Companies need more than just web analysts and data-savvy marketers to be successful–they need action heroes! While most of us never battle evil scientists or defuse nuclear warheads, successful web analysts benefit from the same attributes that fictional action heroes embody. As a web analyst, your main goal is to improve your organization’s online performance. You can become an “action hero” by translating analysis insights into action that generates significant returns for your company. How you approach analysis is critical to your overall success. In this book, web analytics expert Brent Dykes addresses the unique challenges facing analysts and online marketers working within small and large companies, teaching you how to move beyond reporting and toward analysis to drive action and change. Taking a principle-based rather than a tool-specific approach, Brent introduces you to the Action Hero Framework that breaks down the analysis process into three key stages: Prioritize (what to analyze), Analyze (how to analyze), and Mobilize (how to drive action). And he reinforces these topics with real-world examples and practical tips from seasoned analysts at leading companies. Defines the type of environment in which action heroes thrive–not just survive–as well as how to defeat the villains of web analytics that stand in the way Arms web professionals with a strategic framework for executing online analysis, as well as an arsenal of analysis techniques Reveals how companies need to be both data-driven and action-agile to drive business value from web analytics For more action hero resources and information, check out the book’s companion site at www.Analyticshero.com. "The ideas in this book will take you days (or even weeks) to work your way through, and they fly in the face of the emotional approach to marketing. The question is: would you rather have your competition lead the way with data and science when it comes to reaching your market, or are you going to go first? That's how it is with action heroes--no guts, no glory." - Seth Godin Author We Are All Weird "Don't let the jaunty, breezy style of this book throw you off. Brent successfully - and entertainingly - packs years of experience into these pages along with case studies and insightful help on getting the most out of web analytics, adding value to your company and boosting your career trajectory." - Jim Sterne Founder of eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, author of "Social Media Metrics" and Chairman of the Digital Analytics Association

Knowing everything you can about each click to your Web site can help you make strategic decisions regarding your business. This book is about the why, not just the how, of web analytics and the rules for developing a "culture of analysis" inside your organization. Why you should collect various types of data. Why you need a strategy. Why it must remain flexible. Why your data must generate meaningful action. The authors answer these critical questions—and many more—using their decade of experience in Web analytics.

"International Institute for Analytics"--Dust jacket.

A brand new collection of business analytics insights and actionable techniques… 3 authoritative books, now in a convenient e-format, at a great price! 3 authoritative eBooks deliver comprehensive analytics knowledge and tools for optimizing every critical business decision! Use business analytics to drive maximum value from all your business data! This unique 3 eBook package will help you harness your information, discover hidden patterns, and successfully act on what you learn. In Enterprise Analytics, analytics pioneer Tom Davenport and the world-renowned experts at the International Institute for Analytics (IIA) bring together the latest techniques, best practices, and research on large-scale analytics strategy, technology, implementation, and management. Using real-world examples, they cover everything from building better analytics organizations to gathering data; implementing predictive analytics to linking analysis with organizational performance. You'll find specific insights for optimizing supply chains, online services, marketing, fraud detection, and many other business functions; plus chapter-length case studies from healthcare, retail, and financial services. Next, in the up-to-the-minute Analysis Without Paralysis, Second Edition, Babette E. Bensoussan and Craig S. Fleisher help you succeed with analysis without getting mired in advanced math or arcane theory. They walk you through the entire business analysis process, and guide you through using 12 core tools for making better decisions about strategy and operations -- including three powerful tools covered for the first time in this new Second Edition. Then, in Business and Competitive Analysis, Fleisher and Bensoussan help you apply 24 leading business analysis models to gain deep clarity about your business environment, answer tough questions, and make tough choices. They first walk you through defining problems, avoiding pitfalls, choosing tools, and communicating results. Next, they systematically address both “classic” techniques and the most promising new approaches from economics, finance, sociology, anthropology, and the intelligence and futurist communities. For the first time, one book covers Nine Forces, Competitive Positioning, Business Model, Supply Chain Analyses, Benchmarking, McKinsey 7S, Shadowing, Product Line, Win/Loss, Strategic Relationships, Corporate Reputation, Critical Success Factors, Driving Forces, Country Risk, Technology Forecasting, War Gaming, Event/Timeline, Indications, Warning Analyses, Competitor Cash Flow, ACH, Linchpin Analyses, and more. Whether you're an executive, strategist, analyst, marketer, or operations professional, this eBook collection will help you make more effective, data-driven, profitable decisions! From world-renowned analytics and competitive/business intelligence experts Thomas H. Davenport, Babette E. Bensoussan, and Craig S. Fleisher

This book is about the process of using analytics and the capabilities of analytics in today’s organizations. Cutting through the buzz surrounding the term analytics and the overloaded expectations about using analytics, the book demystifies analytics with an in-depth examination of concepts grounded in operations research and management science. Analytics as a set of tools and processes is only as effective as: The data with which it is working The human judgment applying the processes and understanding the output of these processes. For this reason, the book focuses on the analytics process. What is intrinsic to analytics’ real organizational impact are the careful application of tools and the thoughtful application of their outcomes. This work emphasizes analytics as part of a process that supports decision-making within organizations. It wants to debunk overblown expectations that somehow analytics outputs or analytics as applied to other concepts, such as Big Data, are the be-all and end-all of the analytics process. They are, instead, only a step within a holistic and critical approach to management thinking that can create real value for an organization. To develop this holistic approach, the book is divided into two sections that examine concepts and applications. The first section makes the case for executive management taking a holistic approach to analytics. It draws on rich research in operations and management science that form the context in which analytics tools are to be applied. There is a strong emphasis on knowledge management concepts and techniques, as well as risk management concepts and techniques. The second section focuses on both the use of the analytics process and organizational issues that are required to make the analytics process relevant and impactful.