Lab Exercise 12

Business Analytics Proposal

Introduction
The purpose of this assignment is to prepare a business proposal which will outline my recommendation for a brick-and-mortar flower shop to expand into an online store. This will be based primarily upon my recommendation for the flower shop. The flower shop in question will be based in College Station and will cater to all kinds of needs in the local area such as weddings, parties, funerals, churches and just about anything else that you can think of concerning flowers. I will recommend software they can use to expand into the online market.

Linux Software

The first issue that I would like to address is the usage of Linux based systems. As we were guided in our classroom, it is important to note the Linux based systems. The Linux based systems are Zen Cart, Magento, osCommerce, VirtueMart, PrestaShop, and osCMax. All of these systems are used in the creation of online stores and the management of those systems. Some of these systems are of course more extensive than others, while at the same time some are more limited. The reason why these are all significant enough to mention is because of the fact that they are all free and based on Linux. Linux of course is an open source computer operating system which makes it freely available. Based on this information, it makes sense that the software would in that case also be free. These are in fact some of the six best free Linux e-commerce software suites. One thing that I would note about them however is that they are all based on Linux. While this makes things inexpensive it also requires a high level of technical knowledge which I believe makes these software suites unsuitable for the flower shop. While free, it would be necessary for some kind of technical expertise to be employed.

Software Suites

In lieu of these Linux software suites there are a few alternatives that I would recommend. ClickTale looks like a superb piece of software. This suite comes in several different iterations and is in fact available for free in a Limited Plan. This plan records 400 pageviews a month and tracks 1 domain with a 30 day history. The page reports and hosted services are part of the included service. These tools along with the no entry cost lead me to recommend this as a first time user tool to set up shop online.

Another service that would appear to be very desirable are the Google Analytics suite. Google offers Advertising trend reports, e-commerce reporting, multimedia tracking, cross channel tracking, and customized reporting. This customized reporting even includes data visualization. However there are a few concerns about this service from Google. First of all there is limited pricing information available about the service. Because of this it would be difficult to make an informed and balanced decision on what should and should not be considered. Secondly, and maybe more importantly is the fact that it is a Google service. While Google as a company has made strides to achieve business transparency and trust there are some who hold to conspiracy theories and privacy concerns. Because of these factors it might be difficult to achieve a good beginning in the online market.

The last product to view is in fact the one that I would recommend if price was no object. Webtrends offers a full feature suite of hourly recorded views. Visual data representation, summarized reporting, page view logs, site log analysis, web hosted browser based interface, accessibility flexibility, and mobile application usage. These features make webtrends appeal to the high end user with a large online business. However the simplicity, robustness, and flexibility of the system lead me to believe that it would make a good program for the flower shop scenario.

Summary

In summary I would point out that I believe that webtrends offers the best choice for overall usage. However because of the limited resources available I believe that free solution would work best initially. While there are many Linux based solutions the high level of technological knowledge required leads me to suggest ClickTale as a first time user tool. The ease of use, limited services, and free cost make it an excellent piece of software.