While Brandt article make some good points about the inherent power of Google and the great improvements brought by Google Analytics v2.0, there are some other points that I'm not so sure about.
Awareness and maturity
While Google Analytics might have taken the 1st position in terms of number of installations, most industry analysts agree the biggest benefit it brought is the level of awareness of the web analytics field. Smaller vendors are suffering because the quality of GA is there, and the cost can't be beaten. While working on WASP, I have identified nearly 200 WA solutions... Some consolidation and cleanup is a necessary evil in a maturing market. VisualSciences + WebSideStory, Omniture + TouchClarity, etc. While Brandt article says WebTrends might be able to compete longer, my reading of the market tells me that WebTrends is loosing ground. Another aspect that Brandt seems to be forgetting is Gatineau from Microsoft, which, from what has leaked, should bring a new player on the checker board.One size doesn't fit all
At the same time, we see most of the industry leaders (Omniture, VisualSciences, Coremetrics, WebTrends) continue to improve and extend their offering. Again, while it can be argued that several companies now implement GA along with another tool, industry analysts stresses the "process" and "scarce resources" are the most important elements while the "tools" are getting at similar levels of maturity.While the "majors" are playing at their level, some smaller players seems to be comfortable offering a different set of values. For example, that's the case of iMinr, a small-scale solution built by a friend that brings an interesting twists that. He doesn't pretend to compete with Google Analytics and chose to focus on a local market with top notch service.
One of the interesting aspect of building the 
You've looked at the numbers (reporting), you've put them into context and were able to build a good story around them (analysis) in order to educate, communicate and recommend appropriately to your colleagues and managers (staying plugged), now is time to put all of this knowledge into action and find out which solution would lead to the best results in your specific context. Experimenting often requires to let go preconceived ideas and be really open to new and different ways to move forward. Testing is obviously a key element here, but shouldn't be constraining. Looking at competitive intelligence, going beyond Web and into multi channel integration, doing usability labs and focus groups, surveys, are common ways of looking at new ways of doing things. But don't forget about readings about your business market, about the Web and about analytics. Look for other ways to increase your knowledge and widen your sources of inspirations: formal training trough the 
I really concentrated on this, spending some real quality time on it.
This was on my mind, but at a subconscious level; didn't really have to concentrate on it.
I'm excited by it; it is something that makes me happy.
I did not feel like I could avoid this; it was necessary or imperative.
I chose to focus on this; it was voluntary.
I might have suffered negative consequences if I didn't pay attention to this; it was not necessarily positive.
Web analytics can't exist in a vacuum. That is, web analytics has to go beyond Web measurement and be put in the business context. Collaboration and relationships needs to be nurtured with marketing & communication, but also with sales & services groups, even R&D, human resources, finance have a stake on the Web. In a way, the web analyst needs to do some kind of a 
I really concentrated on this, spending some real quality time on it.
This was on my mind, but at a subconscious level; didn't really have to concentrate on it.
I'm excited by it; it is something that makes me happy.
I did not feel like I could avoid this; it was necessary or imperative.
I chose to focus on this; it was voluntary.
I might have suffered negative consequences if I didn't pay attention to this; it was not necessarily positive.
Yesterday I noticed the new headline on my Blogger dashboard "
While reporting focused on extracting the data and making it usable, acquisition analysis is much harder and requires a different set of skills. The challenge is to make sense out of the various metrics, put them in context, build a meaningful "story" and convey the message to people who will be able to take action based on your analysis and insights.
I really concentrated on this, spending some real quality time on it.
This was on my mind, but at a subconscious level; didn't really have to concentrate on it.
I'm excited by it; it is something that makes me happy.
I did not feel like I could avoid this; it was necessary or imperative.
I chose to focus on this; it was voluntary.
I might have suffered negative consequences if I didn't pay attention to this; it was not necessarily positive.
"How little things can make a big difference".
I read the most recent article from my friend Joseph Carrabis on iMedia Connection: "
Reporting is about providing results from various metrics to find out about the "what and how much". Most of the reporting job is about information-gathering and is distinct from the analysis activity, the later being more about presenting recommendations. To make an easy distinction between reporting and analysis, think of a news reporter: their task is to report the facts in an unbiased way, without providing their own opinion (contrary to editorialist's job which is actually to comment the news).
I really concentrated on this, spending some real quality time on it.
This was on my mind, but at a subconscious level; didn't really have to concentrate on it.
I'm excited by it; it is something that makes me happy.
I did not feel like I could avoid this; it was necessary or imperative.
I chose to focus on this; it was voluntary.
I might have suffered negative consequences if I didn't pay attention to this; it was not necessarily positive.