Web sites with out-of-date product information can be very frustrating for potential customers and can reflect badly on companies.
In the rush to take their businesses online, some companies have neglected to think ahead and employ people with the necessary skills to maintain and support corporate Web sites as well as build them.
As a result, many companies are failing to maintain their Web sites adequately, according to Tim Weare, operations manager at Andel Consulting, a provider of content management solutions for the Web. 'If you visit Web sites you'll soon realise that a lot of sites are not being kept up to date. There are a number of issues affecting this, including the skills shortage, as well as the complexity of keeping Web sites updated.'
Today, there is more pressure than ever on businesses to keep their Web sites up to date as customer expectations continue to rise. Part of the problem is that businesses have found it difficult to recruit staff with Web maintenance skills and experience. Those with such skills can command high salaries, which leaves businesses with more limited budgets out in the cold.
If firms cannot afford to hire expensive skilled staff they may decide to train existing personnel in Web maintenance skills or they may outsource the Web maintenance aspect of the business. Some firms use a combination of these approaches.
Training existing staff can be a more cost-effective solution than trying to attract new employees with Web maintenance skills. However, some companies are reluctant to make the investment because they fear that staff will move on to higher paid employment elsewhere once qualified.
Although it is true that some employees are likely to be lost to bigger firms after training, studies indicate that pay is only one reason why people stay in their jobs and benefits such as training can help to build staff loyalty within a company. Meanwhile, recruitment experts have warned that the skills shortage could hinder corporate e-commerce growth and analysts at IDC have predicted a shortage of 600,000 staff with network skills in Europe by 2002.
Some solution providers are now arguing that businesses do not need to have Web maintenance skills in-house to compete in the e-commerce arena, but should outsource this side of the business.
Mike Alderton sales director for Northern Europe for Internet application software provider Reef, which also offers outsourcing solutions, denied that outsourcing necessarily means that companies lose control of part of their business. 'We separate the presentation logic from the business logic, which allows us to hand the maintenance back to the users, enabling them to create and update their pages,' said Alderton. 'That's not to say that it's without workflow and authorisation, but if you have some basic Java skills you can manage it in-house.'
Andel's Weare added that companies that outsource may still want some in-house expertise for updating the sites, but those updating the site in-house would require fewer technical skills and could be more focussed on the business.
'The skills are different. You outsource and design the site so that it doesn't need you to have IT skills on your payroll all the time,' said Weare. 'You don't need Webmasters, you just add to the templates.'
Weare added that the outsourcing of Web management may become less attractive as tools improve to handle management in-house. 'Some firm still prefer to have those teams on-site, but now we're seeing the tools, products and technology that give them an alternative and they can set thing up.' He said that in-house staff should concentrate on their own market without having to worry about changing the Web site. 'They can concentrate on their core business, do their design once, and then add content, new pages and so forth, without the need for large numbers of skilled professionals.'
This has happened to my business. I develop Web sites plus Web portals. The portal business has grown very strongly since January 2001 but I have realised that although they pay much better for portals it is a one-off income then the site owner does all the maintenance themselves leaving me out of the loop - a threat to my business model of annual maintenance fees!! The portals are also much harder to get right with bugs creeping in and costs blowing out - the customer being unwilling to pay for the extra features they want and being very fuzzy on the final specification. The whole nightmare hit the fan in about April when jobs dried up and the backlog of costs for developing the portals started to hit - no cashflow because of intensive workloads to built portals, dead losses due to blowouts and no time to market - a double whammy! I have now pulled back from portals and am cleaning up outstanding costs from the portal development to start getting my business on track again. Beware of portals!! They suck you dry as a developer and only help the customer not the developer.