10 Management Truths for the Web Age.

The
DigitalDeca
by Lisa Welchman
The science of understanding an
organizations strengths and weaknesses
by examining their Web presence.
Web Phrenology:
ONE

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Meet Wendell Wallace Webb
He is the voice of your organization. He talks online,
non-stop 24x7, globally, whether you like it or not.
Hallo Welt,
Hello world
Hello, World!
Hola mundo
Hello, World!
Ciao mondo Hola,
mundo
Bonjour
tout le monde a
Hello World!




hall vrlden
Witaj wiecie
hello world

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And, you might be surprised what he says to your
customers

citizens
students


employees
members
patients
shareholders
THREE

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This organization is messed up.
They might not have credible information.
Theyre wasteful. They cant collaborate.
And they might not be able to thrive
in the Web age.
FOUR

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The Good Old 20th Century
So, maybe your organization
was always messed up, didnt have credible
information, was wasteful and unable
to collaborate. But it didnt matter as long as
your storefront to the world looked good.
FI VE

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SI X
But now, you broadcast your
companys dysfunction to the whole wide
world with the instant, digital, global
communications channel that
is the www.

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And, before Web 2.0 you didnt
have an instant, digital, global communications
channels like Twitter, f lickr, facebook, et al,
that your customers could use
to tell everyone how dysfunctional
you are
SEVEN

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equals
Web sites are usually developed by subjective taste and
organizational power, instead of by understanding customer needs.
This makes bad Web sites which can communicate surprising
things to your customers.
The Organizational Dynamic
Behind Bad Web Sites
amount of offli ne
Money
Power
Clout
Access to Senior Leadership
amount of onli ne
Content
Data
Applications
EI GHT

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I need to know
everything about my disease,
not just what one group says.
I dont know what to do.
Im trying to make a life deci-
sion. Im scared and youre
confusing me (Click).
You dont care how
long I have to look to nd
information. Youre wast-
ing my time (Click).
I just spent 5 minutes
lling out a form just like this.
Youre wasting my time...
again. (Click and Tweet).
Bad Search
@!*@&! (Click)!
Is this the same company
(Clickity, Clickity, Click)?
Is 404 their area code?
Wheres the rest of the phone
number (click).

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How Organizational Dysfunction
Affects Your Web Site
TEN
Your customers use the Web to nd information,
shop and manage themselves in a crisis, and based on their
experience on your Web site they form an opinion about
your business, your brand, your competence, relevance and viability.
If that opinion isnt great, they move on to the
next possibility, unconstrained by geography or time
until their needs are satised.

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ELEVEN
Wait! Dont leave.
You havent visited all 25 of
my content silos!

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TWELVE

Most organizations address low Web quality
by redesigning their Web site or installing expensive
infrastructure technology. The real reason your Web site
keeps falling into disrepair is because your
organizations management practices dont align with
the 21st century business dynamic.

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THI RTEEN
What Happened to Your Business
when the Web Happened
The Web changed the rules, not just for
the way you communicate with your customers,
partners, employees or process transactions or
disseminate databut for your entire business.

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The Web speeds up and intensies the
pace of business and puts customers in a greater
position of power.
Now, your customers have a platform from
which to announce, loudly and clearly, their likes
and dislikes about how you do business.
FOURTEEN

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FI FTEEN
Unfortunately, many executives have allowed
their organizations Web presence to be managed in a
reactionary, non-strategic wayriding the wave
of the latest technologies and delegating strategic business
decisions to junior resourcesunderestimating
the impact of the internet on business, or reluctant to
shift a successful legacy business model to a new
un-proven Web paradigm.

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Right now, its just your Web site that is failing
but as younger or more nimble companies leverage the
Web and better engage your customer base, you may nd
that its also your business thats failing.

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SI XTEEN
The 21st century business world consists
of both a physical and digital hemisphere
with the organizations digital presence
magnifying the management efciencies
and inefciencies of the physical presence.
Because of the all-ecompassing, omni-di-
rectional, democratic nature of the World
Wide Web, organizations must manage with
precision and coherence in order to remain
viable and maintain control of their brand.
Coherence means:
Clear articulation of an organizations
objectives and values.
A direct link between organizational
objectives and values and the governance
of your organizations information supply
chain.
Sound and rapid execution.
Persistent measurement of performance.
Some organizations try to heed these com-
mon tenets while others are less culturally
inclined to manage this way. But for most
who are able to manage this way, it is only
for the physical hemisphere, not the digital.
The Business Challenge of the Web
SEVENTEEN

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EI GHTEEN

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The Web is the disruptive, operations
optimizing, information disseminating, sales closing, feedback
gathering technology of our time. If an organization can not
manage the Web, it will fail.
In order to remain competitive, executives must
aggressively seek to integrate the management capabilities of the
Web into its overall business operations. The Web can
not continue to be an operational silo, planned for as an
afterthought and dismissed by senior management as technical
and Web teams can no longer be treated as an
organizational ghetto, underfunded, out of sight and out
of mind of senior leaders.
The solution to maintaining or growing
organizational effectiveness and competitive advantage lies
in the establishment of 10 core management principles.
These are called the Digital Deca.
NI NETEEN

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10 Management Truths for the Web Age.
The
DigitalDeca
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TRUTH 1
Your Web presence is the digital
manifestation of your organization.
An organizations business strategy must address
both the digital and traditional business arena. These
realms must be married and either may lead.
20 ONE

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20 TWO
TRUTH 2
In a digitally transforming business
environment, bold leadership is vital.
Collaboration must be enabled from the top of the
organization. If enabled from the bottom, power struggles will
compromise business objectives. Those power struggles
will slow the pace of innovation, be clearly magnied in your
digital presence and expose your internal weaknesses to your
competitors and customers.

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TRUTH 3
Decision making must be based upon
expertise, not power.
An organization must emplace mechanisms that
promote rapid and sound decision making based on knowledge
and expertise, not perceived or real organizational
political power. If decision making is guided by power,
collaboration will fail.
20 THREE

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20 FOUR
TRUTH 4
The business framework
must be inclusive.
Organizational policy must protect and enable
both the organizations physical and digital world presence.
If policy and operations are exclusively aligned to one or
the other, risk is substantially increased.

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TRUTH 5
Standards enable collaboration.
Standards for business execution must be complete
and enforceable or chaos will occur with growth; but
managed chaos can spawn innovation and lead to
competitive advantage.
20 FI VE

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TRUTH 6
The Web is an asset.
Organizations must understand and act on
the potential of the Web to create efciencies and
realize more revenue.
20 SI X

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TRUTH 7
The organization owns
the Web presence.
The whole organization is responsible for the
quality and integrity of its digital presence not just
Marketing/Communications or the Information
Technology team.
20 SEVEN

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TRUTH 8
Management should embrace
impermanence.
In a world where knowledge ows freely and globally,
organizations must realize the advantages of matrix management
and leverage expertise where it resides. Clearly articulated
performance indicators, standards-based execution, and
Web-based collaboration can resolve the chaos of the matrix.
20 EI GHT

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TRUTH 9
Know your customer but
own your mission.
Organizations must understand the subjective needs
of their digital and physical world customers and make
mission-driven determinations about which needs
will be met and which will not.
20 NI NE

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TRUTH 10
Measure twice, execute once.
Organizations must use both quantitative and
qualitative data to determine business success. And
synthesize physical and digital business execution in
order to maintain competitive advantage.
30

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10 Management Truths for the Web Age.

Truth 1 Your Web presence is the digital manifestation of your organization.
Truth 2 In a digitally transforming business environment, bold leadership is vital.
Truth 3 Decision-making must be based upon expertise, not power.
Truth 4 The business framework must be inclusive.
Truth 5 Standards enable collaboration.
Truth 6 The Web is an asset.
Truth 7 The organization owns the Web presence.
Truth 8 Management should embrace impermanence.
Truth 9 Know your customer but own your mission.
Truth 10 Measure twice, execute once.
The
DigitalDeca

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30 ONE
When senior leaders step up to the plate
and embrace the Digital Deca, organizations will
enter the Web agean age of collaboration,
innovation, and real reward. The Web presence will
reect the values and intent of the business and
the organizational workforce will operate in a zone
of empowermentwhere both morale and
prot are high.
30 TWO

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Lisa Welchman is the founding partner of WelchmanPierpoint. She has pio-
neered the eld of Web Operations Management by distinguishing Web strat-
egy, governance, execution and measurement as it pertains to large Web sites,
and creating innovative, practical solutions for clients. Lisa wields a sharp
ability to dene and distinguish the over-arching principles of managing large
Web sites and is a recognized thought leader in the area of Web governance.
Since 1999, Lisa has been leading consulting engagements with a combination
of high-level strategic vision, clear understanding of the challenges of senior
executives, and real-world problem solving. Her clients include The World
Bank, The US Food and Drug Administration, USA.gov, Research in Motion,
Clorox, Wells Fargo, the Social Security Administration, and Seattle Times
Interactive, among others.
Lisa Welchman
twitter: @lwelchman
info@welchmanpierpoint.com
welchmanpierpoint.com
410.377.3012
Goodbye, World!
Goodbye, World!

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