Blog

Digital Consolidation : Growing Urgency to Rationalize the Business Web

May 3rd, 2010

Information Architecture, Insight Article, Internet Strategy, Social Networking, Technology, Usability, Web Content Management

When I pose the question “What’s keeping you up at night?” anywhere in the C-Suite these days, the conversation inevitably turns to issues of measuring and managing their extended Web enterprise.  In all sectors of business, not-for-profit organizations, and government agencies, the Web has rapidly and thoroughly become the undisputed platform for communications, commerce, and community building.  But while many execs celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit that has blossomed in their respective organizations around the Web, the proliferation of sites, applications, microsites, tools, widgets, and social media connections has confounded many user segments and placed growing strain on the ability of organizations to manage this distended organism.  Of course, it has also greatly complicated the challenge of extracting meaningful performance metrics from this platform which could indicate how cost effectively (or not) the organization’s business needs are being supported online.

As we dive into the depths of some of these large enterprises, we see symptoms of unplanned and unconstrained organic growth.  The benefits of time-to-market advantage are obvious, but the risks less so. I’m reminded of a comment made to me by Dr. Max Coppes, Head of Oncology at Children’s National Medical Center; he said, “Growth for the sake of growth is the philosophy of a cancer cell.”  That’s hardly the analog we’d hope for when inventorying a business Web enterprise.  But in many offices the idea still prevails that “If I can build it, I should build it.”  So as we watch organizations innovate, add new product lines, and expand their global markets, we see their technologies and business processes proliferate, and any vestiges of coherent discipline seem to vanish in that euphoria of growth.

The good news is that organizations are beginning to grapple with the unintended consequences of the unconstrained Web.  They are rebelling against the growing complexity of their systems and embracing the concept that business needs and impacts must ultimately dictate the plan for enterprise architecture management, and not the other way around.  If we take a business-first point of view, the drawback to these polyglot systems are many: degraded user-experiences, growing abandonment, brand and sub-brand mismanagement, and the enormous costs of supporting and maintaining largely redundant, non-homogeneous technologies.

C-level execs can influence the shift toward digital consolidation by posing this question to their Web teams; “If we’d known then what we know now, what would we have done differently?”  Such consolidation takes advantage of technologies that can customize and personalize multiple role-based and brand-based experiences sharing content and application functionality drawn from a single platform.  With the keen eye (and sharp pencil) of the CFO not far away, organizations are shaping enterprise architectures that better support ongoing business innovation, multi-brand marketing, channel integration, social media participation, business intelligence, and support /maintenance at cost levels significantly lower than their current state.  Of course, there are challenges.  Some are technical.  Many have to do with policies, governance, business processes and the social /psychological side of change management.

As our NavigationArts teams work through some of the digital consolidations in which we’re participating over the next few months, we’ll share lessons learned and relevant case studies.  In the meantime, if you’d like to talk about your own needs to consolidate your digital assets, please feel free to contact me directly.