How to structure your digital team effectively

Structuring your teams effectively allows you to run an organisation that is best equipped to thrive in an uncertain and ever-evolving landscape. A well-structured team will be better prepared to tackle challenges head-on, and work better as a unit that truly understands their responsibilities and role in achieving business objectives. The digital industry is not like many other disciplines in today’s market, as it touches so many parts of an organisation. It’s important to ensure that all employees are clear on what digital means for the business, and where it starts and stops as a function.

Digital is here to stay and is now a key platform for businesses selling products and services. In fact, some consider it to be the most important function in a business today. With this mind, we want to outline the importance of structuring your digital team properly, and highlight how a well-structured team can drive business success.

The challenges in structuring a digital team

Many businesses find it challenging to structure a digital team. Developing an existing team to best meet the changing demands of an organisation is equally challenging. It is important to define your digital goals, as every function is evolving and becoming digitalised. Considering this, it is crucial to get digital development on your agenda at the highest level. Digital is an organisation-wide evolution and not simply about the website. 

In addition to the challenges around structuring a digital team, winning top talent in today’s candidate-led market is becoming a growing concern. Therefore, it is crucial that you are benchmarking salaries and boosting your offering in order to attract and retain top talent that is looking for a new challenge. 

The key roles for your digital department

You must decide who is leading the digital agenda. Do you need a head of digital if you already have a very digitally savvy head of marketing or head of IT? If your business is evolved enough, and in a digitally advanced industry sector, it probably warrants a separate head of digital. In simple terms, roles that sit underneath the head of digital are varied in title but all contribute to building the relevant digital websites, platform and products, attracting traffic to these sites, and converting visitors to consumers who buy a product or interact with content, and then return to engage with the brand further. Here are some of the other areas you should consider hiring to strengthen your digital team.

Trading merchandising

If you’re a Retailer, your digital team should cover trading merchandising and converting traffic into a sale. This is how businesses make money and how you encourage your customers and site visitors to convert at the end of their user experience. 

Design UX

It is also important to perfect the layout and technical aspects of your website. A positive customer journey that makes sense and a functional website that is enjoyable to navigate is fundamental when operating in a digital market. 

Digital marketing

SEO and PPC professionals are crucial in making sure that you are producing the right content, in the right place, at the right time. Your audience will engage with your brand across various channels and in various mediums, this knowledge is invaluable. These professionals will drive your digital presence forward and boost traffic to your site. 

All digital skills are high in demand. However, more technical roles seem to be harder to find, e.g. digital product managers or digital analysts. Many companies are looking for people with digital experience, however, the depth of the candidate pool only extends back 10-15 years. 

The benefits of a diverse digital team

Like every industry, the benefits of having a diverse digital team are vast. It is especially important in a world where your customers represent a diverse collection of preferences and purchasing habits. The best digital teams have people from different sectors and backgrounds. These professionals bring a fresh perspective and challenge the status quo, rather than contribute similar ideas or points of views as everyone else in the team while trying to decipher what their customers want. Having a diverse team of professionals can help steer your business to best meet the needs of your customer base.

In reality, there is no one right way to structure your digital team. It is highly dependent on the industry sector, stage of digital evolution and the objectives of the business. The first decision to make is whether you’re actually setting up a function that sits separately to the marketing and IT departments or whether it’s more of a project team that sits across these and other areas of an organisation. Any good candidate will inquire about the future of an organisation. A clearly defined structure with a focus on the digital evolution of your organisation will provide your team with a universal goal to work towards and will encourage effective collaboration on a day-to-day basis. 

If you are looking to hire top talent in the digital sector, or for any of the roles we have mentioned above, please get in touch with one of our specialist recruitment consultants today. Alternatively, submit a job spec and one of our team will be in touch with you.