Forrester Research’s Wave report on Web analytics providers positioned Adobe Analytics Premium as the clear winner. The report prioritized vendors’ ability to serve enterprise clients.
Lagging just behind Adobe in the “leader” category were IBM, Webtrends and AT Internet. Google was a “strong performer” and SAS Institute was a “contender.” No vendors were classified as “risky bets,” Forrester’s lowest category.
Forrester selected vendors that had a sizeable investment in their analytics products, with at least $20 million in corporate revenues and “capabilities appropriate for large enterprises (which) demonstrate this capacity by the number of enterprise clients they serve.”
Adobe, which the report said had the most enterprise analytics clients, won points because of its connection to the Marketing Cloud suite. The Premium product includes features like data warehousing, report building, tag management, the ability to answer queries in real time and third-party integration tools.
Here are key takeaways from the other evaluated vendors:
IBM: Acquisitions like Coremetrics for Web analytics and Xtify for mobile analytics helped IBM stay in the “leader” category. Forrester noted the company’s commitment to a “continued focus on enterprise and Web analytics.” The report warned IBM to ensure it maintains the quality of its traditional Web analytics tools as it absorbs other platforms.
Webtrends: Unlike Adobe and IBM, Webtrends’ core business is its analytics. Forrester considered new features for Webtrends’ products including real-time data streaming when ranking it as a “leader,” though the report said the company must continue to develop new capabilities to remain competitive in a growing market.
AT Internet: AT Internet earned its “leader” ranking through its technical innovation. The company provides tools for data collection, aggregation, mining and distribution to markets in Europe, Russia, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Forrester said AT Internet could improve by growing its footprint in new and existing markets while making its tools more accessible to the end user.
Google: Forrester praised Google Analytics Premium as a “strong performer,” singling out its simple user interface and cross-platform capability with other Google products such as Display Network and AdWords. The company still has work to do in developing enterprise features, the report said, and must find a way of handling personally identifiable information.
SAS Institute: “Contender” SAS focused more on customer analytics instead of Web analytics with its Adaptive Customer Experience (ACE) software. Forrester concluded SAS needs to shift focus with ACE to provide more traditional Web analytics tools.
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Forrester, which assessed the vendors in February, relied on interviews with the six ranked vendors as well as 14 clients. Assessment criteria was weighted as “current offering” (50%; including data handling, usability and support), “strategy” (50%; including cost, quality of references and corporate strategy) and “market presence” (0%).
