Website improvements

Lancashire County Council's (LCC) web presences are key parts of both the Customer Access Strategy and the Business Improvement Programme. The council acknowledged that web presences have the potential to deliver significant savings in the way the council does business with its customers.

LCC recognized that their web presence was in need of revision in order to introduce a stable platform and solid information architecture. This was needed to maximize their return on investment and provide a base for continuous improvement in customer service. They decided to divide the project into several stages and requested the help of Soctim Consulting in conjunction with Socitm Insight, to help them do this.

Our remit included:

• Testing a new front end to the website which would help to improve customer access but based on the existing information architecture
• Make recommendations for procurement of a new content management system
• Design a new robust, customer centric information architecture, which would help to encourage channel shift to the web and thereby maximize return on investment (ROI).
• Develop new web standards

Socitm Consulting assisted Lancashire County Council to test the new front end prior to launch and help to ensure there was no ‘downtime’ for customers and that all areas were browser independent.

Socitm Consulting also provided detailed recommendations on the most cost effective route for procurement and implementation of a new content management system that would meet Lancashire County Council’s strategic objectives.

Finally, the partnership of Socitm Consulting and Socitm Insight also brought opportunities because it combined expertise on procurement, project management, systems analysis and best practice. We were also able to involve the web guru Gerry McGovern to bring a customer centric focus to the design of the new information architecture. The design for the new information architecture is due to be completed by the end of March 2010. Through the extensive focus on customers’ requirements it should provide an excellent platform for genuine efficiency savings.

Margaret Fisher, Corporate Web Manager for Lancashire CC, said "Socitm Consulting have added real value to our project. They've contributed their best practice and a wide knowledge of other local authority websites. It's a pleasure to work with them."

Client organisation: Lancashire County Council
Client contact: Margaret Fisher
Consultant: Reynold Leming, Andy Grant and Lamorna Spry
Project no: 7180 and 7180/1