Whose Job Is It?

In the last few years, I have seen an emerging problem in most large organizations that have employed our consulting services. An increasing number of these large organisations are shifting their interest and committing a considerable amount of resources to developing comprehensive online presences and emblazoned web campaigns. This is of course, great news for us @ Integricity. Among my peers I’ve been upgraded from nerdy-boring I.T. guy to Web 2.0-social networking Interactive Agency guy. Hooray! I went from Napoleon Dynamite to Parker Lewis Can’t Lose! All that is indeed great news but the predicament which these large organisations face is, “Whose job is it?â€? Allow me to elaborate.

Around the world, we are familiar with the concept of large corporations segmenting their activities by departments. Typically, a large organisation will have the following departments; Sales, Purchasing, Marketing, Corporate Communications, Information Technology, Finance… I am sure you get my drift. Back in the 80s and early 90s, I.T. departments around the world knew exactly what their job was. If a computer broke down, it was their job to deal with it. Liaising with the computer hardware and software vendor was their job. Same with the other departments like Marketing and Corporate Communications. Posters and advertisements = Marketing department, Press releases = Corporate Communications department. Departmental jurisdiction was clearer back then.

Things are different now in 2007. I have attended numerous meetings where clients brought their complete entourage of Heads of Departments into the discussion because they didn’t know the answer to the question, “Whose job is it?â€? Whose job is it to make this web campaign work and to liaise with Integricity? When I say “jobâ€?, I mean a lot more than just oversee and monitor, I mean key performance indicator (KPI), I mean YOUR next bonus/salary increment is dependent on the success of this campaign. Someone has got to be accountable. Think about it for a minute. While you think about it, put yourself in the shoes of one of the Heads of Departments and think of these three aspects; power, budget and skill.

From what I’ve seen, every department wants a piece of the web because it becoming such a powerful feature in organizations. Everyone wants to be au courant. Everyone wants the power and authority over this media. At the same time, no one wants to step up and declare themselves as being the owner of the web campaign as that would mean they would have to spend their already slashed budgets on something which is not part of their departments’ KPIs. To mess things up even more, each department feels that another is best suited to work on the project because it best suits their skill set. Marketing thinks I.T. should be responsible because the project involves terms like megabits, RAID, database and firewalls. I.T. points the finger back at Marketing and Corporate Communications because of visuals, media releases and copy which needs to go onto the site. Sales points to I.T. , I.T. to Sales and well… you get the idea.

If well managed by a project champion (of authority) like the organization’s CEO, things eventually get sorted out with some fist pounding and fancy boardroom vocabulary. However, if Heads of Departments are left to battle it out on their own, the nett effect of this problem is a web initiative which was sparked by passionate people with brilliant ideas (and had great potential because they engaged a kick-ass Interactive Agency – Integricity :) hehehe) but could not reach its maximum potential due to internal struggles.

I do not have a panacea for this problem but I do know that something and someone has got to give. However, if I could take a shot into stirring up some emotions and risk angering Marketing people all around the world, I’d say that Marketing department should reallocate some of their above and below the line (traditional) media budget into the web. My rationale is that web is YOUR new media and you should embrace it and start to explore beyond the much saturated above and below the line advertising options. Okay. So the budget problem is settled. “Whose job is it?â€? The best idea I can come up with is that perhaps organizations need to invest in a Web Team (or department, if necessary) formed and shaped by the necessary Heads of Departments and armed with the budget from Marketing department, it is this team which is accountable for liaising with Interactive Agencies like Integricity. The team does not have to be big – it could even consist of one person, for a small company. Or even half! But someone must be the go-to person for all things web.

*Phew*… and now, while I wind up my thoughts and prepare to be brutally murdered by Marketing Managers around the world, I would like to invite all readers to share your thoughts on this issue. I’ve got my flame retardant suit on. Bring it!