Urgent need for a new site

‘In 2006, the principal associations representing the Belgian financial industry joined together to form Febelfin, the umbrella federation of the Belgian financial sector. Our new federation urgently required its own Web site. We could have rapidly put together a Web site of a few screens, but this would have required building a more comprehensive new site a few months later. Not only would this have created double work, but we would have had to distract all top management twice for discussions and feedback. We figured we might as well do it right the first time.'

Taking the time to think avoids a troublesome process

‘Another option would have been to directly call in a Web designer and request a site with a content management system. But one question you are sure to get in that case is “What should the visitors see and read on the site?”. That is a very simple question, but requires an extremely complex answer. Particularly when you consider the fact that our audience ranges from Belgium’s 10 million private individuals to the country’s top financial sector specialists. To ensure an effective message while at the same time avoiding a troublesome process, we first divided our audience into homogeneous target groups. We then sharpened our positioning for each of them. In this regard, the external viewpoint of an advisor such as Forte was very useful. They can take an unbiased look at our internal world and perceive our federation in the same way as our target groups. The fact that their advice report was immediately approved by our management not only proved their know-how, but also guaranteed that I could start the Web project with a number of basic certainties in hand.’

Web site remains valid, despite organizational evolutions

‘Don’t build a house without first having an architect work out an appropriate plan. The same logic applies to our Web site. Instead of thinking in terms of databases and software, we started by defining a plan for the structure of the site. Forte have developed their Effectree method to put this approach into best effect. They assert that, thanks to this method, a Web site evolves with the organization. If I look at the evolution of our federation since 2006, I can only endorse that claim. We are still using the original site with great success. Looking back on how much time and budget this has enabled the federation to save, I can only state that it is certainly worth the additional preparation. It did indeed require a few more days and a little extra budget for the initial brainwork, but it was quite rapidly earned back.’