Dennis McDonald's Web Site

by Dennis D. McDonald

Introduction

If you are responsible for planning or managing how technologies such as blogs, podcasts, or wikis are being used by your company in support of customers and you want to participate in this survey, please contact Dr. Dennis D. McDonald by email at ddmcd@yahoo.com.

Please note that, unless you request otherwise, neither your name nor your organiztion's name will be reported here. 

Also, please consider the following questions as a general outline and feel free to describe your own particular situation. For example, if you use blogs, podcasts, or wikis for internal company communications, let's talk about that, too. 

Question 1:

Please describe:

(a) your position in the company and

(b) your role in relation to managing either the technologies or business processes that support your company's relationships with its customers.

Question 2:

Please provide a brief description of the departments or functions in your company that regularly communicate with your customers.  (By "communicate with customers" we mean providing or receiving information about any kind of business or informational transaction that is associated with your company's products or services.)

Question 3:

Considering all the departments or functions you mentioned in Question 2 that are related to customer communications, how are technology related services provided? (By "provided" we mean that a corporate entity is responsible for maintaining and operating the technology associated with the service.) Possible responses include:

(a) technology related services are provided by a single central IT department

(b) technology related services are provided by the individual departments other than IT (e.g., by the business units)

(c) technology related services are provided by a mix of (a) and (b)

Question 4:

Please describe briefly how your company manages:

(a) the technologies associated with your company's web site

(b) the information content of your web site (e.g., product information and pricing, company policy, corporate information, etc.)

Question 5:

Is your company currently making use of "web 2.0" technologies such as blogging, podcasting, or wikis in its customer relationship? If so, please describe:

(a) how the technology is being used

(b) how the technology is being supported and managed (e.g., is it being managed and supported by a central IT department or is it being managed and supported by the individual business unit?)

Question 6:

If your answer to 5 is "yes," does your company have a formal policy concerning how these technologies are to be used by employees in their customer communications? Can you provide me with a copy of that policy?

Question 7:

If your answer to 5 is "no," please explain your reasons.