New research has revealed limited staff resources’ is preventing companies from effectively using web data analytics.

According to the annual Online Measurement and Strategy Report by Econsultancy and Lynchpin, only 52% of web analytics expenditure is spent on internal staff. This figure represents no change from the 2011 study, despite 40% of companies in 2011 stating intentions to increase their budget.

The research – based on a survey of 700 digital marketers and web analysts – also found that 23% of companies believe their web analytics “definitely” drives actionable recommendations that make a difference, while 59% of companies believe that less than half of the data they collect is useful.

However, the figures showed over a third of organisations stated that web analytics is “not integrated at all” into their business intelligence strategy, with 14% having “no business intelligence strategy”.

Lynchpin MD Andrew Hood said: “Resourcing is clearly an issue, with businesses struggling to recruit experienced analysts. However there is often little clarity around exactly what the ‘web analyst’ skillset should be with the boundaries between technical, analytical and commercial often loosely defined.”

“Getting the basics right looks to be a key (and respectable) focus, with persistent buzzwords of late like attribution actually showing little practical adoption. This again hints at process being key to getting actionable recommendations in front of the key decision makers, rather than more complex data models.”