By bbr

Google has introduced a set of six analytical tools designed for business. The new products, collectively called Google Analytics 360 Suite, work together or independently and can be purchased individually based on need. They’re also designed to integrate smoothly with other products like DoubleClick and AdWords, as well as many types of non-Google data management and analytical tools.

The intent is to offer enterprise-level organizations the ability to unify their marketing data across multiple channels, simplifying and streamlining what has generally been a complex, labor-intensive task. Better collaboration, ease of use and access to cross-channel, cross-device information in real time are prime goals of the new package.

Including a mix of brand new tools along with existing products under new names, Google Analytics 360 Suite hopes to become the indispensable solution for large organizations with multi-faceted marketing operations. Marketers are already familiar with three suite components:

• Attribution – this has been available for Google Analytics Premium customers in addition to being offered as a standalone product. It’s called Google Attribution 360 in the new package.
• Enterprise Analytics – this feature is simply Google Analytics Premium with a new name (Google Analytics 360) and the promise of “exciting new capabilities” in the future.
• Tag Manager – Google says this is new but it’s built from the tag manager that is currently included in Google Analytics. In the new suite, it’s a standalone product.

The suite’s three truly new offerings are all in beta mode and will be offered to current users of Google Analytics Premium and Adometry by invitation. If you’re one of the lucky beta testers, you’ll get a chance to try out:

• Google Optimize 360 – this is Google’s version of apps like Optimizely that allow marketers to test and compare different campaigns, layouts, landing pages and the like for various audiences. It includes nice options like conducting A/B testing without having to code, like other popular testing tools, but with the added advantage of extensive integration ability.
• Google Data Studio 360 – with data integration capability that brings together information from the entire suite of services as well as external sources, this powerful tool for visualizing and analyzing all kinds of data is built on the Google Docs framework. That gives users real-time and collaboration advantages they previously lacked, in addition to new presentation tools to create meaningful displays for nearly every audience.
• Google Audience 360 – this cog in the Google’s data ad-tech wheel is one that many marketers may really appreciate. It’s a full-blown data management platform that integrates with other DSPs and offers native tie-in to DoubleClick and Adwords. It also promises integration with CRM tools and universal impression cap controls – both features that should be highly desirable if handled well.

It’ll be interesting to see if this suite helps Google dominate in the marketing data management/ad-tech space. I’d also be curious to learn what the size threshold is for businesses that will find major benefit from this expansive set of tools.

Have you received an invitation to be a beta tester for any of these Google Analytics 360 Suite components? If so, please let us know what you’ve tried and how it compares to the alternatives. We’ll keep readers posted with updates once we’ve heard reports from users at firms of various sizes.