I so rarely talk about Semphonic "business" on the blog that I sometimes miss the obvious. Just how myopic I can get was brought home to me reading Marshall Sponder, Jennifer LeClaire and, of course, Eric Peterson talk about the Semphonic partnership with Web Analytics Demystified. A story I somehow missed!
When Eric first launched himself into Web Analytics Demystified, I wrote a post about his decision. I thought it was a great move. Eric is a unique practitioner – someone with tremendous energy, experience and insight. I wrote then and believe even more now that he has a gift for making the value AND complexity of web analytics understandable and interesting to almost any kind/level of audience.
What’s more, I think the direction of WAD – the focus on strategic engagements driving web analytics process – fills a vital spot in the web measurement world. And it’s a spot that Semphonic and companies like Semphonic may not be ideal for. That Eric picked a sweet spot is already apparent. He’s busier than a bee-hive in the height of summer. And that’s as it should be, because I don’t think there are many companies serious about web analytics who wouldn’t benefit from working with Eric.
So to me, a partnership between Semphonic and Eric’s WAD is a natural one. It gives us a place to refer clients who need a type of consulting that isn’t our bread-and-butter. And it gives us a resource for engagements where we can see that our work isn’t being used well because of problems in the business processes surrounding analytics.
From the other side, it gives Eric another (and I hope BEST) way to help clients actually execute on a process. Especially when that process is going to require heavy-duty analytics expertise. I don’t begrudge Eric partnerships with Aquent and Stratigent (well – only a little); because I think those make sense too.
Aquent is a totally different kettle of fish from Semphonic and meets a different sort of need than we do.
Stratigent, on the other hand, is pretty similar to us. But neither we nor they are world-straddling giants and there are geographic and technical areas where we each tend to focus. Plus, I have a lot of respect for what they do. If you’re looking at Web Analytics Consulting, you should probably be talking to us or them. When it comes right down to it, I don’t think either of us can handle all of the Web Analytics demand out there.
The bottom line for me is really two-fold. As a Business Partnership, it makes good sense. Both for us and for our clients. But just as, or maybe more important, there is my own feeling that we can do some amazing work together.
I’ve known Eric for a bit now. I’ve agreed with him about most things – but more importantly – I’ve disagreed with him about some things too. There are lots of people you can’t disagree with and still be comfortable. People who are more concerned with "who’s right" than with "what’s right." While none of us are completely unconcerned with "who’s right," the balance between these makes all the difference in the world.
I believe it’s our shared commitment to the true answer that will make our work together uniquely valuable to clients. And, I hope, uniquely enjoyable for us. So if you’re a large-enterprise looking to take your web measurement to a best-in-class level, give us or Eric a call. You’d be doing me a personal favor!
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