Self-Service Customers

In the pioneering early days of the Internet, simply investing in a domain name and home page caused some executives to scratch their heads, with cynics and visionaries often battling in the boardroom over how much to invest in the newfangled technology. Web development was wholly—and happily—left to outsourced upstarts with the techno-savvy to effectively piece together graphics, content, and connectivity.

But, the technology that drives the Internet has evolved toward usability. Simply put, it’s less mysterious. Increasingly, companies are taking ownership over their own Web strategies and are adding staff accordingly. Many aspects of Web development, such as domain registration, hosting, graphic design, maintenance, programming, and software-based content management systems, are affordable and can be handled in-house with minimal staff additions.

“We’ve seen the progression go from, ‘Web site, what’s that?’ to ‘Web site, I have to have one,’ to ‘Web site, I’m going to do it myself,’” says Na-than Almquist, president and COO of Golden Valley–based Designstein, Inc., an interactive design and development firm. “Companies now regard the Web as a living, breathing, active part of their marketing campaign and service delivery.”

Indeed, the increasing importance of the Web to companies may be driving the desire to bring Web functions back in-house. “Common business philosophy is to outsource noncritical functions or excess work in a particular specialty,” says Mike Sowada, CEO of Visi, an Internet service and Web-hosting provider in Minneapolis. “Since the role of the Internet in almost every business has in-creased significantly on a yearly basis, it is natural to see companies bring in at least the core Web development work.”

For Suzanne McGann, president and owner of Voyageur I.T., a Web site design, development, and hosting company in St. Paul, the us-ability of Web-based software has given companies the gumption to go it alone. “The primary factor is a lack of mystique,” McGann says. “Ten years ago, many of our early clients were so confused that they really did need somebody to partner with and make it easy. Now, more and more clients say to me, ‘What would it take for you to come out and just help us for an afternoon, or manage us monthly and keep us accountable to our metrics?’”

Analyze This

Business leaders want to bring Web work in-house and they want the same professional Web presence they’d get with an outside development firm. No longer the exclusive domain of the IT department, company Web efforts also bring together sales, marketing, and graphic design departments to strategize on Web development. A competent internal Web development team will cost an organization more than $250,000 per year, according to Tim Bourgeois, CEO of Pixel Bridge, Inc., a Boston-based Web site design company. This includes a designer to create a look that enforces your brand, a developer to build the interface between the design and the behind-the-scenes programs, and a marketer to collaborate on Internet strategy, as well as IT staff to maintain the server and hosting requirements.