Results of IIA Web Dev Group Survey

The following post was written by Richard Bowden on behalf of the Web Development Working Group and summarises the key findings of their recent survey asking you what kind of outputs you hope to see from the IIA Web Development Working Group.

The Web Development working group was established under the auspices of the Irish Internet Association to review best practices in the area of website development and make recommendations that will be of benefit to both website owners and developers.

To assist the group, an online survey was used to get feedback from people with either a business or technological perspective on the areas on which they would like to see the working group focus. Within a short time of the survey being launched, the group had received a range of feedback which has been beneficial to their work and they would like to thank all the respondents and the other organisations that marketed the survey to ensure that the group had feedback from both IIA members and non-members.

In summary, some of the interesting points contained in the feedback included;

• While there was an even spread between the topics of interest to the survey respondents, the following were ranked in the top six;
  1. Web development best practices
  2. Ways to upgrade existing websites
  3. Managing and writing web content
  4. Planning for growth / scalability
  5. Going mobile
  6. Making the business case for investing in web development

• Nearly half of our respondents consider themselves both as purchasers and sellers of web development services. A third of the respondents consider themselves solely as purchasers of development services with the remainder categorising themselves as sellers

• There was a wide range of business sectors that responded, including Tourism, Marketing, Financial Services, Public Sector, Manufacturing, Health, Education, Web development and design.

• The range of responses were evenly spread as regards number of employees, with approximately a third of responses in each category; 1-3 employees, 4- 50 and 51+ employees

• In relation to the web technologies that each respondent is using; the majority are using either a content management solution and/or web applications such as blogging software on their website. Nearly 1 in 5 is using web based intranet technology while 10% of respondents are using a static brochure type website. 1% of respondents have no current website presence.
  

  A grab of the chart from PollDaddy Survey Results

• In terms of web technology spend in 2008, nearly half of the respondents spend over €50,000

• A selection of additional comments included;
  1. An interest in Open source vs. proprietary solutions
  2. A benefit from having access to a standard practice for estimating and pricing web design and development projects in the Irish & EU markets.
  3. Promotion of good software development practices and highlight successful software projects
  4. A need to highlight the importance of accessibility

The working group is now in the process of reviewing the responses and analysing related best practices with a view to initially preparing a breakout session at the IIA Congress on May 21st and subsequently producing a practical guide for Irish businesses.

IIA Members may download the results as a PDF here. (PDF, 264k, password required)