture from scratch, increase and uses their experience to enable positive and sustainable change in thousands of childrens' lives.

This program is lead by Stéphane Hamel (WAA Director), Daniel Waisberg (Co-Chair of Marketing), and Kris Groulx (Marketing volunteer) on the WAA side. Adam Laughlin is coordinating our efforts on the Save The Children side. Come join us in this journey to improve the lives of millions of children around the world! The program will kickoff on January 2010. Email waa.membership [at] webanalyticsassociation [dot] org to join us or leave a comment on this post.

WAA's Annual Member Meeting

The WAA conducted its Annual Member Meeting on Thursday, October 29, 2009. As part of that meeting, a panel of board members representing key constituencies within the Web Analytics community shared their perspectives of where the industry is headed – and what it means to WAA and its members.

The panelists were:

• Matthew Langie, Omniture
• Dennis Mortensen, Yahoo!
• Peter Sanborn, Microsoft
• Alex Yoder, WebTrends

It was a candid, thoughtful, and provocative discussion that has generated a lot of comment and buzz. Some ideas expressed:

• Web analytics is an enabling technology that has allowed marketers, business analysts and ICT professionals to make more informed decisions related to both the business and marketing.
• This industry is at the core of change towards better understanding and improving customer satisfaction.
• ...more...

We encourage you to listen in to the discussion and share your thoughts and reactions with us.

WAA President Responds to Adobe Acquisition of Omniture

I, like probably all of you, was caught totally by surprise by the news this morning that Adobe has bought Omniture.  My reactions ranged from "WOW!", to "Wow!", to "wow" and pretty soon the emails started arriving from friends in the web analytics industry around the world and my colleagues on the WAA Board nearly all expressing the same level of surprise and incredulity.  I think June Dershewitz (a fellow WAA Board member) has so far said it best: "This is the news of the year."

I've been thinking about this for a while now, and as the day closes, here are my thoughts about this news:

1. First and foremost, huge congratulations to Josh James and the entire team at Omniture.  They've been working hard at building the company and clearly been executing flawlessly for some time.  The valuation of the acquisition drives home the point that they've built significant value (I'm sure Adobe had the best of the many idle minds at Wall St. working on this), which is no small feat and is certainly an accomplishment to take pride in.
2. Seeing our industry in the front page of the Wall Street Journal business section, USA Today, Yahoo News, etc. is a huge validation of the importance, scope and role for web analytics.  It's also mainstream recognition that web analytics is moving up the food chain in the corporate world, and a shot across the bow that you'll need to take this function seriously if you want to remain a top performing organization.
3. I said at one of the eMetrics events that we are still really in the infancy stage of this industry, and I still believe this to be the case.  But events like these underscore both how wide open the future of web analytics is, and yet how it is still somewhat of a "cottage" industry.  We've seen a lot of consolidation in the past few years, yet this sector is still much smaller than even the CRM industry!  There is still so much room for innovation and growth.

I'll close by saying that we - the WAA - look forward to Omniture's continued involvement with the Association as our field expands, matures and gains the recognition it well deserves.

Alex Langshur
President, WAA Board of Directors

Web Analytics Championship - Postponed

Dear WAA Members and Friends:

A few days ago we discovered an unusual and unexpected issue with the WAA site and it requires us to suspend the Web Analytics Championship until it's resolved.

When a user requests a new password, their email is passed through the URL and, therefore, it appears on content reports on web analytics (WA) tools. As soon as this issue was brought to our attention we closed access to the WA tools, determined the scope of the data access, and immediately started working on a solution to solve the issue. We treat member privacy very seriously, and because the email address could be linked to a visitor session we wanted to pro-actively inform the community of what happened. This message therefore, is for information, and no action is necessary on your part.

Unfortunately, will have to postpone the Championship for a few weeks until the issue is fully resolved.

We deeply regret any inconvenience caused to our members and participants in the Championship. We want you to know that we are taking all measures so that this never happens again.

Please contact the or call + 1 (800) 349-1010 with any questions.

Thank you.

Alex Langshur
President, WAA