Alex's Blog

In terms of unexpected prizes, today’s news that Adobe has purchased Omniture is a gold ring for the entire web analytics and measurement industry. There will be a great deal of speculation over the coming days about what this $1.8 billion acquisition means. But a few things are already clear in my mind:

The importance and value of analytics and measurement have never been greater.

Why else, in today’s economy, would Adobe pay upwards of $2 billion for Omniture, a company with a market cap of less than $1.3 billion? The days of best-guess marketing and business investments are well and truly over. Companies are demanding quantifiable results from their marketing and other business investments, and want to be able to consistently use the insight they gain from their web analytics and other measurement tools to improve the performance of their web site, online campaigns and other marketing investments.

I want to congratulate Adobe and its CEO Shantanu Narayen for recognizing the importance of analytics and measurement, and wish them best of luck integrating Omniture into their organization and offerings.

Homogonous solutions don’t work in today heterogeneous business world.

Adobe has already signaled its intention (check out the graphic) to create a closed loop of closely knit content development, publishing and measurement tools for its customers, a large majority of whom reside on the creative side of marketing teams.

Approaches to marketing and other business matters differ from industry to industry. Even businesses in the same industry located on different ends of the same block are likely to assemble vastly different IT and marketing tools. In fact, it’s not uncommon for different teams within the same company to use different tools from multiple vendors. One-size-fits-all, single-vendor solutions simply don’t address such diverse needs. Open systems fueled by standards-based data integration will pave the road forward.

The value of independence and openness are also growing.

I wouldn’t be surprised if other web analytics and measurement providers merge or get acquired by larger companies looking for a piece of an increasingly valuable pie. It’s a simple reality of business in an industry that offers in-demand services.

Omniture’s acquisition leaves Webtrends as the largest independent company in the analytics and measurement industry. Further consolidation would only magnify the importance of Webtrends’ independence, as well as our support for open standards. This approach is already paying off for Webtrends and our customers, who have rewarded us with several of the most profitable quarters in the company’s history over the past years.

As an independent company, Webtrends can continue to create solutions that bring analytics and measurement tools closer to the marketer. We also can continue to address the distinct needs of an increasingly diverse customer base by creating partnerships with other leading marketing services providers. Our support for standards-based data integration and no-fee data access APIs makes integration of our offerings with those of other service providers easy and cost effective.

The result: organizations can eliminate the online and offline information silos that have long stymied their efforts to gain true enterprise-wide insight into their customers and business trends.

Finally, I think one of the really exciting things that might become lost in the ensuing conversation from today’s news, is that our industry still has a long way to go. We have come a long way from simple web site analytics and slogging log files. But there’s so much further to go. Simply put, there is room for more. More innovation, more customers and their deserved satisfaction, and ultimately more economic growth. Adobe’s acquisition of Omniture means more.