Building Your I-Team

“You don’t necessarily have to have the president or CEO on the team,” says Jay Perrill, president of Golden Valley–based Web-design firm First Scribe. “Some presidents want to be very involved, and others want to see it when it’s done and say ‘Wow! That’s neat.’ But a good president should at the least be very aware of the project.”

Some argue that sales should take part in the process as well, whether or not commerce actually takes place on the site. “A high proportion of people go to a company’s Web site first to learn about its business or products,” McGee says. “The Web site, in some ways, replaces that first sales call, so you definitely need some input from the sales force.”

If a company is selling on its site, a sales presence is imperative on its team. “If you’re selling stuff, you need to have sales involved to avoid conflict with your channel partners,” Prendergast says. For example, the sales staff can represent the interests of a new partnership with an online distributor on the Web team so that your e-commerce site doesn’t bypass this important sales channel. “It’s important to establish the rules of engagement so that you don’t alienate those channel partners, which would be a huge crisis,” Prendergast says.

A customer-service representative can comment on the customer’s perspective on the site. “If consumers come to [the site to] look for products or services, then absolutely customer service should be involved,” Halvorson says. “You want someone who is going to be able to know the problems they might encounter and be able to anticipate their needs.”

The optimum size for a Web team varies by the size and type of an organization. For instance, an interactive marketing company may involve its entire staff because each individual brings online expertise to the process. But a manufacturing company may include only one person from each of the departments with a stake in the process. Prendergast says he’s worked with groups as small as two or three and as large as 200 or 300. However, a Web team that includes all the necessary viewpoints with the fewest number of people work best.

No matter how many people are on the team, it’s important to designate one point person who can take the lead on all matters related to the Web site. Often, but not always, that person comes from the marketing department. “Everyone needs a Web ‘owner.’

Generally that person sits in marketing, but when you’re delivering products through the Web it might be someone from sales or upper management,” McGee says.  The Web owner can be thought of as a project manager who has decision-making authority and is the go-to person for each team member. A point person is especially important when working with an outside vendor.