Long Gun Registry: Politics Trumps Common Sense

The Long Gun Registry has been a point of contention here in Canada. It aligns rural against urban citizens, and by extension has become a wedge issue for political parties centered around their base of support. The Conservative Party power base has long been more rural than urban, while the other parties (Liberal and NDP) draw support from urban centers. It comes as no surprise that the Conservatives want the Registry scrapped, while the Liberals and NDP want it maintained.

Being a city dweller myself, I don’t really see the need for a firearm at all; be it a shotgun, rifle, handgun or whatever. However, I understand that hunters and those who live in rural areas have a different view, using guns as tools or as a means of recreation. I don’t have a problem with that in general… guns just aren’t my thing.

Key arguments against the registry are its cost and program mismanagement. People argue that the registry was created as a knee-jerk reaction to a school shooting 20 years ago in Montreal. The need to be seen as “doing something” resulted in a poorly realized and poorly run government program. I don’t necessarily disagree – it has cost too much money to set up, and the management of the program has been terrible. This doesn’t make the idea flawed, only the execution.

Designing The Ultimate Business Intelligence Tool

A short time ago I was contacted regarding a blog by Jaime Brugueras, discussing what he feels is lacking in the current crop of Business Intelligence (BI) tools. I was asked to provide my feedback via blog post and hopefully start up a discussion.

Everything which Brugueras describes in his blog would comprise the ultimate BI tool. He clearly highlights key pain points felt by all levels of user and creates the framework by which these could be addressed. In spite of his observations, I feel that the nature of the market and current BI tool landscape prevents these recommendations from being realized.

Luxury On A Budget

So, its snowing here in Montreal. In November. I know…. shocker, right? It never ceases to amaze me that people somehow forget how to drive every winter, making the first snowfall the busiest time of the year for tow trucks, body shops and insurance adjusters.

For me, the first snowfall of the year has me looking out my window and wondering what coverage is like on my area mountains. Typically I’m disappointed, as there is rarely good skiing before Christmas anywhere near Montreal. So, to assuage my disappointment, I find myself watching ski videos and planning a trip out west.

This year is no exception, and I’m currently looking for ways to manage a trip out west. When you combine airfare (~$700) and lift tickets ($~500/7days), you’re already looking at a $1,200 cash outlay. Not the cheapest trip, considering that I’ve not yet accounted for anywhere to sleep, transportation between Vancouver and Whistler, or budgeted for food.

Steep and Deep

My uncle, Ken Paynter, left eastern Canada long ago, following the call of the Great White West. After some time in Banff and Lake Louise, he settled down in Whistler, British Columbia. Well… perhaps “settled” isn’t the word… ending up in Whistler is far from settling.

I must admit, every time I visit, I can’t help but feel a little jealous. Forget the skiing for a second… the view alone is a reason to pick up stakes and head out west. I mean, who wouldn’t want to wake up every morning and look out the window to see the sun peeking out from behind the majestic Coastal Mountain range?

But the skiing…. my god, the skiing!

Redefining Business Intelligence

For many years, eCommerce took a mass market, broad strokes approach. Marketers would throw idea after idea against the wall, just to see what would stick. Black hat SEO teams would abuse meta tags, keyword stuff by using white text on a white background, and generally try to game the search engines that were bringing them traffic. More “uniques” contributed to your eEgo, and all levels of the organization focused obsessively on traffic numbers.

In short, internet marketing was taking a telemarketing approach. Conversion percentages were low, but if you called (or served) enough people, eventually you would make a sale. With the ever expanding internet frontier, combined with relatively few businesses selling in the online space, this dragnet or mass-market approach seemed like the best way to go.

Big Apple Bound

Just 36 hours until I board a too-early flight and jet off for the big apple. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not particularly well-travelled, and having never visited New York, I’m quite looking forward to the experience.

The reason for my visit is twofold – GAUGE, and eMetrics. GUAGE is a Google Analytics conference, featuring keynotes, Q&A sessions with members of the Google team, training sessions and access to an all-day Helpdesk. It runs from around 9am on Monday through to 5pm on Tuesday, giving me just enough time to set up for eMetrics. I’ll not have the chance to attend much of the conference, as I’ll be the only iPerceptions rep there and I’ll need to be staffing the 4Q Suite booth. Hopefully the recent win at GACP will bring lots of people over to speak with me.

For eMetrics I will be joined by 4 other members of the iPerceptions team; Claude, Duff, Lane and Brian. Brian and I will be manning the iPerceptions booth and discussing everything related to 4Q, webVal, WASP (if asked), and anything related to our two special and secret announcements.

Oh yeah, we’ll have announcements. Don’t tell anyone.

Hopefully I’ll be tweeting during the conference (provided there is wifi), so be sure to check twitter (@ChristopherPam and @4Q_ChrisPam) for updates about the shows and to see what our big announcements are.

Quicksand, Data Overload and Corporate Concrete

One of Avinash‘s favorite expressions is “data puke’, which goes a long way to describing the vast majority of charts, tables and graphs that I’ve seen over my relatively short (but I like to think illustrious) career in web analytics. I’m no “PowerPoint Picasso”, but I believe that I can put together slides in a manner that imparts knowledge, disseminates data and tells a coherent story.

Evidence indicates that I and my colleagues are in the minority. Perhaps this accounts for why many big corporations seem so very keen on the concept of web analytics, yet so very reticent to actually do anything with their data. They’ve either paid big money for an analytics suite that comes with a consultant, or they’ve used a free solution like GA or 4Q and hired someone as a web analyst. You’d figure that they would take advantage of all the available data, considering the money they’ve spent gathering it.

Personally, I think this corporate inaction can be tracked back to three key things.

Data Overload

Collecting a database of all your visitors’ on-site activities generates a pile of records that is nigh on impossible to parse through, even with highly-paid analysts dissecting every keystroke. Even when you think you’ve reached a conclusion, a simple re-segmenting of the data can show you something different. Everyone thinks that all this data will highlight the Yellow Brick Road that the company should follow, but more often than not you simply end up standing at a 4 way crossroads, spinning in place and wondering which way to go.

Quicksand

Related to the above, all this data keeps everyone stuck in the same place, unable to move in on direction or another. You’ll get everyone in the company agreeing that something has to be done, but all the time will be spent trying to figure out what. Typically, you’ll end up with two camps, each with opposing conclusions that are backed up from data drawn from the same source. The net result is that decisions take forever, if they come at all.

Corporate Concrete

Certain things in the corporate world are set in stone. Deployment schedules are one of those things. While they may have been put in place to keep the company running smoothly, they typically ensure that all the company does is play catch-up. When you receive feedback, you have a very short time to respond – yesterday’s news is old news, and if you are forced to wait 2 months for the next release date, an opportunity will pass you by.

Whether its too much data, indecision or corporate procedures, data obtained from various web analytics sources is not acted on quickly enough. Delayed action results in reduced returns and the perception from many corporate higher-ups that web analytics just isn’t worth it.

Deployment schedules need to be thrown out the window for smaller items – with releases coming weekly, if not daily. Quicker turnaround will offer greater rewards, and increased ROI isn’t something that needs to be explained to the HiPPOs upstairs.

For views, thoughts and the musings of other web analysts, why don’t you head over to the “Analytics Blogarama” page (on or after October 6^th). Much smarter people than I will be leveraging their personal brainpower and contributing to the online discussion. Check it out, leave a comment on this or any other blog post, and join the conversation!