Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/37773
IT and Marketing at Parker Poe Unite To Create a Business Development Platform P 30 arker Poe recently launched two SharePoint-based Web technologies that offer telling insights about the benefits of collaboration. The runaway success of its intranet, Parkway, is a model for how to implement new technology and has provided a platform for an extranet capability that allows the firm to get closer to its clients than ever before. The redevelopment of Parker Poe’s intranet was driven by the overriding aim to improve service to two key audiences — its clients and its internal staff. A tight working relationship between the firm’s marketing and IT departments was fundamental to the success of the project. According to Parker Poe CIO Steve Fletcher, it’s vital for the firm to collaborate as a whole in order to deliver new technology effectively. “Our overriding aim with the project was to improve client service and enable better business development. In order to achieve that with any new technology, you need all groups within the firm to get behind those objectives.” BRIDGING THE DIVIDE Parker Poe’s director of marketing and business development, Kevin Kelly, says cooperation between marketing and IT started at the outset of the project and was aided by the culture of the firm, which he describes as “naturally collaborative.” “Perhaps it’s the nature of a midsize firm, where there is not so much separation between client service and non-client service teams. But it is also due to the people we have in leadership positions. Decisions are made in partnership, Portal Platforms ILTA White Paper