Alex's Blog

Did anyone else watch Barack Obama’s Whitehouse.gov Town Hall meeting yesterday online? I thought it was a great extension of the administrations promise to use open, social tools to help communicate with and listen to the American public over the term of this presidency. Full disclosure: Whitehouse.gov is a WebTrends customer and we’re proud of that. This is both an exciting and interesting time and the openness our current administration is driving through the use of technology is inspiring.

Keeping this in mind I’ve learned a lot about online social campaign tactics from the current administration studying their general election campaign, from social tools to data collection and analysis, so thought I would put all of it to the test as the voting period for the Web Analytics Association 2009 Board of Directors Election is now open. And I am running!

Votes will be accepted from now until the close of the voting period, 7:59 PM ET, on Friday, April 10, 2009. And, you can cast your vote for me on their site. (login to the WAA site required, and you have to be a WAA member)

I have outlined some of my experience and thoughts around my nomination and the WAA in general already, which you can also find here. And, keep on the lookout for more campaign movement and news from the WebTrends camp in the coming week. I’ve got a direct line to White House so this should go well (I also have a good sense of humor) !

- Alex

Today, the White House announced the US’s first Federal CIO. This news comes on the heels of grumbling about privacy concerns from the government using cookies at all. Additionally, the FTC just released a Position Paper (PDF) relating to online Behavorial Advertising and 1st party versus 3rd party approaches. Obama’s administration is clearly beginning to take a stand on changing the role of analytics in the public sector, and I think it warrants additional discussion.

The US government has an interesting relationship with technology. On the one hand, they have top secret projects that utilize the most advanced technology in the world. On the other hand, they can’t display dynamic content on their pages because of a law from the Clinton administration requiring web content to be archived.

I find this double standard fascinating when Americans largely claim we are a democracy that is powered by free speech, aka open communication. All of the talk about tracking and cookies seems as pointless as debating the use of mobile phones. Certainly, both may pose risks if not used properly, but both are absolutely essential tools in today’s world. Cookies are one of the few ways we can efficiently assess the needs online visitors and adjust web sites to their preferences.

We’re fine with the military having satellites that can read our license plates (and not find Bin Laden), but we’re worried about whether or not they know how we are using their websites and whether the same anonymous person comes back multiple times (this can be valuable information for improving the design of a website). The funny thing is that those who have the most information about each and every one of us sit in the private sector today Are any of you really aware of the detailed information that the ad agencies pick up on all of us every day and use to retarget further downstream? ISP’s are selling this data all over the net. You as advertisers pay additional fees to the networks to use your own customer’s data to retarget ads back to your customers. Google probably has more data on each of you than the FBI.

We’ve been having discussions about privacy and access to information in the consumer space for a while. Enterprises are down the road on this them as well. Now, thanks to the Obama administration, we’re embarking on a new debate about how privacy and information control play out in government.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate. Every four years since Clinton launched the first version of the White House’s website in 1994, people have beat the drum of privacy concerns. But, the Whitehouse.gov has traditionally lagged behind the unfolding edge of Internet technology, so the debate has been quieter in the past. Now, Obama can be our friend on Twitter and offers us content to make our own YouTube videos. As the gap closes between consumer social media and government adoption, people are suddenly realizing that we need to talk about what we want our online interaction with the government to look like. We need to reexamine issues of privacy and information control. We need to know what kind of relationship we want with the government and how do we want to communicate with them, as well as how we want them to communicate with others.

In an interview today, Mr. Kundra talked about their position on transparency and the challenges they face:

“There is a lot of data the federal government has and we need to make sure that all the data that is not private, or restricted for national security reasons, can be made public,” he said.

Mr. Kundra did not play down the challenge to the bureaucracy that will happen by inviting the public to comment on programs and point out areas of abuse. Someone, after all, will have to read all those public comments.

“A two-way interaction between the government and its citizens,” he said, “will require a massive transformation by the government, on the back end, to ensure the government can deal with this new reality.”

Along with that massive transformation comes a lot of national introspection.

I am excited to announce that I’ve submitted my nomination for the Web Analytics Association Board.

The movement of data to insight and insight to action is the single biggest challenge facing the industry today. The abundance of data available to web analytics professionals is growing so quickly and from so many sources it is causing atrophy. Our opportunity as an industry is to embrace complexity in analytics, embrace emerging technologies through Web 2.0 tools available today and drive real value through action. It is an exciting time, opportunity is all around us, but is also a challenging time with the macro-economic climate. In the coming year, and through the recession into recovery, we need to make Web Analytics a the best ROI marketing platform.

I believe the WAA needs a more visible presence within each industry its members reside. Web Analytics experts are an intelligent community of leaders that, when channeled within the industries they reside, can build information networks of best practices and help drive industry specific value. Over the next two years, the WAA needs to continue to focus on the conversation around Web Analytics and where the industry is headed; how it will evolve and capitalize on the adjacent and emerging industries. In two years, I see the WAA as becoming the industries’ most resourceful organization to further the conversation about web analytics, education, and the community of professionals in the field.

A bit more about my qualifications:

Strong track record of customer success

Prior to my appointment as CEO, I spent the past seven years serving in key management positions at WebTrends, with my last role being vice president of sales, North America. During my tenure at WebTrends, I have successfully worked to expand the brand and deliver business value to global enterprises. My time at WebTrends tops off more than 20 years of global business experience spanning leadership roles across sales, marketing and operations. Additionally, I also served as vice president of sales for Touch Clarity, a behavioral targeting company.

Established point of view on the analytics from over a decade of experience

A strong voice has been created in the marketplace for the web analytics community and I would like this opportunity to work with the WAA and see the organization continue to grow through thought leaders and industry luminaries. My track record includes a high-level of dedication to this industry and I will share my level of expertise and knowledge to further expand the voice of the Web Analytics Association. I am very excited for the opportunity to work with esteemed individuals in this space and further contribute to the strong organization already in place. I plan to work with the Board to continue to develop best practices for the community and have conversations around these topics.

Background in sales, which is unique from many board members at the moment

I will bring an authentic customer centric focus to the organization. I’m not just a pure analytics and numbers person, but have many, many years in sales with a track record of delivering customer success. Additionally, I have very strong relationships with a number of the preeminent Fortune 500 companies. It is my intention to bring my vision of providing WAA members with information and resources that will continue the positive conversations in the web analytics community.

I’m excited for the opportunity to be a member of the WAA Board and welcome your comments and questions.

Alex