BYU and U of U Battle at Web Analytics Competition

For the first time, teams from the University of Utah joined Brigham Young University teams to compete at the seventh Omniture Web Analytics Competition. Team .convert from BYU took home the grand prize of $10,000 and 50-inch plasma TVs for each member.

The competition calls for teams to use Omniture's SiteCatalyst software to analyze online traffic and consumer patterns on Overstock.com, this semester's client company. Students then find the most profitable paths through Overstock.com's web site, determine where visitors are leaving the site, and make recommendations to increase revenues.

"The skill set that the teams have been practicing here is incredibly valuable in the world as it's changing," says John Meller, executive vice president of Omniture.

.convert competed last semester and took fourth place. They came back this semester with a different approach and a more polished presentation to take the top prize as well as the audience choice award. .convert consists of Oliver Christensen, a first-year MBA student from Oak Hill, Virginia; Justin Maner, a second-year MBA student from Taylor, Arizona; and Nate Smith, a first-year MBA student from Orem, Utah.

"The biggest challenge of the competition is the sheer volume of data. You have to be able to quickly hone in on something that is a diamond in the rough," Christensen says.

More than seventy teams from BYU and the U of U submitted presentations. Omniture reviewed the presentations and narrowed it down to two BYU teams and two U of U teams to compete in the finals.

Going Green, from BYU, placed second and received $5,000 and an iPod touch for each team member. Sand Pit Ninjas, from U of U, placed third and received $2,500 and a digital camera for each team member. Triple Threat, from U of U, placed fourth and received $1,000 and an iPod shuffle for each team member.

A Hall of Fame award was created this year to allow past winners to compete. Reed Olsen and David Wilson of Group X, the first place winners of last semester's competition, were the first to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and took home $5,000.

The Omniture Web Analytics Competition is held twice a year by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. The next competition will take place during Fall Semester 2009.