I wanted to provide a little more detail to the comments I made in the press release about the latest edition of the Web Analytics Report 2008 regarding mergers and acquisitions in the web analytics marketplace.

As a web analytics customer, the key issue is not so much that vendors have been acquiring other vendors. What really matters is whether you can get the service and support you need from your vendor that has been acquired. This will depend very much on the type of relationship you have with your vendor: if you work with a smaller vendor and are used to having access to the CEO, such as customers had at ClickTracks before it was acquired, things can change dramatically, as in no longer having the level of influence on future product releases. However, if you're mostly concerned with having someone answer the phone for a support call, an acquisition can help service and support. For example, some customers of Instadia have said they have received better support since the company was acquired by Omniture.

The point is, while acquisitions make a good media story, the real issue is whether your vendor can still meet your needs. To be sure, any change is unsettling, but in a sector like web analytics where ongoing service levels are a key determinant to your success, change can be good as well as bad.