In a perfect world all of a company’s web based marketing and online communication initiatives would entail an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach involving almost every facet of the organization happily working for the greater corporate good.  Marketing and Product Managers would steer the message, the IT and Web Team would provide guidance, implementation, and support, with input collected from other relevant divisions – Customer Service, Research, Sales, Finance,etc.

Unfortunately it is a rare organization that can informally achieve the level of collaboration required across various departments and spheres of influence to accomplish this state of being.  The more typical approach is to assign “ownership” of different facets of the online presence to different levels of the company, and have them sort out the best methods of implementation through some combination of internal and external resources.

This segmentation of the online presence of a company, however, almost inevitably leads to conflicts amongst the different areas of the business simply because the level of innovation required to be effective online tends to cause problems for those tasked with maintaining the integrity and security of existing systems.  In fact, a whole industry of consultants and hosted solutions has grown up around the perceived need of one department to do an end-run around another in order to satisfy their own responsibilities.

One method for dealing with this problem is through the creation of a Web Intelligence Steering Committee.  This committee is made up of the main corporate stakeholders and is tasked with overseeing all aspects of the organization’s web presence – from existing web properties, to social media marketing campaigns, online advertising, web analytics, to establishing clear methods for responding to any external “buzz” about the company online.

To be truly effective, a Web Intelligence Steering Committee requires, if not the direct involvement at least the strong backing of senior management responsible for guiding the company’s marketing messages on the Internet, as well as the support of the most senior technology managers.  It should have two main positions: a Program Manager, typically led by Marketing; and a Technical Manager drawn from IT or the Web Team.  The Program Manager takes the lead in defining the business processes, goals, and needs collected from every other department affected by the web presence, while the Technical manager brings the technical innovation of the company to bare on the business requirements put forward by the committee, and identifies where new technology or external resources may be necessary.

Beyond simply leveraging the resources of the company and ensuring integration of the company’s online presence across different divisions, having a dedicated Web Intelligence Steering Committee allows a company to better respond to external threats on the Internet, such as negative blog or twitter message, or even serious malicious damage to a web site, before it reaches a critical mass in the eyes of the public because established lines of internal communication are already in place to deal with a crisis.  Moreover, having such a committee can be a significant cash savings where external solutions are providing redundant services to different areas of the business.

Most importantly, though,  a Web Intelligence Steering Committee can bring a new synergy to the organization, based on the combination of innovation and technical expertise required to operate effectively on the web today.

So what’s your experience?  I’d love to hear about anyone’s experience with similar committees in a corporate environment.