A chief web officer (CWO) is the highest-ranking

corporate officer Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit ...

(

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive di ...

) in charge of an organisation's Web presence, including all internet and intranet sites. As a corporate officer position, the CWO reports directly to the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. A CWO will generally be very skilled with

HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaS ...

CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone technolo ...

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...

, PHP, ASP, SQL, et cetera. It is not as common a role as the growing

chief digital officer A chief digital officer (CDO) or a chief digital information officer (CDIO) is an individual who helps a company, a government organization or a city drive growth by converting traditional "analog" businesses to digital ones using the potential of ...

. A CWO should have a great understanding of

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...

systems A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and expresse ...

, and programming. Not only does this position require knowledge of various programming languages, it may also include skill and ability in digital graphics, design, and creative writing. Modern CWOs have tasks greater than being a

webmaster A webmaster is a person responsible for maintaining one or more websites. The title may refer to web architects, web developers, site authors, website administrators, website owners, website coordinators, or website publishers. The duties of ...

or a

web developer A web developer is a programmer who develops World Wide Web applications using a client–server model. The applications typically use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in the client, and any general-purpose programming language in the server. is used f ...

. Instead, they are taken to an extent of controlling the entire online presence for their company. Overall, a CWO position is the most prestigious title for a web developer to achieve. Many companies don't have CWOs because the position requires an individual who has knowledge in numerous fields; Instead, companies may split their web presence in different titles: Front-End Developers, Back-End Developers, Server Programmers, Webmasters, Web Designers and

Graphic Artists A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

. Typically, a CWO is fluent in all titles listed above and has many responsibilities.

Genesis of the CWO role

A 1999 CIO magazine cover story asked the question: Is it time for corporations to create a new executive position—Chief Web Officer—to "oversee the strategies of company intranets, extranets and Web sites?" The six experts interviewed for the article were split in their viewpoints. Some argued that the tasks associated with any new position should be handled by IT staff already within the company or guided directly by the

. Others said that, because a typical CIO was too focused on technology issues, there should be a new position created "to coordinate all Web-based activities and to put resources, both people and capital, into his or her organisation." The earliest creation of the CWO role by a

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

company may have been in 1999, by

Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...

. The article "Chief Web Officers Take Charge" in the March 20, 2000 issue of 'Inter@ctive Week' explored the roles and responsibilities of CWOs through interviews and a survey of Web professionals. Beginning around 2005, more writers began calling attention to the need to create a CWO position. These authors pointed to the need for an organization to have an executive at the

C-level Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit or ...

focused on coordinating and directing all Web-related activities. Cherian posed the need for the CWO position within an enterprise with the simple question: "Do you have a central internet group (CIG) directed by a chief Web officer and composed of dedicated staff for each business function?"

Contrast with CIO and CTO

The position of CWO has emerged distinctly from the positions of Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) because of the need to focus on and coordinate an organisation's entire Web environment and presence. A CIO typically focuses on IT planning, procurement, and architecture for the enterprise; a CTO "is principally overseeing development of new technologies."

Responsibilities

Responsibilities of the CWO position vary among enterprises, depending on the needs and goals of the

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separ ...

. A CWO should have a deep and broad understanding of the Web and website governance issues. Some of the issues within the CWO jurisdiction could include online strategy,

budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environme ...

ing, systems and software administration, hosting, online

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

and

communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manag ...

customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...

business development Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the creation of l ...

online community An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests. For many, online communities may fe ...

and

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

web content development Web content development is the process of researching, writing, gathering, organizing, and editing information for publication on websites. Website content may consist of prose, graphics, pictures, recordings, movies, or other digital asse ...

and

workflow A workflow consists of an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of activity, enabled by the systematic organization of resources into processes that transform materials, provide services, or process information. It can be depicted as a sequence o ...

s, website graphic design, user experience (analysis/design), information/data architecture, website analytics,

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

, archiving,

accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

, legal issues (for example,

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

, DRM,

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from ot ...

, and

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of ...

), and

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

, among others.

References

{{corporate titles Management occupations W Corporate governance Information technology governance Website management

Genesis of the CWO role

Contrast with CIO and CTO

Responsibilities

See also

References