And to be fair, LovettвЂ™s business value dimension encompasses more than just cost and includes flexibility, scalability, usability, and feature sets.

In fair disclosure, I do some work from time to time for Coremetrics and I really like their team, but given their recent deployment of Coremetrics Explore and the expansion of Coremetrics Connect, I think LovettвЂ™s work validates the observation that the only real difference between Omniture and Coremetrics is their general approach towards marketing and sales, not their technology.ДЇurthermore, despite having been long considered a high-end solution with a substantial price tag, Coremetrics actually takes first place for overall business value in the SMB sector beating not only Omniture but also Google Analytics and IndexTools which are free! I commented as much in the press release Coremetrics issued for this report, mostly because this type of market expansion is no mean feat given the quality of the competition. Maybe the reason is that Coremetrics is actually still very competitive and able to provide the level of functionality and service that their clients are looking for at a competitive price. Despite all of their competitors declaring them вЂњdoneвЂќ and вЂњyesterdayвЂ™s newsвЂќ they continue to rank well in both the JupiterResearch ranking and the Forrester Wave. If IвЂ™m Coremetrics, I am pleased as punch!Д¬oremetrics is in a funny position in the web analytics market. But despite the hyperbole, hype, and braggidacio, OmnitureвЂ™s competitors near universally have a similar opportunity and thusly I agree with LovettвЂ™s asessment that there is no single market leader in web analytics today, Omniture or otherwise. This is important because it reinforces both JohnвЂ™s central thesis and one of the most important caveats in all of web analytics: itвЂ™s not the tool that matters, itвЂ™s how you use it! OmnitureвЂ™s own consultants make this point when they remind us that we need to work hard to take advantage of the systems we already have in place, and the reality of the situation is that youвЂ™re not going to be any more successful with Omniture than any other application until you invest in people, process, and technology with a realistic and well-considered business strategy.ДonвЂ™t get me wrong, I think that Omniture has brilliant technology and are in a great position in the market today - if they manage to actually integrate analytics, testing, targeting, and bid management in a truly meaningful way they will solve a bunch of real-world problems. Compared to my assessment in 2004 and Greg DowlingвЂ™s work in 2006 (published by David Daniels in February вЂ™07), JohnвЂ™s work shows that Coremetrics and Unica are actually gaining ground on Omniture from a business value and market suitability perspective. If IвЂ™m Omniture, IвЂ™m not very happy about this constellationДespite hundreds of millions of dollars of investment - including the acquisition of three of the companyвЂ™s former rivals (WebSideStory, Visual Sciences, Instadia) and the roll up of Offermatica and TouchClarity - in the large Enterprise JohnвЂ™s assessment has Omniture in a three-way tie for вЂњfirstвЂќ with Unica and Coremetrics. I know that Stephane and Anil have already discussed the report, and nobody really asked me, but here are a few of my thoughts on JohnвЂ™s work. John should be complimented because despite publishing two somewhat poorly-resolved constellations, his work makes a few incredibly important points about the state of the market today.

вЂњWhen the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and your living at the bittersweet motel.вЂќД«ittersweet is an apt assessment when it comes to producing this type of research as an analyst: non-vendor clients love the insights, vendors hate the comparisons, and all-in-all the results often fail to shed any truly new light on the market.

John has a blog post on the report that is worth reading titled вЂњItвЂ™s not the Tools, ItвЂ™s the CraftsmanвЂќ which reminded me lyrics from the Phish song Bittersweet Motel: Many of you have probably already noticed this but John Lovett at JupiterResearch just released his вЂњWeb Analytics BuyerвЂ™s Guide: Assessing VendorsвЂ™ Competencies and ValueвЂќ (requires registration.) Having done one of these reports myself back in the day I want to congratulate John on publishing an amazingly detailed and insightful piece of work. Originally written by Eric Peterson on July 17, 2008

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