Question

Topic: Other

Who Owns The Corporate Website?

Posted by Anonymous on 1/2/2008 at 10:29 AM ET 125 Points
Hi,

Can anyone direct me to White Papers or studies which define best practices on who actually owns the Corporate website?

There is discussion where I work that the Customers Service Department should own the website, which is contrary to anything I have ever experienced or heard of. Many of are working to educate our boss, who has no experience or background in marketing/communications that it should reside with us and not just the "look and feel" of the site.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 1/2/2008 at 10:34 AM Accepted
    Depending on the size of the company I would imagine the site would be owned by the marketing department. This is obviously different for some companies. However, i've never heard of a Customer Service Department owning a website. It's always either marketing or corporate communications. What do customer service people know about marketing a website. While customer services is extremely important to an organization, it's completely different than marketing a website. I don't know of any white papers that will validate my logic but this is just what i've experience over the last 10 years.
  • Posted by darcy.moen on 1/2/2008 at 10:58 AM Member
    These days, with so many functions being incorporated into online, I think no ONE department owns the web site, its fragmented and shared responsibility between multiple departments.

    Marketing may over see the promotional and sales portion of the web site, while IT is responsible for maintaining the web site files. Customer service may be in charge of a 'Trouble Ticket' system while IT makes sure the interface is fully functional.

    Sales departments can break off with their own Contact Management system or Customer Relationship Management system that all departments may interact with.

    So, as you can see, a web site has many facets with each department influencing its function and role. How can ONE department cover ALL the basis?

    I think Management has the ultimate role of over seeing the web site. While each department has latitude to administer and operate it's own sector, Management should be involved in the overall direction of where the entire site is pointed, meeting goals and objectives, and supporting each inter-related department.

    The question really isn't who owns it, the question should be: who is responsible for what in the web site.

    Darcy Moen
    Customer Loyalty Network
  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 1/2/2008 at 10:59 AM Member
    The best practice is the one that delivers the best experience for the user while still serving the required marketing and sales functions.

    I can not see how a customer service department would take ownership of an entire website.

    Having said that, if there is an area of the website dedicated to customer service, then there should certainly be a representative of the customer service department who can provide input on what the site should do and not do for this specific department.

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