Talent Supply in Web Analytics

Eric Peterson wrote yesterday about the coming revolution in web analytics.

It’s worth a read and it sparked off a lengthy twitter exchange.

I think we have a huge talent supply problem in the web analytics industry.

Web analysts are very specialized in terms of their understanding of the Internet, websites, tracking technologies and reporting methodologies. And necessarily so.

There really aren’t that many of them.

Sure, there are plenty of people who have Google Analytics on their blog. And I’m glad that they do. It’s great to have so many people interested in Web Analytics. But there’s a gap between the interpretation and the turning of that data into actionable insight. In fact, many of the things that look easy really aren’t: such as interpreting ‘time spent on site’.

It’s quite another thing to talk about the leap into statistical web analytics. It’s a different world.

Currently, 90% of web analysts are not asked heavy statistical questions. The industry just isn’t there yet.

To be sure: the demand is growing, and will continue to grow.

We already have a talent shortage in web analytics. Baseline web analytics.

The coming revolution, as Peterson puts it, will put unprecedented demand on the existing talent.

I welcome it. I don’t know how many people will really be able to respond to the challenge (immediately).

Markets have time lags.