You know what web analytics needs? Open source!
Open Source has a wide array of benefits. First, it forces standards. Now the WAA is hard at work in standardizing definitions, but the output is only half the challenge. Browsers are mostly standardized (come-on IE!) and so the missing link is the data collection package.
Standardized browsers + standardized collection + standardized reporting = EPIC WIN!
This is a problem though is many companies (such as Omniture) have tied their success to specialized knowledge. Have a problem? Ask your Omniture rep. Need that functionality? Ask your Omniture rep. Want a specialized report?…ask your Omniture rep. I am unfairly bashing Omniture. They have a very impressive product with some incredible capabilities. However, from a developer and implementation stand point it is a nightmare with lots of legacy nuances.
On the otherhand look at Google Analytics. Very simple to implement, but not nearly as robust and customizable as some of the purchased solutions. Google also requires some customization to begin getting actionable insights from it. (Disagreements? Work it out.)
So, what if Google went open source, like the way WordPress did. Users/developers could code customized modules that worked off an API that communicated with a main core. Some of the modules could be reporting modules, some could be visualization modules, and others could be data capture modules that you could plug into your open source application.
From a revenue standpoint a company that starts this could sell training, and certification and then provide services for companies that want help and analytic insights for companies that need that help.
Another advantage is that no one is at the mercies or good will of a corporation. We all know that analytics is very bug ridden and inaccurate. Open source would allow users to correct mistakes or bugs as they find them, rather than waiting for the companies to get around to it.
Some may argue that without a closed source program there will not be any support, however we know from UNIX and other open-source projects that this is not so. Rather than relying on a help desk open from 9-5 Monday to Friday, we end up with a whole community of helpers. Rather than one person helping, we have hundreds of people taking part.
In short, open-source would open up analytics to developers and in turn to the rest of the business structure as the early adopters pass on this information. The ideas are almost limitless.
I agree wholeheartedly and had not drawn the parallels with the state of OS’s, software, browsers, etc. from the dark ages… Analytics and measurement companies have been able to resist the pull of standardization and open source for a lot longer than the rest of the web/software world. It’s an idea whose time has come, for sure. Would Google actually go for something like that is the question?