Web technology companies come together to standardise website data
London (PRWEB UK) 11 July 2013 -- Companies including IBM, Google, Adobe, Accenture, Qubit and more than 20 others are working to create a W3C-approved standard to simplify the management of data online.
From information about products to data about customer journeys across pages, websites generate a huge amount of data, much of which is shared between the different technologies that power the website. Marketing tools, analytics tools and web applications all require access to information about on- and off-site activity in order to function effectively. For example, when a purchase is made on a website, the information about price, product, size, shipping and specifications all need to be shared with a range of marketing and back-end technologies in order for the purchase to be processed.
At the moment, these data can be provided and requested in any number of different, proprietary formats producing additional complexity, wasted time and subpar experiences for businesses and their customers. This collaboration has been working on a standardised data model, effectively letting websites all present these data in a standard format that any tool can understand. The standard is being developed in conjunction with the web standards body the W3C, giving it the status of an ‘official’ online standard.
A standardized model promises to reduce website development time and make management far more efficient. For example, rather than having to custom-build data exchanges between programmes each time they implement a new tool or service, a standardised data model will let various web technologies ‘plug and play’.
Founder participants include IBM, Google, Adobe, Accenture, Qubit, Ensighten, Marin Software, BrightTag, Best Buy, SapientNitro and Criteo. The new website data standard will be based on work initially undertaken by IBM and developed by the wider group of members.
Graham Cooke, Qubit, said: “Standardising website data is the obvious choice for the industry. The current situation has simply developed organically, but it’s not a place that anyone would choose to be. The complexity of managing diverse data types not only costs website owners significant money, it also makes the management of customer data opaque and hard to track. Our plan is relatively simple and it will benefit technology providers, site owners and consumers equally.”
For more information:
Patrick Herridge,
Parys Communications
0208 875 7960
pherridge(at)parys(dot)com
About Qubit
Qubit is a big data customer experience management (CXM) platform. Its technology helps the twenty-first century marketer create personalised website experiences to drive enhanced conversion rates.
Qubit’s products collect huge amounts of information about users’ interactions with a website and analyse this to identify patterns of behaviour. They then use this understanding to deliver live personalisation, driving improved conversion rates and increased customer satisfaction.
The company’s suite of products brings together visitor analytics, tag management, AB testing and personalisation within a single integrated platform. This allows marketers to optimise and test websites in real time, without the need for specialist IT resource, helping to drive rapid and sustained ROI.
Founded in 2010 by four ex-Googlers, Qubit is headquartered in London with offices in New York. Qubit works with some of the world’s leading ecommerce businesses, including TopShop, Staples, John Lewis, Farfetch and Harveys Furniture. The company received $7.5 million funding from Balderton Capital in December 2012.
Qubit enables online marketers to:
• Integrate with ease – Qubit consolidates many disparate technologies, plugging into a site via a single line of JavaScript and our Universal Variable data model; this one time integration creates a lifetime foundation for data collection and targeting
• Test with confidence- Qubit combines quantitative and qualitative data to predict visitor behaviour and target high value user segments; this helps site owners prioritise how they optimise
• Remove IT barriers – Qubit has a hands on interface that lets marketers and ecommerce professionals discover insights and deliver personalisations without hassling the IT team; this puts marketers in control and means they never have to miss a marketing opportunity
• Deliver ongoing ROI - Qubit is a low risk, cost effective and transparent solution that rigorously measures any change you make to a site, from A/B tests to live personalisations; this means site owners can trust their results and constantly justify investment
Charlotte Nicholds, Parys, http://www.parys.com/, 0208 875 7970, [email protected]
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