Working together
Fortunately, things have come a long way since those early days, and most companies now recognise that Internet divisions have to be tightly integrated within the business if they're going to survive. No matter what it actually does, an online presence needs to be handled as a fundamental business process that transcends arbitrary institutional divisions.
"A lot of people look at the Internet as if it's a form of marketing, but they forget that it's something that runs way beyond just marketing," says Presence Online director Jossel Ginsburg. "It's a method of creating something completely new for the business that lets you leverage all your current technologies in such a way that you can do something completely fresh for your business."
Getting value for your online dollars means getting everybody with a stake in the online site--all the way from senior board members to warehouse pick-and-pack staff--to work together. Making this happen, of course, requires strong lines of communication across the various layers of the organisation. If those conduits aren't already open, senior executives will have to exert downward pressure to fix the situation.
Ideally, you'll want to map out a workflow structure that incorporates every part of the business--including both obvious areas like warehousing, IT and accounts, and less obvious areas like marketing, R&D, and human resources. Although their direct involvement in online selling may be minimal, those business units may contribute a new perspective that broadens the utility of your online site.
This doesn't mean everybody should just focus on the Web site, however. Given the change that an online presence can provide, managers of individual business units need to revisit their relationships and interdependencies, and work with online architects to make sure those processes are correctly addressed online.
This can drive major business change that has little to do with the more outwardly focused Web presence, but which generates new opportunities and efficiencies in internal processes.
