How IT works for your brand?

I have posted before about the renewed strength of the Internet as a business channel. The other day I was listening to a conversation from a very important client and I realised about the following: the IT budget for the Internet Site was doing more for the brand of that company that the marketing department budget on itself.

As the FT report I previously mentioned (download here) very well covers, the corporate website is, in some business, mediating more transactions with clients, potential customers, partners and investors than any other channel is. This means that the customer experience that is built by a majority of users is happening through the web. Nothing new, I know. But, the question then is: Is this recognised by IT departments? And, is IT being recognised for this? And how is this changing the way things are done inside companies?

In this particular case, the IT team was participating in strategic committees to design and decide how the brand is protected and the customer experience augmented through the web. They are supposed to contribute with ideas that retain customers and deliver the value they are looking for. In that context, the discussion about creating social networks and using web 2.0 tools was a vivid one.

However, this is not always the case. How frequently is the IT department only implementing what someone has previously decided is what needs to be done? How useless can a discussion be, for example, about creating a customer community online if both (marketing and IT) teams are not discussing as peers?

It would be good to see IT people more frequently participating in strategic corporate discussions. And as a lateral effect, this will be good for IT aswell, as it will force them to think beyond the latest tech buzz and concentrate on serving the customers better.