Gomez Sells Scorecard, Advisory Services to Watchfire
Gomez Inc., a Web-focused consultancy that was a competitor to Forrester Research and Jupiter Communications in the dot-com heyday, sold its Gomez Pro business to Watchfire Corp., a developer of online business management software.The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, gives Watchfire control of Gomez Pro's Scorecard and advisory services. The Scorecards in particular measure and contrast e-commerce offerings in categories like brokerage, banking, credit cards, insurance and mortgage.
"Now we can focus on what has been the lion's share of our business -- Internet performance management," Gomez spokesman Alan Alper said.
Gomez, Waltham, MA, will continue to provide Watchfire with Web site performance data crucial to Gomez Pro's Scorecard and advisory services.
With dual headquarters in Ottawa and Waltham, the 8-year-old Watchfire serves clients like AXA Financial, Dell, Binney & Smith, ChevronTexaco, AT&T Wireless, Motorola, Reader's Digest, Nickelodeon Online and Xerox.
Founded in 1997, Gomez publishes indices that measure relative Internet performance in categories like financial services, online retail and hotels. Adding context to individual site performance, these benchmarks are designed as independent standards to measure company operations.
Gomez claimed that revenue from its Internet performance management subscriptions grew 51 percent in 2002 as bookings rose 82 percent. The firm also added 90 new customers last year and recorded subscription renewal rates exceeding 95 percent.
Two rounds of financing in 2003 helped Gomez make a few acquisitions to build its performance network and the national and international sales and marketing operations.
