Many organizations also build a second team that includes a virtual company , a collection of smaller companies that have come together to assist in building the site. Of course it's important that the virtual team from outside the organization work closely with the internal team. The primary purpose of the site may be to sell, to publicize and promote, to educate or a combination of these three. Regardless of its purpose, the secondary benefits of developing the site come from the interactions that take place when members of the organization work together to make decisions about what kind of electronic window they want to open to the outside world. As part of this process, those who join a Web-building team may be rewarded for their efforts with an opportunity to view their organization from unfamiliar perspectives.
Organizations vary in how they go about selecting a team to participate in Web site construction.
Our survey of such projects showed a continuum of involvement. About half of the teams were still in the midst of launching their sites. On one end, the American Association of Retired Persons and American Express brought together people from throughout their large organizations. Most of these people had never before worked together. In the middle were organizations in which one department drove the Web project and selected who outside that department would participate.