Tech Horizons: Evaluating Gomez's Web Experience Management Services

Around 10 years ago, in the early stages of eCommerce, a number of Web monitoring solutions appeared on the market; they focused on the ability to play back a script that described user actions when interfacing with a Web application. The original driver behind the proliferation of external Web monitoring services was the belief that client loyalty was a function of site performance. Today, in the age of Web 2.0 and social networks, this fundamental driver is still present, but the Web technology and management requirements have evolved considerably: We are now at a stage where we need to assess the overall end user experience and correlate it to revenues. As a result, Web management services seem to have moved away from products based on passive agents and appliances, as Gomez's announcement of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution shows. This evolution in Web management services raises the question of whether SaaS solutions can match the appeal of internal resources and licensed products. Our evaluation of Gomez's ExperienceFirst solution suggests that they can.