Sustainability of Web Products

By Eric Johnson, World Bank Institute (WBI); Sherine Ghoneim, Economic Research Foundation (ERF); Margaret Nyrambura Ndung'u, EcoNews Africa; Sangeeta Gupta, The Energy and Resources Institute (formerly the Tata Energy Research Institute) (TERI)
May 2001

Unlike other media, the Web is a live medium and Web products do not have a specified lifeline. Once on the Web, information is there for all time to come and for everybody to see. It is also expected to be current and updated unless stated otherwise categorically.

Hence the sustainability of Web products developed by CSOs is a very important issue as the funding for these products is usually limited and time bound. In a best case scenario, the sustainability model should be developed at the conceptualization stage and may be reviewed from time to time during the product development phase for modification and improvements. But this never happens, especially in the case of Web products, as they are usually part of a bigger project. The situation is different in the case of Web-only products as almost all donors like to know about the sustainability model and chances of funding depend a lot on convincing them of the success of this model.

What you can do as a Web manager to ensure sustainability of a Web product:

• educate others in the organization about the costs involved in keeping a product running; and
• ensure enough financing is built in for the maintenance of the product after the development phase. Since the maintenance phase mostly includes resources of the Web team, it is usually not taken into account by the research staff when budgeting.

What kind of direct and indirect costs are involved in keeping the Web products alive?

• updating of content;
• maintenance of the Web site for links;
• responding to queries that come via the Web site
• server space:
  • on an ISP's server – you still have to pay for the space, and
  • own server – may not have enough space to keep the old files; and
• though not a big amount, you still have to pay the domain registration fees if the product has a proper URL and is not part of any existing URL.

What can Web managers do to keep these products updated and running after the funding is over?

You could choose one or more of the following options at different stages to keep your Web products alive:

• offload the pages after a project is completed and save on all the costs;
• if server space is not an issue, let the pages remain if project duration is clearly stated;
• build maintenance costs for subsequent years (number of years could be decided based on the relevance of the product) as part of the project budget;
• resources from your own institute if the project is of future relevance;
• go back to the funding agency for the next phase that could be the expansion of the current product. In the budget, also build the maintenance of the product developed in the first phase;
• sell off the product to some other interested party who has resources and an interest in updating and maintaining the product, but with due acknowledgement to the developer of the product;
• look for new donors; and
• support from corporate/private sector. In return their success stories could be posted on the Web site. This has worked very well with print medium, and needs to be tried with the Web.