A chief web officer is the highest-ranking corporate officer

Corporate title

Publicly and privately held for-profit corporations confer corporate titles or business titles on company officials as a means of identifying their function in the organization...

 (executive

Senior management

Senior management, executive management, or management team is generally a team of individuals at the highest level of organizational management who have the day-to-day responsibilities of managing a company or corporation, they hold specific executive powers conferred onto them with and by...

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

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 CEO. Others said that, because a typical CIO

Chief information officer

Chief information officer , or information technology director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals...

 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 organization.”

The earliest creation of the CWO role by a Fortune 500

Fortune 500

The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...

 company may have been in 1999, by Colgate-Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...

.

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 title

Publicly and privately held for-profit corporations confer corporate titles or business titles on company officials as a means of identifying their function in the organization...

 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 organization’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

A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

. A CWO should have a deep and broad understanding of the Web and website governance

Website governance

Website governance may be defined as an organization's structure of staff ; technical systems; and the policies, procedures, and relationships such staff have in place to maintain and manage a website...

 issues. Some of the issues within the CWO jurisdiction could include online strategy

Web strategy

A web strategy is a strategic web direction for an organization. It outlines the most advantageous positioning for the company on the web, the experience it should create for its customers, the brand image it should project, the way it should engage the prospect and existing clients, partners, and...

, budget

Budget

A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...

ing, systems & software administration, hosting

Web hosting service

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet...

, online marketing

Internet marketing

Internet marketing, also known as digital marketing, web marketing, online marketing, search marketing or e-marketing, is referred to as the marketing of products or services over the Internet...

 & communications, e-commerce, customer service

Customer service

Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.According to Turban et al. , “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer...

, business development

Business development

A subset of the field of commerce, business development comprises a number of techniques and responsibilities which aim at:1. Researching new types of business/products/services with an emphasis on identifying gaps in the mitigation of needs of potential clients .2. Attracting new customers3...

, online community

Online community

An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted...

 & social media

Social media

The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...

, web content development & workflow

Workflow

A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...

s, website graphic design, user experience

User experience

User experience is the way a person feels about using a product, system or service. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership, but it also includes a person’s perceptions of the practical aspects such...

 (analysis/design), information/data architecture

Information Architecture

Information architecture is the art of expressing a model or concept of information used in activities that require explicit details of complex systems. Among these activities are library systems, Content Management Systems, web development, user interactions, database development, programming,...

, website analytics

Web analytics

Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage....

, security

Internet security

Internet security is a branch of computer security specifically related to the Internet. Its objective is to establish rules and measures to use against attacks over the Internet. The Internet represents an insecure channel for exchanging information leading to a high risk of intrusion or fraud,...

, archiving, accessibility, legal issues (for example, copyright

Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

, DRM

Digital rights management

Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...

, trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

, and privacy

Privacy

Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...

), and training

Training

The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...

, among others.