Developing an Online Business with Analytics
Different business models – even within the same industry – necessarily emphasize and rely on distinct avenues of information to drive management decisions. Marketing platforms vary from company to company even within the same sector. For companies that are utilizing their web presence, and seeking to optimize their web presence, a decision needs to be made early on to value the data and actionable recommendations that result from web analytics data.
Online business development is more of a philosophical descriptor than it is a service offering. When a businesses’ management agrees to marry a website’s traffic data to decisions that influence the direction of the company, the data becomes actionable. The starting point, however, needs to be a general consensus amongst management that the data is valuable. Using a maritime metaphor, if the decision makers can agree that web analytics is akin to navigational charts that detail the ocean’s currents, then the recommendations that follow from that data are akin to charted courses that the ship will follow.
Ultimately, online business development solutions that are driven by information from web analytics begin and end with the person or team responsible for steering the ship. If the navigator does not take the recommendations seriously, then resources invested into analysis is wasted. A company should spend the required forethought to determine the (a) potential or (b) actual importance of the internet to its business. If the internet is important, then web analytics should be a key component of an overarching strategy formulated to capitalize on the opportunities afforded by the data.
Assuming that a company recognizes the potential/value of the internet and understands the importance of traffic data, the only remaining issue surrounds the selection of a vendor to provide the service (for businesses without the infrastructure or desire to bring the operation in-house). The quality of recommendations and experiments aimed to develop an internet business is only as substantive as the team responsible for dealing with the data. As more and more corporate entities shift their focus to the frontier of online business, the teams hoping to carve a niche in that arena will need to be innovative, attentive and flexible in their offerings.
