The Digital Deca: 10 Management Truths for the Web Age eBook

The
DigitalDeca
10 Management Truths for the Web Age.
by Lisa Welchman

T h e D i g i Ta L D e c a • Lisa Welchman

Web Phrenology:

The science of understanding an
organization’s strengths and weaknesses
by examining their Web presence.

©2010 Lisa Welchman
one


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,
hallå världen
Witaj świecie
Hello, World!
Bonjour
tout le monde a Hello World!
hello world
Hello, World!
‫ﻡﻝﺍﻉﻝﺍ ﻱﻑ ﺍﺏﺡﺭﻡ‬ привет мир в
Hola mundo

Hello worldを
Ciao mondo
hola,
mundo


and, you might be surprised what he says to your

customers
members
citizens
patients
students

shareholders
employees

Th r ee


“T organization is messed up.
his
They might not have credible information.
They’re wasteful. They can’t collaborate.
And they might not be able to thrive
in the Web age.”

f ou r


The Good Old 20th Century

So, maybe your organization
was always messed up, didn’t have credible
information, was wasteful and unable
to collaborate. But it didn’t matter as long as
your storefront to the world looked good.

f ive


“But now, you broadcast your
company’s dysfunction to the whole wide
world with the instant, digital, global
communications channel that
is the www.”

six


“And, before Web 2.0 you didn’t
have an instant, digital, global communications
channels like Twitter, flickr, facebook, et al,
that your customers could use
to tell everyone how dysfunctional
you are…”

seven


The Organizational Dynamic
Behind Bad Web Sites

a mo u n t o f o ffline amount of onli n e
Money content
Power e qual s Data
clout applications
access to senior Leadership

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.

eigh T


How Organizational Dysfunction
Affects Your Web Site

“Is 404 their area code?
Where’s the rest of the phone
number (click).”
“You don’t care how “Is this the same company
long i have to look to find (clickity, clickity, click)?”
information. You’re wast-
ing my time (click).”
“I just spent 5 minutes
filling out a form just like this.
“I need to know You’re wasting my time...
everything about my disease, again. (click and Tweet).”
not just what one group says.
i don’t know what to do.

i’m trying to make a life deci-
sion. i’m scared and you’re
Bad Search
confusing me (click).”
“@!*@&! (click)!”


Your customers use the Web to find 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 isn’t great, they move on to the
next possibility, unconstrained by geography or time—
until their needs are satisfied.

Ten


“Wait! Don’t leave.
You haven’t visited all 25 of
my content silos!”

eLeven


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
organization’s management practices don’t align with
the 21st century business dynamic.

TWeLve


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 data…but for your entire business.

T h irTeen


The Web speeds up and intensifies 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.

f ou rTeen


unfortunately, many executives have allowed
their organization’s Web presence to be managed in a
reactionary, non-strategic way…riding the wave
of the latest technologies and delegating strategic business
decisions to junior resources…underestimating
the impact of the internet on business, or reluctant to
shift a successful legacy business model to a new
un-proven Web paradigm.

f if Teen


right now, it’s 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 find
that it’s also your business that’s failing.

sixTeen


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

objectives and values.

sevenTeen


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.

eigh T een


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.

nineTeen


The
DigitalDeca

20


TruTH 1
Your Web presence is the digital
manifestation of your organization.

an organization’s business strategy must address
both the digital and traditional business arena. These
realms must be married and either may lead.

20 one


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 magnified in your
digital presence and expose your internal weaknesses to your
competitors and customers.

20 T Wo


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 T h r ee


TruTH 4
The business framework
must be inclusive.

organizational policy must protect and enable
both the organization’s physical and digital world presence.
if policy and operations are exclusively aligned to one or
the other, risk is substantially increased.

20 f ou r


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 f ive


TruTH 6
The Web is an asset.

organizations must understand and act on
the potential of the Web to create efficiencies and
realize more revenue.

20 six


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


TruTH 8
Management should embrace
impermanence.
in a world where knowledge flows 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 eigh T


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 nine


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


The
DigitalDeca
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.

30 one


When senior leaders step up to the plate
and embrace the Digital Deca, organizations will
enter the Web age—an age of collaboration,
innovation, and real reward. The Web presence will
reflect the values and intent of the business and
the organizational workforce will operate in a zone
of empowerment—where both morale and
profit are high.

30 T Wo

Lisa Welchman is the founding partner of WelchmanPierpoint. she has pio-
neered the field 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 define 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, W


The Digital Deca: 10 Management Truths for the Web Age eBook

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The Digital Deca: 10 Management Truths for the Web Age eBook