I am massively behind on my Instapaper reading list. That is why I have only just come across this little gem on A List Apart.
It’s an article on the subject of web governance. This is a fancy term for an important subject – how to integrate your site into the broader business and manage its running.
The article is stuffed with great stuff if you work with or in a large organisation. However, the following two paragraphs particularly summed up the problem.
Organizations have been using the web for more than 15 years. During that time, it’s grown from being one channel among many to being the channel : the website is now the digital manifestation of the organization , critical to marketing and sales, communications, branding and reputation, and customer service and support. The internet revolution has created huge social change: it’s changed the way people relate to organizations and it’s already destroyed several once-mighty industries, like newspapers, travel agents, and music publishing.
Although we’re comfortable with the idea that the web is critical to organizations, we often miss the corollary: the web has changed the way organizations operate , and in many cases it’s changed their business models, too. When executives can’t see that, it causes a crisis. Welcome to your daily web-making reality.
This is so true. Gone are the days when the web was just a marketing channel. It is now a crucial component of almost all businesses. This not only changes organisations about also those of us who offer web design services. As the article goes on to say:
Today, the critical skills of a web professional aren’t technical. They’re skills like advocacy, facilitation, diplomacy, pragmatism, and patience. Technical skills still matter, but they don’t differentiate us in the market anymore, and we can’t use them effectively without tackling organizational change.
When looking for a web design agency it is important to look for these skills as much as the technical ones.
