Corporate Programme Management for the Web

I've worked for a number of blue-chips for a number of years, and am continually surprised by the fact that - since online is not a primary or secondary revenue base - sensible, value-driven approaches to managing a Web portfolio are few and far between.

Many larger companies play lip service to the concept that the Web is (or can be) a hugely important component in the process of "doing business": they show initial interest (in terms of capital investment) in a couple of pilot projects, and then seem to rapidly lose interest in keeping up with the Internet as a "going concern".

The complexity of stakeholders, risk management, the "agility" of a larger corporation, and - of course - competing (core) investment concerns all play a role in making it difficult to apply a longer-term, strategic programme approach to online activity, and ensuring that this is delivered according to best practices.

Benchmarking helps, but - funnily enough - when speaking to colleagues working in related roles for different companies, I find that this is, in fact, an endemic problem. So this is a call for comment, input and assessment from anyone working in an internet management role where the core product is not sold online, but where the Internet is "considered" a core component of business activity - correct me if I am wrong, maybe share successes and failures, and indicate the righteous path forward...