Who should perform the production maintenance?

Once you have agreed that maintenance for your web site is important to perform, the next question is who should do it? Most firms can use internal resources or outsource it to a professional firm or individual. I will walk through the different pros and cons, plus some recommendations on each option available.

Internal

Internal IT:

Pro

• Use internal resources
• May be available or free to project

Con

• May not know specifics of site software
• May not have time/scope to support
• Only support backups/security

Recommendations

Ask first, including:

• Scope of support
• Responsiveness
• skills/support offered

Internal program staff

Pro

• Use internal resources
• May be available or free to project
• Knows program goals well/find content updates

Con

• May not have technical abilities to do security or technical support
• May not be part of job description
• May not have the time
• May need training/support

Recommendations

• Develop a content management plan with who will be updating content, and who will be providing quality control.
• Provide training on web writing/editing/information architecture

Internal web master staff member

Pro

• Uses dedicated resources
• Centralized management responsibilities
• Has skills and experience in managing websites

Con

• May need to be fed content on a regular basis
• May not have the technical skills to maintain server or deploy software fixes

Recommendations

The webmaster may be a good person to oversee relationships between program staff and IT staff to ensure that the calendar is maintained, QA is being followed, and everything is running smoothly.

External

Managed hosting company (to manage the server)

Pro

• Takes care of server maintenance
• Can manage backups and archives

Con

Only maintains software deployed to servers that they installed/maintained

Recommendations

• Good for SaaS (like wordpress.org) where you use their software.
• Not cost effective for custom.

Third party such as Sonjara

Pro

• Has skills and experience in managing websites
• Brings a team of different web support roles (graphic design, writer, project manager, software developer, and systems administrator)
  
• Dedicated/responsive
  
• More responsive than internal IT

Con

• More expensive
• May be too much support for the long term

Recommendations

Use when you do not have or want to rely on internal IT, and you have a custom site. Also useful for high demand site when you have limited internal staff to dedicate to your site.

Freelancer

Pro

• Cheaper
• More responsive than internal IT

Con

• May not have a wide range of skills
• May get busy and hard to track down

Recommendations

Use when you have a good relationship with an individual, and a medium to low demand site.

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