How to establish a web team with authority?

Establishing web team with authority is a real challenge for companies. Besides having a capable web team with strong knowledge about web, they may lack the experience of senior management strategic role. It is really not surprising because historically web team has been considered as service division and kind of seniority has not been practiced and developed within the web team.
Web team should have authority to take decision like
• Set a strategic vision for the web
• Liaise with senior management (Business, Finance, Marketing)
• Managing the web team
• Establish the development roadmap
• Write policies and procedures for the digital assets

Too often the web team in an organization doesn't have all of the skills they need to control the website for which they are responsible. Typically they have to work in functional or matrix organization framework and work for several departments and help them to achieve their targets like marketing for copywriters or third parties for design jobs. As same web team is working for different departments creates all kind of challenges and inefficiencies in the process. This is not a sensible way to run a website. For ultimate success web team should have all required skills to efficiently support website. Moreover, constant communication and collaborative working is crucial for the success of any digital strategy.

Change control board

Change control board (CCB) may provide powerful mechanism and help web team to achieve their targets and objectives set for the website. CCB contain functional managers from business and marketing and CEO. A monthly meeting is held to review website performance, change requests and reported issues. This activity will dramatically enhance the web performance and business opportunities.
CCB will help cumulating the feedback from business and marketing and use it to re-align the website if it is deviated from strategic objectives decided for website.
In fact CCB should be the final authority to approve/disapprove change requests in a website to keep web align with business objectives.

What I recommend to improve web team efficiency and authority

1. Digital department should establish under separate functional manager who can initially offers 100% of his/her time for this department and guide web team about the expectations and strategic business objectives of senior management.
2. The department should establish communication channels with marketing and business and consider their feedback while establishing digital policies and procedures.
3. Digital department should establish the objective for website and other channels like social media and sets the success criteria and goals of social campaigns.
4. Digital department should develop the project charter and authorize project manager using resources to develop project deliverable as per project management plan and takes the help of business experts where it is necessary to accomplish project objective.
5. Digital department should establish policies and ground rules for website, SEO and social media, later the department could be upgrade to PMO (project management office)
6. PMO provides governess and strategic direction with purpose, expectations, goals, and actions necessary to guide operation and project management to align with business objectives.
7. Once digital department established and functional, all digital assets including website code, domain names , server access credentials and other IT assets transferred  to central repository and in direct control of digital department.