Adam Greco, Demystified

I am extremely excited to begin this next chapter in my career and wanted to get started at Analytics Demystified by describing my past, the present, and what I hope to do in the future.

The Past

I began my career in consulting working for Arthur Andersen’s technology group, first in the field of Customer Relationship Management and eventually in Marketing where I ended up managing the website of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. It was there, as one of Omniture’s first customers, that I began to learn about web analytics and the data behind websites.

For some reason web analytics came naturally to me, and I loved figuring out fun, new ways to use the technology at my disposal to answer interesting business questions. As I had done in my consulting days, I dug into every Omniture training manual available and soon found that I knew the technology almost as well as those at Omniture. I think that is what led me to ultimately apply to work at Omniture in their newly founded Omniture Consulting group.

While at Omniture, I had the pleasure of working on many different clients, large and small, and helping them get the most out of Omniture products. As I showed Omniture clients how to use the technology, I often heard clients say “I had no idea you could do that…” so I decided to start a blog to teach people what they really ought to know.

Fast forward a few years and I decided that I wanted to go back to the “practitioner” side of the house and was given a great opportunity to head up web analytics at Salesforce.com. In the role of Senior Director for Web Analytics over the past two years at Salesforce I have had a great time reviving the web analytics program. More importantly, thanks to the generosity of the Salesforce organization, I have been able to continue writing about Omniture technology, speaking at industry events, and helping to establish and grow the Beyond Web Analytics podcast series.

The Present

While working at Salesforce.com has been one of the highlights of my career, when you are used to working on ten or more web analytics projects at a time as a consultant, sometimes working on just one for a few years in a row can be tough. Plus, despite being fully employed these past two years, I have been constantly approached by great people asking how to get the most out of their web analytics efforts — requests that I more often than not had to turn down.

Having been in consulting for most of my career, I had to face the inevitable truth; I have always been destined to become a consultant again … to work with dozens of companies at a time, sharing my knowledge of Omniture with companies large and small working to maximize their investment in web and digital analytics.

The Future

Once I decided that I wanted to go back into web analytics consulting, the difficult part was figuring out which organization would be the best fit for me. There are so many great web analytics consultancies, and over the years I have become friendly with many of the leaders of these firms. However, in my mind, Analytics Demystified was my first choice because of the brand that they have built, the caliber of their clients, and the overall thought-leadership their principals have displayed throughout the years.

When I think about the web analytics industry as a whole, I think about the books that helped launch the industry, the Yahoo Discussion Forum, the camaraderie found on Twitter, Web Analytics Wednesdays and most recently, the Analysis Exchange, and the new Web Analysts Code of Ethics. The common theme in all of these pillars is Eric Peterson and the Analytics Demystified brand he has created.

It was only last year when I first met Eric face-to-face but I have always been impressed by his ability to understand where our industry has been and, more importantly, where it is going. When John Lovett joined the organization, I enjoyed reading about all that he was doing in helping clients with their strategy, vendor evaluations, and social media efforts. In the last year, I got to spend some time with John and have been equally impressed with his passion for the industry and work he has done as a board member for the WAA.

I know there are any number of organizations that I could have joined where I could have helped teach people what I knew and managed teams of consultants. But at Analytics Demystified I believe that I am in a position to be both teacher and also a student, working with two of the smartest, most respected people in the field.

At Analytics Demystified, my hope is to help as many clients as possible get the greatest value from their investments in web analytics technology. I am excited to continue helping clients using Omniture technologies, but also look forward to branching out into other vendor tools and help their clients as well. It is my hope that the combination of Eric and John’s strategic work with my design and architecture background will have a synergistic effect, helping Analytics Demystified clients to further achieve their digital business objectives.

I look forward to hearing from all of you here in my new blog, and by all means if I can help your business, please don’t hesitate to contact me.