Bob - here's Web Analytics. Web Analytics - please welcome Bob.

The following email from Bob (not really Bob, but let's call him Bob anyway) is representative of many emails I receive from people who want to do a career shift toward digital measurement and optimization, or web analytics if you prefer:

Hi Stephane,
The UBC Web Analytics Award of Achievement has been highly recommended to me to learn more of the technical side of SEO. I saw a comment you made on Lawrence Dyson's website and also recognized your name from the UBC website. I have always been interested in marketing and while I have experience in digital marketing, I want to get more technical experience in this area. I am 36 years old and taking these courses is part of a plan to shift careers. I've been an entrepreneur for the last 12 years, but am interested in going to work for an interesting company and being able to provide value in the marketing and management of their website. What are the job opportunities for someone graduating with the Web Analytics Award? I currently reside in the UK. Thank you in advance for your response!

Best regards,
Bob

Here's what I replied:

Hi Bob,
I strongly encourage you to do it – not that it is really "technical" about SEO (in fact, not at all), but mainly because it provides a very strong foundation on web analytics. With your entrepreneurial and marketing background, coupled with experience, I’m confident you can easily shift toward analytics – or in fact, maybe not as much a pure "web analyst" (spending your days looking at data & making recommendations to others) – you could be that manager who understands the value of data and make the decisions!

But that’s just my 1st thought based on what you’ve provided – you could ask the same question on the Yahoo! Web Analytics forum to get more input.

Sincerely,
Stéphane

Over the years tutoring the UBC program I have witnessed dozens of people with very diversified backgrounds entering our field. I often get asked about "a good bacgrkound to be an analyst". There is no such thing as a good or bad background - there are only people who want to leverage their own unique skills and experience. I've been told so often I didn't have a degree, or that I was just a techie and therefore too stupid to understand the business that I would never judge anyone who has the guts to make the plunge.

If anything, tutoring has given me this ability to easily spot who has the potential of becoming a top of the crop analyst... and who needs a little more help and guidance to be a decent one.

Other offerings

We hear a lot about UBC, but there are other offerings: USF, UToronto and of course Market Motive. Other universities are also integrating elements of web analytics in their marketing curriculum - a little survey of universities in my local market revealed USherbrooke, McGill and HEC covers web analytics - although they typically do not offer full semester classes. For one, I'm also teaching a full semester, graduate level class about "online analytics from a managerial perspective" at ULaval. Those students, of which many have real work experience, are the ones who will soon define online marketing strategies and manage businesses with a strong online component. The course is available online in French and I'm still working out the details to offer it in English. See Web Analytics Business Education at ULaval for further details.

What about more hands on, practical/technical training? Cardinal Path, which I joined recently, offers the popular Seminar for Success for Google AdWords and Google Analytics and there are many other offerings from vendors and agencies.

A note about the WAA Certification

If you read my comment from almost a year ago on Lawrence blog, you'll notice I was talking about the WAA Certification. Since then, nearly 50 people received the Certified Web Analyst title and I have myself proctored the test twice. More web analyst professionals are enrolling for the test and although it took a little longer then expected, awareness of Certification has significantly increased - not only for practitioners and consultants, but also for employers and clients.

My take

The industry is shaping itself and is answering a diverse array of educational and training needs - and that's excellent! If I had one complaint about the current WAA Education approach it would be its innability and seamingly unwillingness to list more academic and training resources (others than UBC and Irvine - both of which have close ties with the WAA). Personally I would prefer to see a more complete list of resources - even if not officially "endorsed" by the WAA - for the benefit of its members diversified needs and geographic considerations.

I have created a list of Web Analytics Academic Resources - please add, vote and share! Are there any other University programs you know of?

Any thoughts and comments about web analytics education are welcome!

Cardinal Path announce key addition: me!

The recent announcement of a merger between Webshare, PublicInsite and VKI Studios was received very positively – Cardinal Path is destined to become the leading authority in the online digital measurement  space. Over the past couple of years I had the pleasure to discuss and work with both VKI Studios and Public Insite - John Hossack and Alex Langshur - two organizations and two persons I have utmost respect for. I valued the opportunities to work with them while enjoying the “independent thought leader” status; but now is the time for me to reconsider my role.

As of April 20th, I'm officially taking on the job of Director, Strategic Services for Cardinal Path. My role will be to push the envelope - tackle complex issues and challenges while bringing the most optimal and realistic solutions to make online digital measurement easier and more beneficial to our clients.

Alex Langshur, Cardinal Path co-founder and senior partner said "Adding Stéphane to our team solidifies Cardinal Path’s market position as a leading pure play web analytics and digital marketing firm. We’re assembling a group of thought leaders with deep experience across a variety of marketing verticals and we’re excited about what they can accomplish together for our clients."

Everyone I talked to were thrilled by the news. I'm very excited to join a team of unprecedented expertise  and profesionalism with a unique presence across North America.

More info:

• "Cardinal Path announces another key addition to its growing team of digital analytics and online marketing specialists".
• "Stéphane Hamel joins Cardinal Path"

The knowledge worker in 3 acts: Microsoft.nl

I spent a day with the team at Microsoft Netherlands - thanks to These Days. In this post, my thoughts are not about web analytics or the future of the industry - visiting Microsoft got me thinking about how we are working today and how we will in the near future.

Act I: the office desk

Every Microsoft employee is empowered with a fully loaded and powerful laptop running the latest Windows 7,  Office 2010 and a slew of other Microsoft (and non-MS) tools. If Microsoft aims to "make it great" it needs to understand the behavior and expectations of its users. Back in my days as a sysadmin and webmaster at Softimage (then a subsidiary of Microsoft), the "eat your own dog food" mentra wasn't an obligation, it was a pleasure! 93,000 employees in 100 countries (Wikipedia) makes for a pretty good test bed.

I used to work on three, sometimes four computers. Now I only use my laptop which I will sometimes hook up to a bigger screen, keyboard and mouse. At any given time only a third of Microsoft.nl employees are in the office - the others are working from home or wherever else.

There is no office desk anymore - it's your laptop, your iPhone, your iPad...

Act II: the office space

What is striking about Microsoft.nl office is... the space! It doesn't even look like an office, it looks like a cozy modern hotel lobby. There are areas for meetings, for inspiration, for open conversations or if you need to be calm and focused you can go into sound proof cubicles. Of course, there are also the relaxing areas, gaming and a Microsoft Surface table. Food is great and drinks are plenty - just like home.

The office is just like home, home is your office, your office is anywhere.

Act III: the social space

A huge part of our work is filled with social interactions that are beyond mere job-related conversations. Being freelance and working from home (most of the time) is great. The negative side is socializing at work is pretty much non-existent. Facebook or Twitter are not alternatives...

The Microsoft.nl office is clearly set up to facilitate formal and informal social connections. For that matter, my little experience confirmed two stereotypes of the Dutch: 1) bicycles are everywhere and 2) there is a vibrant at-work and after-work lifestyle.

The only real conversion of any social media is getting to meet someone in real life.

The finally

People come to Microsoft.nl offices from all around the world - sometimes just to see and understand the evolving workplace dynamics. Over the weekend I spoke to someone who's employer thought "it would be cool to have iPads for everyone" but still requires them to show up at the office from 9 to 5... they don't get it! We, web analysts and online aficionados, are living in a microcosm ahead of the mass - we are lucky but it's a curse - lets not forget it.

For more info about what's so special about Microsoft.nl office, check out "New World Of Work Microsoft Netherlands Case Study" on Slideshare.

Book review: ReWork, by the folks at 37signals

After presenting my Roadmap to online analytics success workshop in Amsterdam in April (thanks to Siegert Dierickx at TheseDays!), Taco Potze, from GoalGorilla, came to me and kindly offered ReWork, from Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson - the 37signals folks.

For startups and open minds

The book is an easy read - short chapters covering everything from entrepreneurship to project management, productivity, competition, evolution, marketing, staffing, crisis management, and corporate culture. Overall, it's an inspiring book. Anyone familiar with the startups culture will easily relate.

More traditional organizations might find it a stretch... but still thought provoking and inspiring.

My take

Taco said some of the things I was talking about in my workshop were similar to what was presented in the book. In fact, there are some striking resemblance! This isn't only reassuring, it's also a reinforcement of the Online Analytics Maturity privileged approach to web analytics and online business in general.

For example, the guys are not fans of long term planning - "plans let the past drive the future". I also have to agree with "what you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan".

They also touch on the topic of creativity - something often debated in the analytics community - "constraints are advantages in disguise" and they "forces you to be creative". Right on! Some of the thoughts readily applies to the field of analytics: "don't make things worse by overanalyzing and delaying before you even get going" and without stating it, they borrow from the "lean" philosophy of "constantly look for things to remove, simplify and streamline". As one of my former boss used to say "make it easy to do business with"!

The book is full of useful tips and nuggets of wisdom. I'll leave you with two I particularly like:

A lot of companies post help-wanted ads seeking rock stars or ninjas. Lame. Unless your workspace is filled with groupies and throwing stars, these words have nothing to do with your business.

Although "ninja" might be trendy, it is certainly not the best job title if you want to reach out to c-level. This was my #1 advice from a recent post.

We all have ideas. Ideas are immortal. They last forever. What doesn't last forever is inspiration. Inspiration is like fresh fruit or milk: it has an expiration date.

As an analyst, you have to make the complex easier, and if you want to get somewhere, "decide what you're going to do this week, not this year".

I have a hint for you: this week, read ReWork!

Job: Web Analytics and Optimisation consultant - Bell Web Solutions - Montreal

Bell Web Solutions is looking for a Web Analytics and Optimisation consultant for its Montreal office. The selected candidate will be in charge of providing solutions to clients concerning performance tracking for web sites (e-commerce; media portal; financial services; etc.) and other online activities (interactive campaigns). Services offered span from key performance indicators definition, web analytics tool implementation (Omniture; Webtrends; Visual Sciences (HBX); Google Analytics; etc.) to reporting and analysis of collected data.

About Bell Web Solutions

Bell Web Solutions, an excellence centre focused on the Web, is part of a Bell Canada division called Bell Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Solutions. Bell Web Solutions has more than 200 professionals in communications, strategic planning, marketing and Web technologies. The excellence centre integrates the expertise of CESART (now Bell Web Solutions), specialized in interactive marketing for the past 10 years.

As a strategic partner, the Bell Web Solutions team accompanies its clients from beginning to end and is actively involved in the evolution of their interactive projects. Bell Web Solutions offers a wide range of innovative solutions customized to the needs of its clients. These include: Online Consulting Services, Web Development, Usability and Accessibility, Web Analysis and Optimization, Interactive Marketing and Promotion, and Electronic Delivery Services.

Additional details and application available through Workopolis.

Job: SEM Specialist - Skooiz.com - Montreal

Passionate about search engines and their technologies? You like to plan & provide recommendations?


Skooiz.com is an interactive e-marketing agency based in Montreal that specializes in search marketing, email marketing and media consulting on the web.

They are looking for a "Specialist in Google AdWords Campaigns Management", you know, the usual stuff: analyze client needs, set business objectives, manage and optimize the campaigns, analyze results and present recommendations...

Except at Skooiz you could do it for a whole bunch of cool clients and work with other geeks just like you! :)

Q&A with Andrea Wood, Visionary Strategic Analyst

Andrea Wood moved from New York to Montréal a couple of years ago where she joined Canoe.ca as Senior Advisor, Research & Sales Optimization. I rarely do Q&A and profile highlights on this blog, but I'm making an exception for Andrea: her career path  demonstrates the role of analytics in one's job and how she grown from technical writer to a top job in analytics.

Andrea is a seasoned market analyst with extensive experience in strategy development and sales optimization. An energetic visionary and articulate communicator with a talent for looking beyond the numbers to develop and sell ideas, concepts and projects to senior leaders. A dynamic leader and mentor, fostering a team of highly analytical and innovative marketers in a changing marketplace.

SH) You have an impressive CV please tell us a bit about yourself.
AW) I’m a Montreal-based Analyst with a passion for high-tech and innovation. My willingness to jump headlong into new opportunities has allowed me to get involved with some pretty intense challenges.

SH) What was your career path to become a Senior Research Advisor at Canoe.ca?
AW) I started my career as a Technical Writer while at the University of Waterloo. I discovered the world of Analytics while working as a Technical Editor shortly after graduation. Since then I’ve worked in many different research roles that have all relied on my love of painting a clear, concise picture based on quantifiable data points. I’ve been with Canoe for the past 2.5 years, and was completely new to web analytics when I came on board. My experience in research provided a foundation on which to develop a strong aptitude for web analytics – but the learning curve was steep. Learning the new industry terms and methodologies took real focus.

SH) What role does analytics play in this type of job?
AW) At Canoe I’m responsible for developing and managing data-driven marketing and sales strategies. Quebecor owns many web properties, which we track each month using a detailed set of KPIs and dashboards. My role is to advise the executive, product managers and sales on market position, target demographics, and opportunities for product/campaign improvements. All of these tasks rely both on my knowledge of web analytics and on my background in competitive intelligence.

SH) What are the skills you think are important in your role?
AW)

• Organization: the ability to prioritize ideas and concepts into logical groups allows me to identify issues and present strategies with clear, quantifiable explanations.
• Interpersonal skills: the ability to listen to client’s needs and ask relevant questions ensures that a project is planned and a strategy delivered with the utmost efficiency. So many possible paths exist when looking at traffic patterns within the Quebecor network – I really need to keep a clear mind to ensure I am meeting the client’s requirements.
• Interpretation: To me, the ability to translate data into a clear story the client will understand is of the utmost importance. So often I see the client starring blankly at a spreadsheet full of data. Often all that is needed to communicate an issue and solution in a few simple, graphic slides with a prescriptive note for a heading. This is where my background in writing comes in handy – I’m still a pretty good wordsmith.

SH) If you had to name the 3 books, websites, blogs or persons that had the most influence on your career, which ones would they be?
AW)

• Canoe.ca: I’ve spent hours reviewing JS tags, developing procedures and creating dashboards/KPIs for this site. I came on board shortly after we began to implement Omniture as our web analytics solution, and have learned so much about best practices, solution management and training users.
• Joe Wilcox: Joe is a bright and outspoken journalist and a former colleague from JupiterResearch. His ability to deliver insight in an entertaining and charismatic way is unparalleled. I consider Joe to be my mentor for all the support he has provided me. (SH: Visit Joe's blog at Oddly Together)
• Digital Capital: This book marked my transition from Tech Writer to Research Analyst. I was hired by the author, Don Tapscott, to validate research sources and technical information, and gradually became a full-fledged contributor to his projects. (SH: Digital Capital by Don Tapscott)

SH) As a Senior Advisor of Research, web analytics might be just one aspect of your job. How do you see your expertise evolving in the future?
AW) The next obvious step is enhancing my knowledge of SEO/SEM to round out the web analytics profile. A real web analytics practitioner doesn’t just look at the numbers on the inside, but concentrates on a holistic approach to traffic performance and management. Improving product strategy and attracting external traffic go hand-in-hand.

SH) I’m offering you your dream job, what would it be?
AW) My ideal position is a client-facing role combining research, strategy development and product commercialization. I’d love to get more involved in product development and market entry – a more product marketing orientation.

See Andrea's complete profile on LinkedIn.
If you liked this post and would like to see more exceptional profiles, please let me know and don't hesitate to give names!

Job: Product Manager at iPerceptions (Montreal)

As you might know, I recently sold the WASP technology to iPerceptions, and I'm now a member of their Advisory Council. I'm happy to relay the information about a job opening that will certainly be very interesting: Product Manager. iPerceptions is in the business of "Voice of the Customer" with the famous free 4Q survey and their corporate-strength webValidator continuous listening solution, and now WASP. iPerceptions works with top brands such as Dell, Toshiba, Reebok, Intuit, BMW, Sony, Nissan, etc. and as offices in Montreal, New York and London.

Enough blabbing, here's the job!

Product Manager

The Product Manager is responsible for both product planning and product marketing. This includes managing the product throughout the product lifecycle, gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with engineering, to deliver winning products. It also includes working with sales, marketing and support to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met. The Product Manager's job also includes ensuring that the product and marketing efforts support the company's overall strategy and goals.

The Product Manager is expected to:

• Define the product strategy and roadmap
• Deliver Market Requirement Document and Product Requirement Document with prioritized features and corresponding justification
• Work with external third parties to assess partnerships and licensing opportunities
• Be an expert with respect to the competition
• Develop the core positioning and messaging for the product
• Perform product demos to customers
• Set pricing to meet revenue and profitability goals
• Deliver a monthly revenue forecast
• Develop sales tools and collateral
• Propose an overall budget to ensure success
• Manage the Internet Sales channel (Web site, order process, payment process, sales inquiries, customer support, social networking)
• Brief and train the sales force at quarterly sales meetings, if required
• Brief press and analysts and go on press tours, if needed
• Act as a leader within the company

Required experience and knowledge

• Minimum of 2 years experience as a Product Manager or Product Marketing Manager
• Knowledge of Web Analytics
• Knowledge of Social Media (Facebook, Twitter and others)
• Knowledge on how to manage a Web site (content management)
• Demonstrated success defining and launching excellent products
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Bachelor's degree
• Technical background, with experience in using the Internet as a Sales Channel
• Excellent teamwork skills
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority
• Examples and at least one sample of an effective document delivered in the past

Interested? Contact info@iperceptions.com?subject=Product Manager Job

Getting started in web analytics: career advice

I often get asked about tips & tricks to get started in the web analytics field. This post is a summary of various resources to get started.

Education or training?

Education is about gaining knowledge and competencies, such as mastering the concepts of statistics, marketing and technology in order to truly understand what web analytics is all about. Training, on the other end, is more about acquiring specific skills, such as hands on learning of how to use Google Analytics. Generally, employers will look for trained people, while employees will seek education as a way to advance their career. The balance between the two is important to increase and sustain your value in the market.

Getting started

There is no magic trick here. Do your homework! Read, learn, try. Network, get involved, share. Nowadays you can get started very easily and quickly. Google Analytics as certainly democratized the web analytics industry, but don't be a fool and think this is enough. Web analytics is not about the tool you use, it's about a whole lot more! Check out the Web Analytics Maturity Model for more insight on all aspects of web analytics. Expertise and experience can only be gained through time and expanding your horizons.

Getting out of the catch 22

A frequent issue for those starting is the field is finding a way to gain hands on experience while not being employed. Without access to a playground to put your newly acquired knowledge and skills at work, it's pretty hard to move on. Not enough experience to find a job, no job to gain experience. How do you get out of this catch 22?

1. Your own site. Create a blog or a small site about something of interest to you. This is relatively easy and can be free. On the positive side, you have total control and you can touch on the three main dimensions of web analytics: marketing & business strategy, technology and analytics. The challenge here is to have enough traffic to make it interesting!
2. Get involved with a non-profit or a local site. There are plenty of them, and they will generally accept some help. With local sites, the challenge might be the limited traffic and relative simplicity of the site, but it's a start.
3. Crowdsourced analytics. the Web Analytics Association is working on a project that would allow WAA members and UBC students to volunteer work on a large-scale non-profit organization. More to come...

Ressources to get started in web analytics

Education

• Web Analytics Association Base Camp:half or full day introductory courses
• University of British-Columbia Award of Achievement in Web Analytics:four four-weeks long online courses
• University of California Irvine Certificate in Web Intelligence:full-semester online education
• University of San Francisco Internet Marketing Training Online
• Université Laval, MRK-6005 Analytiques Web, a full-semester, graduate level course in French (I'm teaching this course)

Training

• Google Analytics training: several GAACs (Google Analytics Authorized Consultant) are offering training
• Vendor training: visit your vendor's website for information about product-specific training

Social & networking events

• Web Analytics Wednesday: social event for web analytics. A great opportunity to network, learn & share.

Conferences

• eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit: the official Summit of the Web Analytics Association, several cities world-wide
• X Change: put together by two consulting agencies. Early Fall in California.
• Internet Marketing Conference: in several cities including San Francisco, Vancouver, Stockholm, Barcelona
• Check for your specific vendor conference, such as the Omniture Summit, WebTrends Engage

Books

1. Web Analytics an Hour a Day, Avinash Kaushik
2. Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics by Brian Clifton
3. Always Be Testing by Bryan Eisenberg
4. Check my full bookshelf for additional readings

Forums & others

• Web Analytics forum on Yahoo! Groups: please, before asking a question, check if it has been answered before!
• Twitter hash tag #measure
• Create a LinkedIn profile and join web analytics related groups

Finding a job in analytics

• WAA Job Board
• JobsInData.com: global, specialized in all jobs related to analytics
• NumericJobs.com: more US centric
  

If you have other good starting resources to suggest, let me know!

Job: Web Analytics Specialist for online gaming

Another job in the Montreal region: Morris Mohawk Gaming Group offers online gaming services to users in North America.

They are looking for a Web Analytics Specialist. The ideal candidate will be someone smart, enthusiastic, and technical, with a passion for data and the know-how to drive web optimization success. The candidate will be equally comfortable drawing business conclusions and presenting to key stakeholders, as they are analyzing web data and dealing with IT partners.

To give you a hint of the type of job: "We have 42” TVs on every wall playing sports and poker non-stop. The traditional “dark and gloomy office” has no place at Morris Mohawk Gaming Group." :)

Percute: Quebec city startup looking for talent

I've known Stéphane Guérin since our days in the same MBA class. He is a very bright guy who developed a pretty amazing web analytics platform. Yes, even facing Google Analytics and the big players, there are still very innovative startups who can offer unique compeling values. Percute also offers web analytics consulting. You should definitely check it out at percute.com (in French). Pretty cool name also!

The job

In their own term, they are looking for:

• A scientific mind with strong communication skills OR
• A communicator with strong scientific abilities

Communication

Become a community advocate for web analytics, write case studies, blog posts, become a voice of the industry, promote web analytics, best practices and the services offered by Percute Technologies.

Web analytics

The scientific side of things. Work with clients as an ebusiness consultant. Understand their needs, offer strong innovative and problem resolution skills.Knowledge of web analytics isn't as important as the willingness to learn and grow in the field of web analytics.

Percute is looking for a dynamic person willing to work for a small company located in the very nice city of Québec. Contact Percute for more info.

Job: TD Insurance Web Analytics Expert (Montreal)

The economy isn't bad for all fields of expertise. Here's another job in the web analytics business, in Montréal!

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Are you an expert in Web analytics? Move your career forward with TD Insurance! At TD Insurance, a leading insurer on the Web, we are looking for people with 3-5 years of experience in Web analytics to fill a new position and join the best insurance team on the Web in North America.

The person in this position will play a defining role in the orientation of future Web projects. He or she will study and interpret data from different sources on our websites. Responsibilities include analyzing and converting data, and making concrete recommendations to key players.

Responsibilities

• Identify successes, trends and areas of improvement by using web analytic data. Translate analysis into actionable recommendations.
• Set in place activities (dashboards) to monitor for anomalies; report the anomalies when present and communicate recommendations to resolve it
• Develop testing plan and platform for AB and Multi-variant testing and then work with project leaders to define, design, execute, analyze, results.
• Participate in site re-designs and quoting engines enhancements as a measurements expert, identifying reporting requirements, monitoring the implementation process and evaluating post-launch reporting.
• Measure and understand customer lifecycle and usage patterns in order to understand online client behaviour for better targeting and focus on projects on areas with the greatest profitability impact
• Evaluate profitability of the Web Sales Optimization projects to support business cases
• Assist in setting project Key Performance Indicators (KPI) objectives
• After project implementation, evaluate degree of success based on project objectives
• Ensure that the tracking structure continuously evolves to meet the web business needs and are adequate to measure the success of projects
• Build confidence in data sources in order to ensure data integrity and reliability by developing processes and procedures.
• Compile weekly and monthly metric reports from various data sources in order to see the evolution of periodic reports for historical and analysis purposes
• Generate ad-hoc request (reports/data extracts) into insightful analysis and perform recommendations.

Skills and key competencies

• Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce, Information Technology or any other related analytical field
• Experience with Omniture’s suite or similar and current analytics programs.
• Familiarity with SAS and SQL and advanced MS Excel skills
• Experience running complex analyses and developing complex reports
• 3-5 years of experience in Web sites analytics
• Superior analytical skills and thinking, ability to develop creative solutions
• Strong communicator, multi-tasker, customer-focused, business minded
• Ability to work in a dynamic environment
• Detailed driven and hands-on approach
• Excellent in problem solving skills with an ability to provide solutions
• Fluent in both French and English
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• A strong understanding of Insurance
• Excellent Communication Skills written and spoken, French and English

This permanent position comes with a host of benefits, including insurance, bonuses, discounts on financial products, pension plan, etc.

If you think you have the expertise required and are looking for a stimulating work environment where discussion, commitment and pay equity are part of the package, please send your résumé and contact info to Jean-François Beaulieu [jean-francois(dot)beaulieu(at)TDInsurance(dot)com] so he can provide you with more details about this position.

Sapient seeking consultant for Toronto

We might be in a recession, but jobs in our field are still available. This time I'm relaying a job from a contact I have at Sapient. They have 2-3 positions for contracting jobs of up to 6 months at their client location.

Who is Sapient?

Sapient is both an interactive agency and a consulting firm working with a number of prestigious clients: Coca-Cola, Times Online, Food.com, etc. They have thousand of employees and 24 offices around the world.

The opportunity

Sapient is seeking Web Analytics specialists for definition and preparation of regular interval reporting, ad hoc requests and business & marketing insight through analysis. They are seeking  candidates with experience monitoring Web site performance and marketing campaign activity. Candidates should have a firm grasp of marketing strategy, performance analysis and implementation of analytics tools. Candidates should be familiar with MS Excel, MS PPT and ideally Omniture SiteCatalyst or HitBox . Experience with online surveys, A/B and/or multivariate testing a plus!

This contract will require the Analyst to commute daily to the client site in South Western Ontario. Travel expenses will be reimbursed.

If you are interested, email me at shamel(at)immeria(dot)net and I will put you in contact.

Job: Senior Web Analytics Specialist at Mediagrif

I'm relaying a job offer I received from Mediagrif, a leading operator of e-business networks and provider of complete e-business solutions located in Montréal.

I have rarely seen such a thorough and complete description for a web analytics role, tip of the hat to Mediagrif for having a very clear description for this great job!

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Position overview

The successful candidate will be responsible for driving the web analytics strategy of Mediagrif’s B2B websites, managing business analysis, reporting, and forecasting, and playing a key role in the business planning process. They will integrate data from different sources, track online performance as it relates to the total multi-channel business and develop insights with particular emphasis on understanding the effectiveness of user flows, new features, marketing programs and business intelligence. Their analysis will facilitate data driven decisions, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of the business units, presenting concise conclusions and proposing test paths for improvements. The candidate will be passionate about web analytics and remain updated on the latest web developments and best practices.

Responsibilities

General

• Optimize implementation of Omniture web analytics toolset and utilize to analyze traffic and behavioral segments on our sites.
• Develop and maintain consistent reporting framework; create holistic dashboards pulling data from different data sources.
• Work with business owners to develop benchmark criteria for measuring online metrics; create and manage KPIs; provide analytical support, especially in the product definition phase; present cross-functional analysis.
• Work with IT department, marketing, product management and business partners on data flow requirements and monitoring; perform audits and verify process integrity throughout campaign cycles.
• Identify how effective various programs and Web site flows are performing, solicit and/or recommend improvements that target conversion rates and user satisfaction, implement and manage the testing of improvements and effectively communicate findings.
• Deliver web analytics presentations in a variety of forums to employees at all levels of the company including to senior management team.
• Assist the online and emarketing team by providing web analytics and insights to make data driven decisions; analyze web analytics information and provide recommendations in the context of campaigns, web site redesigns and new product development
• Proactively seek to improve day-to-day efficiency and automate activities wherever possible.

Client management:

• Possess understanding of clients’ market dynamics and act as a consultant to clients for the planning and execution of their online marketing needs
• Provide recommendations on how to improve ROI of online marketing campaigns and product development

Project management:

• Identify, create, prioritize, delegate tasks
• Monitor project/task progress and escalate project related issues to appropriate teams (client, integration team, design team, etc.)

Education

BA or BS in Statistics, Business, Economics, Math or Computer Science (Masters preferred)

Experience

Minimum of three years hands on experience analyzing Web data for a medium to large ecommerce Web site or group of Web sites (5 years preferred)

Skills & competencies

Personal skills

• Ability to speak and write fluently in French and English
• Is goal and results oriented
• Strong leadership, organizational, statistical, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Self-motivated with excellent interpersonal and written communication skills
• Ability to establish, nurture, and support good working relationships with internal and external clients
• Client focused, creating an environment in which concern for client satisfaction is a key priority
• Highly adaptable to change with the ability to identify, evaluate, and mitigate risk
• Has strong initiative and is a creative thinker
• Able to make complex decisions and solve problems involving varied levels of complexity, ambiguity and risk
• Ability to cope with stressful situations
• Curious nature is an asset
• Highly effective working in teams with tight deadlines.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously

Technical skills

• Designing, constructing, and running reports using various online web-analytics solution
• Constructing reporting dashboards in Excel with external queries.
• Assisting in various web analytics projects, using data-mining techniques.
• Mid-level expertise in the SEM (Search Engine Marketing) / PPC (Pay Per Click) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies and a minimum one year experience measure success of SEM/PPC and SEO campaigns / efforts.
• Mastery of Excel, Powerpoint and other software tools for reporting and presenting data.
• Thorough understanding of Web technologies such as HTML, CSS, XML
• Expert at Access, SQL Server, Oracle, a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to collect data, analyze trends, find stories, draw conclusions and act on recommendations.
• Experience with web analytics program e.g. Coremetrics, WebTrends, Visual Sciences, Unica, Google Analytics)
• Experience with statistical programs such as SAS and SPSS, and with statistical testing solutions such as Offermatica and Optimost.
• Experience tracking solutions for technologies such as Flash, AJAX , video, etc.
• Experience writing and de-bugging sophisticated JavaScript tags is desirable

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If you want confidential/anonymous info about this job or Mediagrif, feel free to contact me privately, or get in touch with Human Ressources at Mediagrif directly.

If you are en employer seeking talent, or you are looking for a job, I'll be glad to relay the information.

Looking back, peeking ahead

Year end is a good time to think back about what we did. This seemingly simple introspection is a critical step toward the future.

From a professional perspective, I ask 3 simple questions:

1. Am I increasing my value in the market?
2. Am I bringing the right value to my employer/clients?
3. Am I being rightly compensated for my value?

From a personal perspective, the most important questions is "Am I happy at work?"

In this post, I will cover those point and propose to think about "employee engagement" as a method of self assessment.

Increasing market value

My career as taken a huge step forward since I got involved more deeply in web analytics and especially over the last 12 months. For me, the pieces of the puzzle were:

• Consulting: Sharing, coaching, helping out companies and other web analytics practitioners understand the value of process optimization and analytics.
• Teaching: Tutoring 3 of the 4 classes for the UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics and a 4th one related to business process analysis. I'm also working on a full semester class I will start teaching next fall at Laval University (Quebec city).
  
• R&D: The web analytics field being so young, there are opportunities in several areas. WASP is certainly my most known initiative, but I'm also interested in other aspects such as the web analytics maturity model I'm developing, and I have a ton of other ideas to work on.
  
• Learning: I think we should never stop learning. Over 5 years ago I embarqued on a long journey to do an ebusiness MBA. Despite the fact I didn't have a University degree; I opened the right doors and demonstrated I could do it: I'm proud to be on the honor roll for achieving an average grade of over 90%. Formal education isn't all, I'm learning everyday as I work with my clients, teach, read, explore and try new things.
  
• Starting my own business: This is what I had to do to step into the driving seat of my career, and it turned out to be the best move I could do.

Looking back, the piece of the puzzle fits perfectly together. Of course, the choices should be different for everyone.

About you: Think about your motivations, what drives you out of bed in the morning. In the current economic situation, what would be your winning cards if you were suddenly faced with change?

Bringing value

Did I do a good job bringing value to my clients and students? I think so, but they are obviously the best ones to tell! Voice of Customer isn't just for others! Each class I'm tutoring includes an evaluation form, and I'm closely listening to my clients' comments and feedback.

I know there are some aspects I could improve. Some of them are certainly the consequences of my own personal interests, the numerous opportunities and the workload. At one point, accepting to work with a lot of clients is stimulating but impacts my ability to strengthen the relationship and increase the "share of wallet" with existing clients. However, it's also part of my model: coaching and on-demand consulting rather than retainers and long term engagements.

About you: Do you feel you know what is expected from your work? That you have the right tools to deliver? Do your opinions seem to count?

Compensation

This is certainly a tricky topic. When some people inquired about consulting rates on the Web Analytics forum the topic was promptly aborted by fear of being perceived as a legal or ethical misconduct. I personally made about 1.5 times the salary of last year despite spending a fair amount of time working on WASP (which isn't bringing significant revenues for now).

But hourly rate isn't what I'm referring to when I think about "compensation". Compensation is something of value you are getting out of your work. It can be an outstanding and pleasant working environment with friends, it can be flexible hours, lots of vacations, excellent insurance and retirement plans. Or it can be as simple as being gratified and feeling good about what you do. It is, in a way, being "happy at work"!

About you: What are your drivers in life? Family? Being healthy? Having fun with friends? Becoming rich? You should strive to work in an environment that offers the right compensations for your personal values.

Conclusion: The Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement survey

The year ahead looks like it will be challenging. The economy is certainly going to affect the way web analytics is being conducted and your job is certainly going to be impacted.

While working for a web agency a while back, and as part of a MBA class entitled "human dimensions of management", I was exposed to the Gallup's Q12 Employee Engagement survey. I conducted the survey internally, anonymously, and the results were catastrophic! Employee retention was really bad, productivity and motivation were low, errors were rampant, profitability wasn't always there and management refused to take action based on the survey results... I left the company a couple of months later.

Proven methodologies and quantified results are not always a guarantee of action!

Being interested in statistics, I would love to know the score for our industry, and the trend over the past couple of months.

The questions are straightforward. As an employee, they should serve as a good starting point for your introspection. As an employer, I would encourage you to ask your employees to take the survey (anonymously, of course!) and take action:

How satisfied are you with your place of employment as a place to work? (Rate 1-5)

1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development. 
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my organization makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

(You might also want to check out what The Dashboard Spy has done a while back.)

I think one of the key word in 2009 will be "adaptation". We will need to be able and ready to adapt to an even faster changing environment, handle significant shifts in what our clients demand and expect. I also think experience and being able to handle the multiple aspects of web analytics will become even more important. The dimensions of analytical skills, technological knowhow, communication acumen and broad web knowledge will be leveraged to their full potential.

I could wish you "best of luck in 2009", but luck doesn't always have much to do with it. Our future is in our hands. Happy new year!

Some controversy in the field of web analytics... at last!

When a group of people all agree and nod their heads to any opinion that is theirs, "wisdom of the crowd" sometimes becomes "stupidity of the mass"... No surprise, the web analytics industry follows the same pattern. Let's look at three hot topics:

1. The economy
2. The (free) holly grail of web analytics
3. Hiring: dumb & dumber
   

1. The economy

We comforted ourselves in saying "when the economy is hard, web analytics is even more important". As a group, we all agreed with big "YES!" head signs. It seems we just forgot to tell everyone else outside our group! In this economical tsunami, our industry is getting hit like any others. Vendors sales are going to dramatically slow down, agencies are going to see some of their tasks be relegated to a later time or simply canceled, and analysts are likely to suffer unless their employer is already deeply involved in analytics and is already getting a big ROI on it.

2. The (free) holly grail of web analytics

Google... Google... as much as we love your free love, we start to hate you for building fences around us, then slowly turning them into cages walls. As a herd, we look at the great pasture of free stuff and we all move into that direction.No abyss to cross, just easy stuff, the path is straight and we just have to follow it.

Then there are some black sheep troublemakers who try to tell us it's a trap. It can't be true! There's always a cost! Nothing is free! And they are right, because once we are all nicely parked within the boundaries set by Google, grass will eventually become less tasteful and so scarce we won't be able to survive unless we eat each other.

As much as Google Analytics is great and raise the bar, I don't think it's the magic solution some people would like us to believe. Don't get me wrong, GA is great in some cases, not all. There is still lots of room for other players, but the playing field is getting smaller as Google gradually grab a large chunk of the prairie for itself. We haven't seen such a great thread on the Yahoo! forum in a long time. Like other things in life, what worries me are the uneducated, almost extremist believers who have never been exposed to other web analytics solutions, large projects and business cultural changes and who are becoming experts in the field after "discovering" web development, online marketing, ebusiness strategies and business intelligence web analytics just six months ago.

3. Hiring: dumb & dumber

Another great thread on the Yahoo! forum: Web analytics hiring questions.

• Rule #1: diploma is no proof of intelligence: Some of the replies reminds me of the days when I had a college degree and was told by some potential employers I was too stupid for them because I didn't have a graduate degree (not how they said it... how I felt!). In highschool I had poor grades, in college I was among the top students. Years later, I've almost completed my MBA and so far I've been on the honor roll twice for being among the 5% top students.
  
• Rule #2: admit you don't know everything: I once had a full day round of interviews with a bunch of tests like some people sugested in the thread. Clearly abusive to spend a whole day doing that... Anyway,  by the end of the day I met the CFO, who asked me a very specific question about finance I couldn't answer. I did my best to offer a logical answer and clearly said if I had the job I would look for the answer and get back to him. Thus, I admitted I don't know everything... that's the single thing that failed during that day and the HR person was really sorry to tell me I didn't get the job because of that... looking back at this, I'm glad I didn't get it!
• Rule #3: broader experience might be better: web analytics is a very young field of expertise, taking from traditional marketing, statistics, information technology, management and a whole bunch of others. As such, I think it's better to demonstrate a strong sense of autonomy, desire to learn, leadership, analytical mindset, communication skills and political acumen rather than acute knowledge of a tool such as SAS or any specific vendor, or concepts such SQL and Web 2.0.

Anecdote: Can you believe in my early days as a programmer (20 years ago!) an employer asked me to cite all the keys on a keyboard, in order please! Asking a specific SQL sentence is the same type of stupid question - and yes, I can answer that later one, but I still can't recite all the keys on my keyboard!

I would rather look for someone who can take an ebusiness challenges, identify the problem, find out the underlying issues, understand and/or define the objective and goals, how they would measure success and what kind of recommendation they would make.

Debate is open! Pick you topic and fire at will :)

[Job] Nuance Communication: analytics & BI for voice recognition!

I had a quick email exchange with Jeff Marcus, who has the cool title of "Manager, Applied Data Analysis" at Nuance Communication, a company headquartered in Burlington, MA with offices in Montréal, Québec and throughout the world.

Ever heard of Dragon Naturally Speaking? That's one of Nuance flagship’s products. If you have one of those cool cars with voice recognition, there's a chance there's some Nuance inside. And when you call an airline or phone company and you get to actually say what you want rather then listening to endless prompts such as "Press 1 for sales, 2 for service...", that’s likely Nuance’s too. The job here is to build better models of how callers use those systems so they can be made better and more responsive.

Although we're a lot into web analytics, there are lots of great companies employing data mining for cool and advanced situations. Here's a brief overview of a very cool job.

Job overview

Nuance Communications possesses one of the world's largest sets of data collected from automatic speech recognition applications. We are looking for a research analyst (based in Montréal, Québec, Canada) to mine this data to get more insight into how callers use our systems. We will use the results of this work to drive our application designs and to focus our technology teams on the most critical problems. The results of this work will lead to systems that better adapt to callers and broaden the appeal of this fast-growing technology.

As a research analyst you will work with our application designers and engineers to build models of caller behavior. You will integrate data from various sources and use tools such as Excel and R. Finally, you will communicate your findings to our design, engineering, and marketing teams as well as to selected customers.

A background in statistics, engineering, or linguistics (with emphasis on data-driven methods) could all be suitable for this role.

Responsibilities

• Carry out investigations (a typical example: "What kind of prompt elicits a useful response from the caller?") - this will involve a combination of scripting and manual entry to load data into our analysis tools as well as writing macros and formulas to conduct the analysis
• Communicate findings clearly and compellingly
• Be curious - find unexpected patterns and suggest new investigations to the team

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Linguistics or related field.
• Curiosity
• Analytic mindset
• Quantitative skills
• Experience using formulas in Microsoft Excel
• Experience with Perl or Python
• At least an introductory statistics course
• Ability to work independently
• Research methods experience is a plus
• Experience with SQL a plus
• Experience using statistical analysis packages like R or S-Plus is a plus
• Excellent communications skills

View details about this job on Nuance website or apply online.

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Note for employers: If you have open positions, I will be happy to forward your job offers, especially if they are in Québec.
Note for job seekers: You have experience in the web analytics field? There are lots of job but you need to know where to hunt. If you are seeking a job and would like to get featured on my blog, drop me an email and I'll see what I can do.

Guy Kawasaki: "Plan B", immeria and WASP

A couple of months ago I read Guy Kawasaki's "The Art of the Start". Did I learn a lot? Maybe not, but it comforted me in my choice of starting immeria and working on WASP the way I did..

Yesterday, Guy posted "Plan B for fundraising", where he proposes an alternative to the traditional venture capital funding and startup approach. Basically, Plan B is exactly what I'm doing:

1. Finance: I'm using my own savings and I do consulting and tutoring work to pay for bread & butter, but this slows down WASP development cycle. I received several offers, some of them very interesting, but at this point I prefer to stay focused and avoid new types of pressure.
   
2. Be greedy: I cut down on expenses. I use my home office, and for attending conferences, I'm lucky enough to be a speaker, so at least it cuts down on some of the expenses. But I had to skip some conferences, like XChange, in order to focus on my work and cut down my expenses.
   
3. Late product: yes, I'm later than I anticipated with WASP. I wanted to release my v1.0 much sooner, and users are becoming more impatient to get the unlocked version. The momentum is great, I need to be there! In the meantime, those who really, really are eager to use the full version of WASP can contact me and I will do the work as a consultant.
   
4. Product praise & market growth: I posted "WASP Love!", and I get lots of great feedback through Kampyle and the support forum running on GetSatisfaction. My user base is now around 10,000, with nearly 50 new installs and 200,000 data points collected daily. Fellow bloggers and vendors alike are also talking about WASP.
5. Growth options: When I left my previous employer, I had been working in parallel for about 6 months. My goal was to "be alone and have fun" for a year. So after XMas time, I will be hiring my team: business development, developers, analyst, support, admin, etc. (If ever you are interested, especially if living in the Quebec-city region, let me know!)

And lastly, for those awaiting an update on WASP, stay tuned, I'm currently packaging it and doing the necessary final tests and site updates.

Back from vacation

Disconnect

I was away at my camp for a week, totally disconnected from modern society: no computer, no cell phone, not even a land line, no TV, water comes from a well and there is barely enough electricity to sustain the fridge and the oven. The camp is at the far end of a gravel road, surounded by 500 acres of wood and farm fields. 500 acres is enough to get lost, encounter dears, racoons, porcupine, maybe even moose and bears. Disconnected.

Introspect

As I shared a while back, every couple of months I take a pause pause to think about my career. I made the jump to become freelance last December, but the decision was really taken about a year ago. Lest look back at my 3 + 1:

1. Am I increasing my value in the market?


2. Am I bringing the right value to my employer clients?


3. Am I being rightly compensated for my value?

And an extra one proposed by Avinash Kaushik:

4. Am I happy?

The problem I'm facing is interesting: I can safely say a resounding "YES!" to all of those. So is there any problem? Read on.

Clean

Vacation is a good time for cleanup...



I had enough! I'm defaced, de-twitted and still alive! Some people say Facebook and Twitter are the next greatest thing in life, I simply have enough of it. I deactivated Facebook and deleted my Twitter account. I also cleaned up my RSS feeds and will now read my Hotmail and GMail only once a day, while I keep my immeria.net email account strictly for business. However, I still find value in LinkedIn and to some extent, Plaxo, so they both remain in my toolbox.



I also cleaned my cable-TV, internet, phone and cell services. It's amazing how much we end up paying if we don't review all the great "extras" that gets added over time.

Reallign

immeria's tagline is "an immersion in analytics". Web analytics is an emerging field and demand for experienced people is high. Consulting, developing WASP and education: I love the three aspects. The problem is I'm being pulled into many directions, sometimes too deeply. It's easy and tempting to do consulting work, but consulting is mostly a one-to-one knowledge transfer; it doesn't scale easily. However, this is also how I can "stay in touch" with the field and identify pain points and think about learning, processes and tools to make web analytics easier. So here are the results of my introspection:

1. Consulting: Keep a few consulting clients but refer to trusted partners whenever possible


2. Tools: Pursue WASP development, especially for quality assurance and market research, and delegate more sub-contracting work. WASP being the first of a serie of tools to make web analytics easier.
   
   


3. Education: Continue tutoring and teaching; actively work on educational content, especially the documentation of web analytics processes, toward a new full semester class on web analytics coming up this winter at Laval University (graduate level).

Summary

In short, what I want to do is this:

As a free spirited, independent consultant, I want to seize every opportunity to make web analytics easier by fostering education, processes and tools that are solution agnostic and largely applicable.

WASP: call for developers & designers

You like WASP? You have some extra time or want to earn some side money? Read on!

Sub-contracting

I will gradually sub-contract some work through the Elance service. I will post small bits & pieces of job that can be done easily as small projects ranging from junior developers to more advanced concepts using JavaScript and DHTML, Yahoo! UI Toolkit, XML, PHP programming, user interface design, branding and even copywriting.

Job #1: License check

The first item is a bit of a trial of the Elance service. Your mission, if you accept it, is to develop a client-side component in JavaScript that will call a web service developed in PHP. Given two values, you will look into a mySQL database for the corresponding match, check a few details and return the available feature set for this license. Get more info on Elance.

Job #2: Logo design & branding

The second item is the design of a corporate logos for immeria and WASP, along with proposed color palette, font style and general web page layout. The WASP logo is a bit tricky as it needs to scale from a normal web page logo down to 64x64 icon and 16x16 status bar active/inactive indicator. Get more on Elance.

Copyrights and more

Contrary to what some people believe, WASP is not open source and is not public domain. The fact that it is being distributed as an addon to an open source browser, namely Firefox, as nothing to do with the licensing model of WASP itself. It is a copyrighted material and the user agreement explicitly state the code can not be reverse engineered, altered, resold or otherwise modified.

That being said, the sub-contracted work will not be on the core component of WASP (the generic detection algorithm) so although some people have offered help in this area and it's appreciated, this won't happen.