Boston, MA, USA – 8 July, 2010 – Web Analytics technology customers should carefully assess their options as acquisitions in the marketplace shift vendor focus, according to new research released this week by the independent analyst firm, The Real Story Group (formerly CMS Watch).
Last month, IBM announced its acquisition of Coremetrics (pending regulatory approval), following Adobe's purchase of Omniture the year before. Yahoo! and Google acquired independent web analytics vendors previously. The latest announcement leaves only privately-held Nedstat and Webtrends as the major remaining independent Web Analytics services, along with Unica, a publicly-traded e-marketing suite vendor.
Real Story Group President Tony Byrne disagrees with mainstream assessments that these acquisitions are good for the web analytics industry. “Sometimes you see benefits for investors in these deals, but for customers, not so much,” Byrne said today.
Customers may also see a change in vendor focus at a time when all the major web analytics services are struggling to adequately keep up with demands for new features like social media measurement.
“Customers want vendors to continue to focus on their core competencies,” notes Real Story Group contributing analyst Phil Kemelor, “but the larger acquirer may position web analytics to promote other more lucrative services -- that’s definitely happened with Yahoo! and Google, and could happen again with IBM’s Coremetrics acquisition.”
According to Byrne, customers and prospective customers should carefully weigh their options and investigate niche suppliers for specialized metrics. “Vendors will make long-term roadmap promises, but you’ll want to keep a closer eye on workaday operational metrics like support and performance,” he advises.
About Real Story Group
The Real Story Group provides research and advisory services to support you through content technology selection and implementation. Through highly detailed technical evaluations, advisory papers, and education courses, The Real Story Group helps you to sort out the complex technology landscape, so that you can minimize time and effort identifying technologies suited to your particular requirements. The Real Story Group evaluates Web Content Management, Digital Asset Management, Document & Records Management (ECM), Enterprise Collaboration & Social Software, Enterprise Search, and SharePoint Ecosystem vendors.
To retain its independence as an impartial analyst firm, Real Story Group works solely for solutions buyers and never for vendors.
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