One of the hard things for organizations to do is distinguish the difference between what your organization CAN release as a website with the assistance of developers, and what they can maintain without paid assistance of developers.
It doesn’t matter the organization – volunteer group, small-staffed enterprise, or large corporation – there needs to be a proper and honest assessment of the human resources available in house for maintaining and evolving the organization’s web site. There needs to be a recognition of who may be most knowledgeable about the mechanics of working with a web site – databases, servers, coding, etc. There needs to be identification of those who have the time and the interest of learning more about maintaining the web site. Time alone is not enough regardless of how hard an employer’s stance might be. It requires the interest of a responsible person.
The fact of the matter is, even though it is getting easier and easier for organizations to maintain the content on their website, there are greater and greater strains on the infrastructure of that website. Security, viewing platform flexibility, competitive marketplace positioning, integration into the organization’s offline activities – these all require capabilities that many organizations do not have. Implementation of new web technology makes some jobs easier – but creates new requirements in the process, and these requirements often mean labor as well.
Sometimes people don’t know how to do something, and sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know. It comes into play in web site work, so it is best to recognize that the process of implementing new technology for your site may likely create new work in one arena even as it saves work in another. Know whether you have the people in house to recognize and deal with these changes.