Websites ‘still tug-of-war between marketing and IT

Fifty per cent of marcomms managers never get the full look and feel they require for company websites because of technical restraints. Research for SDL Tridion[1] has found that websites still fall victim to a tug-of-war between IT and marketing stakeholders, with a raft of misunderstandings creating websites that satisfy no one.

Half of marcomms managers never achieve required website

Thirty eight per cent of UK marcomms managers (35 per cent in the US) believe IT is a bottleneck and does not understand the impact on brand image of website delays, the research found. Nearly a third said marketing campaigns are frequently delayed because website changes are not made quickly enough. Furthermore, 44 per cent of UK marcomms managers (39 per cent in the US) said there is always a tension between IT and marketing when it comes to the website.

On IT’s side, a third of managers believe marketing overemphasizes the importance of the website. They also said that marketing asks for more changes to the website (28 per cent said this happens daily) than marcomms managers admit to (only 11 per cent said they made requests daily), in both the UK and US.

“While fewer IT managers said there is tension between them and their marcomms colleagues than the marketing managers claimed, it is clear there is still a battle raging between the two sides,” said Erik Aeyelts Averink, President SDL Tridion. “The website is the unwitting victim, and the vital communications channel it represents between the company and its customers is suffering as a result.”

There was also disagreement on who has responsibility for the website: 75 per cent of senior US IT managers say that final responsibility for web content management rests with them – in the UK, the figure was 49 per cent. Only 31 per cent of UK IT managers and even fewer in the US (22 per cent) say that the marketing manager holds final responsibility for the website. Marketing managers disagree: around 4 out of 10 marketing managers in both countries (41 per cent in the UK and 37 per cent in the US) report that the responsibility is theirs. The same mis-alignment was true when it came to the look and feel of the website.

“This tug-of-war over the website needs to end,” continued Aeyelts Averink. “Businesses must demand clarity on who has responsibility for all areas of the website in order for web comms to progress.”

The research was conducted by Coleman Parkes Research, and was completed in April 2008. 200 IT and marcomms personnel were questioned in the US and UK. A previous press release based on the survey findings was published on June 4th 2008.