Questions 4-40, 4-41 and 4-42 please :)

CASE 1 Web Analytics In the 1990s, Josh James enrolled in an infor- data with the goal of understanding and opti- mation systems class as part of his business mizing web usage. The key features of most management and entrepreneurship degree web analytics tools are enabled by a small bit program. Being not particularly excited about of programming code that is embedded in the topic, Josh sat near the back of the room. each of the pages of a website. As a user nav- During the first class period, Josh noticed a igates from page to page, various pieces of student near the front of the class who was information about the user are collected. easily answering all of the questions, and he These include metadata such as the type of decided he wanted to get to know him. His browser (Safari versus Chrome versus Inter- name was John Pestana, and they quickly net Explorer), the type of device (mobile ver- became friends. John-a technology whiz sus desktop), or the viewable resolution of with a knack for spinning web codesug- the user's screen; browsing data such as how gested that he and Josh start building websites long the user stays on each page or where the for companies, and a partnership was born. As user clicks; and navigation path data, such as their student-run business grew amid the dot- which page the user came from or how many com craze of the late 1990s, their clients total pages the user has viewed within the began to ask about whether their fancy new website. The data are collected anonymously websites were drawing any more web traffic. and aggregated for later analysis. For popu- The two young entrepreneurs immediately lar sites like Walmart.com or Amazon.com, recognized a compelling business opportu- web analytics software can collect millions nity, and they soon founded Omniture, a web of points of data within a relatively short analytics company that quickly grew to domi- amount of time. nate the web analytics market. With innova- Many companies employ entire teams tive analytics tools, Omniture attracted many whose sole purpose is to analyze web analyt- large companies, including Walmart, Com- ics data. These analytics data can be a gold cast, NBC Universal, and Hyatt. In 2006, mine of valuable information that a company Omniture went public and was the number- can use to inform strategic decisions regard- two performing technology initial public ing its website. Consider the value of such offering (IPO) that year. Three years later, information to a major online retailer like Omniture was acquired by technology giant Zappos.com. Using analytics data, Zappos's Adobe Systems for US$1.8 billion. Adobe analysts could study the browsing behaviors continues to develop the web analytics tools, of thousands of different users to identify which have since been integrated into the potential improvements to their website. company's suite of online marketing solu- They might find that users get stuck on a cer- tions, the Adobe Marketing Cloud. tain type of page and identify changes to the Web analytics is the measurement, col- menu structure to improve the navigation. lection, analysis, and reporting of web traffic They may find that many users add items to their cart but exit the site without completing their order when they are prompted to create a user account. This discovery could lead them to move the account creation process to a different point in the checkout flow or per- haps even make account creation optional. These are only a few of the nearly infinite potential discoveries that web analytics data can help discover. Given the large mass of web analytics data collected by a site like Walmart.com, there is a high potential for information over- load. Thus, a key feature of successful web analytics solutions is the ability for business users to filter data in helpful ways, allowing them to drill down into items of interest. Another way in which analytics platforms reduce information overload is through the use of easy-to-interpret graphical representa- tions of the data. These range from simple bar charts and line graphs to shaded geo- graphical maps and complex charts depicting users' flow through a navigational structure. These and many other information summari- zation methods make the vast amount of web analytic data digestible so that business lead- ers can make informed, strategic decisions. Web analytics is a prime example of business analytics in the digital age. For companies that conduct the majority of their business online, and in particular for retail- ers, entertainment hubs, and news providers, web analytics data provide invaluable insight into the behavior of their customers. Those companies that learn to effectively leverage those data can make significant changes that directly affect their bottom line. Questions 4-40. Why do you think Omniture services were so popular, given the time period in which the company was founded? 4-41. Think of an online service (not retail) that you use fre- quently. How could this company use web analytics data to improve its website and positively affect its business? 4-42. Do you think that capturing usage data for performing web analytics is an invasion of privacy? Why or why not? Omniture. (2016, May 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 27, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Omniture&ol did=719180958 Web analytics. (2016, June 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclope- dia. Retrieved June 27, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index .php?title=Web_analytics&oldid=726663475 Based on: Anonymous. (n.d.). Adobe Marketing Cloud. Adobe. Retrieved June 27, 2016, from http://www.adobe.com/marketing-cloud.html