Web Analytics India Blog

Web Innovation 2007 kicked off in Grand Ashok on an unusually cold and cloudy Tuesday Morning in Bangalore with traditional candle lighting ceremony by the sponsors.

We were there early as instructed for registration, to collect a cool bag and funky Web 2.0 badges.

Once we reached the conference hall, it was amazing to see so many people from all parts of India who flew down just for the conference.

Conference started with Kiruba Shankar (who was filling in for the MC) asking the panel of speakers…. “What the hell is Web 2.0?” which, for me, sounded more like “What is Life?”.

I guess lot of people in the audience wanted to know the answer.

What’s amazing is answer to the question is same as answering what is life. Everyone knows the answer but no one can explain it to you, you will have to understand it. However the speakers handled it pretty well by various and simple definition of Web 2.0.

a) Web 2.0 = 4 C’s + P + I (Web 2.0 = Content + Commerce + Context + Community + personalization + Intelligent Search)
b) Objective approach as against Subjective
c) Institutionalizing by externalizing not internalizing.

Well, apart for sponsor’s displaying their products, there were few takeaways..

a)Nobody is still making money from Social networking!
b) Advertising or Exit are still the only two business models for a Web 2.0 company.
c) Indian Web 2.0 market is pathetic!. Coz
1) All English content hardly localized.
2) Bandwidth is expansive.
3) Only 6 Million people online and 0.2 Million broadband users.
4) And the most important, we only consume content we do not contribute.
Indian Online Advertising market is quite low.
Coz it takes an Indian user 2.6 Years from the day they start using internet, to buy anything online. Singapore is the favored online advertising market in Asia.

So is Web 2.0 really going to work for India, may be not. Can we skip and jump to Web 3.0 ? We are one of the biggest and fast growing mobile user communities, so we should go 3.0… but nop…. infrastructure problem. We do not have bandwidth… again.

Okay now ……… coming to few good 2.0 things happening in India

Business Blogging!! Yes, customer facing blogs are a winner!!. Let your customer talk about your product on your blog. Intel has used this effectively by many customer facing blogs. Kiruba explained various advantage of business blogging. Looking forward for Kiruba’s book “Audience more intelligent than panel”. Best of Luck Kiruba

Education 2.0!! Byte sized education! Companies like techTribe bringing localized career based communities.

Now for some Fun stuff…

The pleasant surprise was a cocktails (Cheers 2.0) at the end of day one, with some extremely motivating talk by Marc Canter co-founder of Macromedia.

Few more pictures….

No not Hill station!, its Bangalore!

Web Trends Stall.

Unwind time!

So that was my effort of bringing my experience from Web Innovation 2007 . If I have missed something please feel free to comment or mail me at naveen.kumar [@] webanalyticsindia.net

In an interesting article on CMS Watch, All the analyst come together to offers 12 predictions that they think will shape content technologies in 2008.

here’s an overview of the Predictions, and you can read the entire article at Twelve Predictions for 2008 . Most of the predictions applies globally however some are country specific. So here are my views (in quotes) on three important predictions with respect to India Internet market (Web 2.0 Exhaustion, Web Analytics and Search )

1.) Archiving becomes a prime focus for ECM vendors
Whether e-mails or regular documents, the need to shift large volumes of dated and dormant data to compliant archives is becoming an IT priority.

2.) Google will make a bid to become the World’s Content Repository
Seeing the enormous archiving opportunity, and leveraging their own unique computing capacities, Google will offer to store anyone’s data, of any kind (in any quantity), and make it queryable via SQL, XQuery, keyword search, and/or other options.

3.) MOSS enters the valley of disappointment
SharePoint will continue to grow at viral rates as a low cost, low touch, document collaboration system. But in 2008 we will see the start of a noticeable backlash, particularly among larger enterprises.

4.) Return of the buyers’ market
After years of ubiquitous scarcity among experienced consultants and product integrators, a slowing world economy could give buyers more options in the search for good services support

5.) Web 2.0 exhaustion
“Web 2.0″ will finally garner enough momentum to have everyone fall asleep at the slightest mention of the term. Already usage of the term seems to be subsiding, even as some of the underlying concepts (user-generated content, web-based social networking, AJAX interfaces, and so on…) become more ubiquitous.

Web 2.0 is new in India!, but IMHO most of the India internet population now would have not seen the Web 1.0 (now that term never existed, but whatever was before web 2.0) Web 2.0 Technologies like Ajax, flash, Ruby on Rails are picking up, the old html sites are changing and adapting these technologies, Social networking is growing!, targeting regional audience. So 2008 India Online market will see a increasing trend in adapting web 2.0 Technologies.

6.) Social Software vendor collision
So what is replacing Web 2.0? You got it: “Enterprise 2.0″ Like its predecessor, the term is vague, but the phenomenon is real. And there are vendor battles brewing.

7.) Facebook backlash in the enterprise
Facebook is growing at stratospheric rates, with substantial momentum among professionals in general and media and technology companies in particular, the latter in some cases looking to supplement or replace their Intranets with this exciting (and free) new collaboration and social networking platform. Other enterprises will experiment in their wake, and in many cases, will retreat in disappointment.

8.) Security and Identity Management trump functionality for buyers
Security and Information Rights Management will become areas of key focus for those managing large ECM implementations

9.)Finally bridging web analytics and online marketing
2007 was the year that web analytics vendors talked about tighter integration with online marketing vendors. 2008 will be the year that companies begin to buy into the promise of this integration.
Analytics vendors are continuing to productize their APIs after ironing out initial integration issues. Customers are starting to mature their analytics beyond basic reporting — to guide targeted e-mails, personalized offers, and focused segmentation.

In 2008, Web Analytics is India will start forming an integeral part of Online marketing, Internet based companies will start reviewing various paid web analytics options available in the market and implement them. Although it will still take time realize the Power of Web Analytics, Companies will use Web Analytics to understand traffic and initial assessment of their website performance.

This inturn will churn many Web Analytics startups consulting firm offering Analytics Implementation, Support and Analysis support. 2008 will also see many web analytics vendor entering India, to add to the current web analytics vendor.

10.) Search is dead….Not!
In 2008 you’ll hear vast pronouncements that “search is dead,” particularly as enterprise search vendors’ marketing continues to shift en masse towards the concept of “information access platforms.” This is a chimera.

Search is going to be big in India, specifically local search. There are many startups in India (Guruji.com, OnYoMo.com, JustDial.com, AskLaila.com), with Internet population growing at tremendous rate local search will grow reaching local audience. Search Marketing and SEO has always existed in India, but year 2008 will see a increase in consulting firms providing SEM and SEO solutions. Indeed a great year for the Online Market in India.

11.) Productization of Search Platforms
Though there’s a clear sense of a return to search basics, at the same time the Google Appliance — whatever its limitations — still has other vendors in a fit. Google can deliver a turn-key solution that will start indexing within the hour of receiving the shiny box.

What do you think of these predictions? what’s your take on Web Analytics, search market in India? Pen down via comments.

Well no iam not writing any predictions yet , but here’s what the Web Analytics industry experts had to say about how web analytics is going to shape up in the coming year!. Some great thoughts, expectations and suprises in the pipeline for the coming Year.

Check out the posts below, it’s worth a read!

Web Analytics Prediction posts

Marshall Sponder the author of the famous blog WebmetricsGuru writes about his web analytics predictions for 2008 and how he faired in his 2007 predictions. Marshal writes about the world economy, Presidental elections and Web Analytics 2.0/3.0
Marshall Sponders predictions for 2008

Rich Page made some interesting predictions for the 2008 year ahead in web analytics, A must read, he speaks about Coremetrics buying WebTrends, Omniture coming out with free version, Amazon getting into webanalytics, and some shocking acquisitions which might happen!
2008 Web Analytics predictions by Rich Page

Stéphane Hamel wrote about Guy Kawasaki’s predictions for Web Analytics, this was from a interview done with Jeremiah Owyang .

Guy Kawasaki’s Predictions for Web Analytics

Web Analytics Wednesday – Bangalore

Finally we were there! a great sight for web analytics analyst, coz there can be nothing like networking and WAW is a great platform, It all started with a introduction, Ravi pathak who was the host for the evening.

It was great to see a packed room, as folks started introducing themselves. There were many web analysts, as ravi took a quick poll to understand the type of work web analyst do, and it was found that most of them are close to Business side and not so tech savy, while some were doing both Implementation and Analysis, while few were dedicated to implementation only.

We saw representative from AOL India, Oracle India, BharatMatrimony.com, Indiaplaza.in, Nabler Solution, Webexpe, and other companies.

Trinadh – Country Manager for India kick started with introduction of web analytics association, it’s goals and how it can help Web Analytics Professionals, Vendors and Consulting firms.

He also emphasized on being a member of Web Analytics association to help gain knowledge, understand global standards and contribute to international committee specifically concerned to India.

Trinadh also gave a brief of how he became WAA country manager and his roles and responsibility and called for more volunteers, he then continued with his emetrics experiences and shared slides from jim’s presentation.

Nabler Solutions India: Only company from India quoted in Forrester research! Way to go Seby! Hearty Congratulations

Webexpe: A startup which combines UI experience and web analytics, a different approach taken by the firm, It is also looking to serve Indian Media companies.

I feel it’s a great approach, atleast in India, coz IMHO UI needs a big change for Indian sites.

Overall it was great Event, which probably was Long Overdue, thanks to Trinadh, Jaisiri, Ravi Seby and not to forget Webexpe & Eric Peterson from Web Analytics Demystified Inc the sponsors to make this happen!. And ofcourse thanks to all the folks who attended this to make this event successful, thanks for all the feedback given to make this event better!

P.S: Thanks to Jyotsna Sharma from Indiaplaza for the gift vouchers for the entire audience, nothing like ending with a “shopping voucher”

To end i want to emphasize that Trinadh is trying to bring these events closer to your city! so if you want one to happen in your local city please feel free to reach us and we will give our best shot to make this happen. You can reach out to us at info[@] webanalyticsindia.net

Here are few pics

Missed out something! feel free to add via comments

My last post was a quick survey on current web analytics vendors in India, and after i posted i stumbled upon (although late) a event happening in the silicon city of India – Bangalore. Web Innovation 2007, and looks like a great event and WebTrends are the sponsors and participating in the event. This clearly shows that Web Analytics firms are entering India and WebTrends is already taken their first step!

2008 is going to be a crucial year for Web analytics in India, iam sure we are going to see more players showcasing their products and also soon appearing in local events.

More about Web Innovation 2007 – Event Date Dec 18th

WEB INNOVATION 2007 will be the forum for Designers, Developers, Product Managers, Entrepreneurs, Enterprise, VCs, Marketing Specialists, Strategists, Consultants and others to understand the WEB 2.0 tools, trends and technologies better in order to harness endless business opportunities.

This edition of WEB INNOVATION 2007 will focus on the following:

Web 2.0 & beyond

• Evolution of the web design and development markets
• Define how the web will drive newer successful businesses in the days to follow
• Innovative Technologies, Models and Methods for building and harnessing the Next generation Web
• How technology and business enterprises could collaborate and harness endless business opportunities, maintain market leadership and competitive edge
• The Trade show floor showcasing the Web 2.0 tools, trends and technologies

Speakers in the Conference include folks from Adobe systems India, Aptech Limited, BharatMatrimony.com, CISCO India, CyberMedia Group, Epsilon, Ernst & Young, Frost & Sullivan, Google India, HCL Technologies, Hewlett Packard, Times Internet, Times Financial Services, Indiatimes, Intel® Software Network, Iridium Interactive, MSN India, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, MindTree Consulting Ltd., Oracle Corporation, Infosys Technologies, Sify Ltd, Yahoo! India Research & Development.

Check out more about the speakers and conference information – Web Innovation 2007

Iam afraid iam going to miss it, but if you are would love to hear from you about the event. Post your views and thoughts via comments.