Would you like to collect, manage and integrate web analytics data, without the costs and headaches of page tags? Then say "hello" to Pion® from Atomic Labs®.
Pion is the first and only passive network-capture solution focused specifically on web analytics, featuring out-of-the-box data feeds to all of the leading reporting vendors (Omniture, Webtrends, Unica & Google Analytics).
Instead of relying on tags or logs to collect data, Pion passively sniffs data going across the wire between site users and web servers. Pion assembles the data into meaningful session information in real time and feeds it to your chosen reporting suite based on rules defined by business users.
For many digital marketers, web analytics tags can be a massive headache with over a third of sites having experienced problems with all or some of their pages due to tagging issues. Even after all the pain, even the most well configured tags still miss up to 20% of site activity!
Until now solutions to this problem have been container tags, also known as universal tags. While these container tags have proven effective at reducing some of the implementation and maintenance headaches associated with tags, they are still javascript-based and therefore subject to a lot of the same problems with accuracy, site performance and user privacy. Collecting data with Pion instead of tags slashes overhead while greatly improving data quality and Pion collects accurate data regardless of browser, device or javascript support.
Pion®, the new way to collect, manage and integrate web analytics data.
So how is Pion changing the web analytics game today?
By Working Smarter Instead of Harder to Collect Data
Embedding javascript tags is an inefficient and time-consuming process, costing organizations millions of dollars a year on average. Once tags are installed they need constant maintenance which is often delayed by lack of IT resources. In highly regulated industries, legal approvals add even more delays. This all leads to enormous overhead, but no agility when it comes to tracking new and different data. By contrast, Pion is a simple one-time installation often requiring just a single day for setup. Once Pion is installed, business users are empowered to update data-collection rules through the drag-and-drop browser interface.
Providing Accuracy in Web Analytics Reporting
An average of 10-20% of site activity is missed in analytics reports due to a number of issues including improper tag setup, disabled javascript, older browsers and mobile browsers. While some in the industry have thrown up their arms and declared “good enough” time after time, a growing number of data-driven professionals are demanding better. Pion gives these professionals the competitive advantage they seek by collecting every click, from every user, every time.
Banishing End-User Performance Impact
Site performance issues such as slow load time and broken pages are a major road block to achieving positive web ROI. Users who don't experience the speed and reliability they expect from a site are quick to switch to a competitor and often remember the negative brand impression for years. Even the smallest tags add weight to pages and introduce new failure points to site code. The problem is magnified in large sites with complex analytics installations, where the tracking code can exceed the code of the content itself. Pion is completely passive, uses no javascript or plugins and places zero impact on the user experience.
Freeing Analytics Data from Vendor Lock-In
After all of the software fees and tagging costs incurred in web analytics setup, sites are finding vendors have their data locked into proprietary formats and charge high fees to liberate this data for other applications. In some cases sites are paying six figure fees to buy back data that was theirs in the first place. Pion lets site owners take advantage of the powerful reporting tools on the market today, without having their data locked in. By using Pion to collect data instead of a vendor's proprietary tags, site owners are free to put their data to work in different applications and databases without additional fees. Business teams can share data across different applications on-demand and marketers can experiment with different analytics vendors, even running multiple analytics vendors at once.
Providing Privacy-Friendly and Marketer-Friendly Analytics Data
The growing concern by users about how their data is collected and used has created challenges for site owners in recent years and has led governments around the world to begin enacting web analytics privacy legislation. A few countries like Germany have led the charge, but by April 2011 all 27 EU states will be required to be in compliance with strict privacy regulations. The United States is also in the process of drafting similar legislation. Sites that aren't in compliance can face stiff penalties and negative PR backlash. Pion enables sites to respect privacy laws and concerns without losing valuable marketing data by filtering of personal information such as IP addresses and credit card numbers before the data is sent to a hosted analytics provider. This filtering is simply not possible with javascript-based tracking.
Seriti Consulting are proud to be Atomic Lab's UK Implementation partner for Pion ®.
Contact us for a demo or to discuss your requirements.