NetIQ Unveils WebTrends Reporting Center 5.0 Bringing Easy to Use, Relevant Web Analytics Reports To Business Users

Business Wire, June 18, 2002

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 2002

Includes Dashboard Views Tailored for Users' Unique Business

Objectives and Scalability to Handle the Largest Web Sites

NetIQ Corporation (Nasdaq:NTIQ), a leading provider of e-business infrastructure management and intelligence solutions, today released WebTrends Reporting Center(TM) version 5.0, its flagship Web analytics product.

Designed for simplicity, the product delivers actionable insight into Web visitor behavior through an intuitive interface that puts the most critical information at a user's fingertips, such as response and conversion rates of marketing campaigns or navigation through an online registration process.

By including Dashboards, where users can collect the most relevant reports in a single view, WebTrends Reporting Center 5.0 enables any business user, from marketing to IT staff to C-level executives, to easily focus and act on the Web visitor data that is most essential to them. With other Web analytics software packages, users are forced to sift through multiple reports to evaluate the overall effectiveness of a Web site. With new features such as Scenario Analysis and WebTrends(R) Map, business users can easily and accurately define and analyze detailed steps through any path on a Web site to determine exactly where visitors are abandoning or converting, giving them the insight required to make specific improvements to the Web site, such as design, placement of text or graphics and overall content.

The interactive agency Fry Inc. designs, develops, hosts and manages many leading e-commerce Web sites and services. "Historically, making decisions based on Web traffic data hasn't been easy for the business user," said Chris Grant, senior data analyst, Fry Inc. "The new Dashboards feature is a breakthrough for us, because we'll be able to custom-build meaty summaries that, once designed, will be generated automatically with every report. We can even incorporate relevant non-WebTrends data, such as third-party ad server reports showing statistics from ad campaigns our customers are currently running, to help them see the entire customer experience from ad impression to click to visit to conversion."

In "offline" retail where a three percent profit margin equals success, it's essential for businesses to analyze the placement of various items in their stores. Just like offline scenarios where product placement is critical for success, chokepoints or poor content placement on a Web site can kill a company's profit margin and send customers to the competition.

"We are planning future product releases with the concept in mind that Web analytics is much like the measurement of traditional marketing strategies -- the main difference is its focus on the Web rather than offline channels," said Rand Schulman, senior director of WebTrends products at NetIQ. "WebTrends Reporting Center 5.0 begins to demystify Web analytics to non-IT users by providing a means to easily zero in on the data that is relevant to business users."

Enterprise-Class Scalability

WebTrends Reporting Center also meets enterprise-class performance requirements for today's growing and changing Web sites. With version 5.0, WebTrends Reporting Center scales to measure and manage some of the largest sites on the Internet.

McAfee.com, the world's leading Web security service provider, required a highly scalable Web analytics solution to track the activity of millions of Web visitors daily. "We wanted a solution that was simple, yet sophisticated enough to meet the unique needs of staff members across multiple departments," said Doug Cavit, chief information officer, McAfee.com. "We chose WebTrends Reporting Center because it keeps pace with our increased traffic volumes of up to 2.7 million unique visitors per day. With the new enhancements, our various business users can easily view only the information that matters to them, while having the option to drill down for additional details when needed."

Key New WebTrends Reporting Center Features:

WebTrends Reporting Center 5.0 is available in two editions: eBusiness Edition and Enterprise Edition. The eBusiness Edition provides new features for simplicity and greater insight into Web visitor behavior:

-- Scenario Analysis: Tracks visitors step-by-step through any part of the Web
site, allowing users to pinpoint visitor behavior as they go through critical
processes, such as checkout and registration.

-- Custom Reports: Gives users the freedom to build any specific report they
need through custom dimensions, measures and filters.

-- Comparative Reports: Analyze Web visitor behavior trends over time, with
side-by-side reports that allow users to easily compare changes and
enhancements to measure their Web site goals.

-- Customizable Dashboards: Enables users to easily create and customize new
Dashboards, including critical reports along with external information, such as
an Excel spreadsheet with third party ad server reports or even stock prices,
all through a point-and-click interface.