I would like to thank Brent Hieggelke from Omniture that posted a coment to Julien’s post about Yahoo!’s acquisition of IndexTools:
We at Omniture congratulate IndexTools and welcome Yahoo! back to the Web analytics business. Let’s be clear though: this move by Yahoo! was done to compete with Google. IndexTools does not compete “toe to toe” with Omniture. The majority of their customers are small businesses (80% of IndexTools customers are SMB according to CMS Watch.) This is great news for small businesses that use Yahoo advertising. However, mid-market and enterprise customers demand advanced functionality, deep domain expertise and specialized services.
I’m happy to hear Omniture welcomes Yahoo! back to the Web Analytics industry however, I’m not totally sure I share your analysis.
So, before moving onto the different points I’d like to set worth as to why, I’d like to emphasize that this reply to your comment are my personal views, in the spirit of vendor independence and transparency I’ve always promoted ever since we started this blog, a couple of years ago.
Indeed, I remain convinced, as an economist, a long term business analyst and web analytics professional that transparency and truth promotes growth, both for the clients we serve as for this fabulous industry we all serve faithfully.
To start off with a couple of statistics, of the 128 posts we’ve surveyed over the last few days – and I’m sure we’ve missed out on a couple – only 4 seem to agree with the Omniture opinion you put forth.
Indeed, of the information I have, a large majority of IndexTools’ revenue generated in 2007 actually came from Enterprise type clients amongst which we can name Four Seasons, ValueClick (News Corp.), SAP, Liverpool Football Club, PriceRunner & a major Scandinavian Newspaper. It also reminds me that you quote CMS watch but let’s be honest; the name of the game will be for IndexTools to be part of the next Forrester Wave, which I’m sure they’ll enter, next time around.
As for IndexTools not competing “toe to toe” with Omniture, one could actually state that with any WA vendor out there as each solution has its specifications: WebTrends also has a software version on top of their ASP service offering, Unica includes the concept of Enterprise Marketing Management just to name a few and let’s face it, Omniture & IndexTools have been competing in RFPs lately, with wins on both sides. Again, the Forrester Wave will certainly reinforce this situation in my humble opinion.
Having been through the Rubix demo as well as the first IndexTools Analyst Certification, I might have agreed with your stance in the past about IndexTools not having advanced functionalities, deep domain expertise and specialized services but must also admit to having been very positively surprised by the ideas put forward by the Budapest R&D team in the sense that they are really in phase with today’s market needs.
Regarding the product functionalities, I have to admit that IndexTools has not to be ashamed in front of enterprise class solutions as you state. I guess that you refer to Omniture, WebTrends and Coremetrics in terms of Enterprise class tools but to be honest, this “Enterprise or not” debate remains in my eyes fallacious in the sense that I see large Enterprises doing wonderful things with Google Analytics while other don’t really take advantage of their tens (hundreds?) thousands of Euros investments in Web analytics tools.
As mentioned, I’ve had the opportunity to see Rubix months ago and this is a very powerful analysis application for analysts as little me and my team. Strangely enough, even though Omniture did some demos of V14 to clients of mine that they are aware of, the same kind of relationship does not seem to be of importance to Omniture. But, hey, I won’t complain, you’re market leaders so what can I say or do? Except maybe to those clients who wonder why they are paying so much for a tool that doesn’t really deliver what they need that I’m not in favor of changes in tools as tagging is not done overnight for more complex projects. Yes, you’re welcome.
Also note that interestingly enough, the title of the IndexTools certification really does reflect what it means: an analyst certification. Having been through the questions asked to be an Omniture Consultant, a WebTrends Certified Analyst and a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant, I can honestly admit that the IndexTools test was refreshing and actually not that easy! Their specialized services, even though more recent than Omniture’s , learn at an incredible pace and exchange ideas with their partners, moving forward together and serving clients reporting as well as analysis needs in order to answer genuine business concerns.
After all, isn’t that what the challenge of a web analytics tool is all about: answering analyst questions in order to move forward in terms of return on investment rendered through the investments made in the online channel?
Which brings us to cost. Ok, so IndexTools has the reputation of being Omniture at the fraction of the cost but there’s more to it than just the democratic pricing, which you can decline in the 3 major axis: tool, specialized service & adequate analysis capabilities without forgetting data integrations as we move more and more from Web to actual Customer Analytics. Honestly, between VisualSciences & Rubix, my heart is still regretting this great first demo I had of VS in a suite at the eMetrics, when a famous guru still had a pony tail 
Which brings us to Omniture and their Visual Sciences acquisition. Seems quite some HBX clients are not really aware of a possible move in terms of platforms. As I wouldn’t want to speculate about how the former WebSideStory product (HBX) will evolve in the light of Omniture’s SiteCatalyst & VisualSciences’ acquisition (not to mention Discover), I humbly think nobody could possibly predict what Yahoo! will do with IndexTools. I just hope that it will not follow the same paths as NetGenesis (and would I dare say Gatineau?) but fact remains that IndexTools has been profitable for the 4 last years, that between March 8th & 11th, Omniture has lost a couple of millions worth of market value and that IndexTools will certainly remain a worthy competitor that you will not be able to brush off as a SMB type of solution.
As we say in French, “on se rassure comme on peut”.
Humbly,
Aurélie
Aurelie,
I wanted to thank you. I had been preparing a surprisingly similar post but I have to say you have said nearly all I would have and done so brilliantly.
I had a polite call with someone from Omniture last week on this subject and reminded this person that the biggest threat to their organization is not the enemy they they know, it is the enemy that they don’t know. Suffice to say, based on the four comments you cited, it is clear that Omniture doesn’t know IndexTools.
I hope your IndexTools certification brings you half the business I suspect it will. Great move getting certified ahead of everyone else in the world
Tell Rene I can still taste the chocolate.
All the best,
Eric T. Peterson
Quite so, Aurelie. Simply by virtue of their ownership of Visual Sciences, Omniture is a direct competitor of IndexTools’; for Omniture to say otherwise is to imply that they don’t value the smaller HBX customers. And that’s before you get onto the fact that there is certainly a subset of Omniture’s customer base who probably don’t really need the full spectrum of their capabilities, and who would be just as well served by a solution from IndexTools (or, indeed, in some case, Google Analytics or adCenter Analytics). I would imagine that the enthusiasm that Brent shows in his comment is not as pervasive in Orem as he might like to have us think.
And don’t worry – Gatineau is not going to become another NetGenesis. Just check out the sponsors (and agenda) for E-metrics SFO…
Cheers,
Ian
Great post Aurelie
It never ceases to amaze me the arrogance of Omniture. No matter how good they are (or think they are), why they have they not realised how off-putting their stance is to clients and potential clients I don’t know.
As you eloquently point out, the Enterprise v SMB debate is as irrelevant to clients just as the feature wars Omniture still bang on about i.e. “we have X million features more than Google, MS or IndexTools, or product XYZ”.
IndexTools list Tesco, Epson. Pricerunner and Vodafone as their clients – I don’t think you can get more enterprise than that. Google Analytics also has many enterprise class clients.
Google has won a number of these over from Omniture and I am sure Omniture will win a number from Google. But it’s a matter of the right tool for the job (horses for course as we say in the UK) and not over simplifying client needs with statements such as “if you are enterprise you must have product X”.
Maybe I should just keep quiet and let Omniture continue to damage their own brand with this type of rubbish. Sooner or later they will run out of cash to buy their customers with. May be then they will think about their own brand perception…
Brian Clifton
Link to Google Analytics enterprise clients: http://www.advanced-web-metrics.com/blog/2007/07/14/who-uses-google-analytics/
Hi Aurelie,
You offer a unique vantage point for evaluating the marketplace and no doubt the “freeness” of Yahoo! Tools will serve your business well.
I’ve been researching and writing JupiterResearch’s Web Analytics Constellation report since February of this year. Dennis has been a willing participant in our 2008 study since inception, which will allow IndexTools to be reviewed on a level playing field with Omniture, WebTrends, Coremetrics and others.
The study is scheduled to publish this summer. I’m looking forward to helping Web analytics users to understand the functionality, expertise and services available across the entire global marketplace.
Sincerely,
John Lovett
JupiterResearch