Uk Public Sector Praised For Great Strides In Delivering The Excellent Online Services According To Socitm Report
GOSS Interactive congratulates over 60 local authorities, who have their websites powered by GOSS iCM (intelligent Content Management), for their excellent performance in the Socitm Better Connected 2013 report.
Online, March 1, 2013 (Newswire.com) - In the report over 76% of GOSS clients either increased or maintained their previously high scores. Additionally over 58% of clients have been rated amongst the highest in the country, receiving 4★ or 3★.
Socitm, the Society of IT Managers in the public sector, publish their annual Better Connected 2013 report today into the quality and performance of local authority websites. The report is used by public sector organisations to help drive increased usability for citizens and to help reduce service costs for councils.
"...this year's Better Connected report should be required reading for every senior manager and chief executive in local government. The report gives us an important insight into how it feels as a customer. It's a salutary reminder that stuff that feels obvious to us can seem a mystery to the vast majority of people." Martin Reeves, Chief Executive, Coventry City Council and President, SOLACE
The report goes on to say "As Better connected 2013 shows, the only way to improve is for the top management team to get actively involved in the governance of digital delivery - on the web, on mobiles and with social media"
Rob McCarthy, CEO, GOSS Interactive added "This isn't just about rewarding nice looking sites. This is about making it as easy and accessible for UK citizens to get all the information, forms, advice that they need from their council, quickly and simply, 24/7, and in the process potentially saving over £1M for each of the 433 local authorities, which is a huge win-win in these difficult economic times"
GOSS Interactive have been delivering 'GOSS iCM' web content management and website publishing software for over 10 years. Today it is in use by major corporations and is also the market leading software for local authorities.
Four star councils
In the league table GOSS clients, South Tyneside Council, North Yorkshire County Council, Dorset County Council, Teignbridge District Council and Perth and Kinross Council were amongst the top few who were awarded the highly prized 4 star accolade.
The report specifically highlighted South Tyneside Council, saying "This is an outstanding website. When you think of the number of services being offered, the consistency of the content and navigation is amazing." South Tyneside Council was also commended for having a "Great mobile site....with a good clear list of menu choices."
North Yorkshire County Council's website was also praised as a top site, "Excellent...information is really easy to find and is simply and clearly presented with logical page sequencing."
The report went on to praise Dorset County Council, saying "A lot of work must have gone into structuring this site, ensuring the search is fully optimised and planning the landing pages well. I thought the mapping was really well applied in all the right places too. Congratulations!"
Another 4 star client of GOSS, Teignbridge District Council, had the follow praise in the report, "Landing pages are particularly good for themed task links. Made my review considerably easier!"
The report also described the promotion of top tasks on the Perth and Kinross website as "Very comprehensive".
Mobile access
This year for the first time Socitm looked specifically at accessibility to council websites via mobile phones. GOSS has seen access via mobile phones increasing from 13% a year ago to an average of 27% today, and this is expected to grow to over 50% in the next 12-18 months. The report specifically highlighted South Tyneside Council's GOSS Mobile site, stating "Great mobile site....with a good clear list of menu choices."
GOSS are delighted that 5 of our clients South Tyneside Council, North Yorkshire County Council, Dorset County Council, Teignbridge District Council and Perth and Kinross Council received the best in class, 4 star rating and that 20 other GOSS clients achieved the hard to reach 3 star rating.
ENDS
The GOSS Interactive Customer Experience Management portfolio powers some of the UK's most user-friendly award winning websites, including the Met Office, Brittany Ferries, South West Water, Virgin Trains and over 50 of the leading UK award winning council websites. The GOSS Customer Experience Management portfolio let you deploy websites, content management, mobile web, social media, ecommerce, digital marketing, analytics and channel shift strategies that meet your increasing online customer needs and deliver measurable return on investment.
Share:
Tags: better connected 2013, council, local authority, socitm, top tasks, Website