The perfect analytics package

I've been in the Analytics business for about 5 years now. As a result, I truly believe that I have valuable information to share. In fact, I can tell you all there is to know about products that can do everything you're going to want to do as you analyze your site over time. That's a pretty bold statement isn't it?

So what products can do everything and answer all your questions? Well there aren't any. The perfect analytics product still has yet to be built. If you think about it, The Model T Ford rolled off the line 101 years ago and the perfect car has still never been built.

The tricky thing about analytics is that you DON'T know what you don't know. That's the problem. That's always been the problem and that is likely to remain the problem for a while now. Just when products get close to being ultimately flexible, fast enough, perfectly tuned within your organization and your boss has bought in to the numbers, one or more of these things can happen:

1. New MEDIA will emerge that is harder to track (like Social Media or decision engines)
2. A new version of your product will be released that will require a painful upgrade. (Does anyone still have WebTrends?)
3. Your favorite application will get bought out by someone else and the product will lose it's "soul."
4. Your boss will insist that you begin providing a new KPI that you simply can't get without a painful redeployment of tracking code.
5. Your favorite in house analyst will decide to go hiking in the Appalachian mountains and never return.

While this seems rather bleak or at least less than optimistic, my point is that it is imperative that you approach analytics realistically and with a sense of humor and humility. I am not advocating doing nothing and I am not advocating making any attempt to build your own solution.

Forge ahead with applications you like best and try to keep it simple.