Key messages from Better connected 2014 Socitm South West April 4

1. Key messages fromBetter connected 2014Socitm South West April 4 Martin Greenwood

2. This year’s headline Rapid growth in use of mobiles a major challenge for local government websites … suggests latest Socitm survey

3. But first some context about digital delivery Launched 10 December at Socitm 2013

4. Better with less: delivering local public services in the digital age Section 1 By 2020? Section 2 Now at end of 2013 Section 3 The accelerating pace of change Section 4 How to progress the digital agenda Section 5 Key milestones on the digital journey

5. Section 1 By 2020? A vision for digital services based on: • Start of new wave of development in educating the young, creating over time a new generation of ‘tech-savvy’ citizens. • ‘Smart city’ thinking of digital innovation • Model of how one council has already prepared itself for a new level of digital transformation • New benchmark for quality of the customer experience

6. Section 2 Now at end of 2013 A number of studies this year • National Audit Office review of GDS • Local Digital Today from CLG (via UKAuthority) • Socitm study of 30 councils • Evidence from Better connected and Website performance service • Cultures of the Internet from Oxford Internet Institute Policy in right direction, but progress patchy

7. Section 3 The accelerating pace of change • Latest thinking about role of digital in welfare reform, social housing, health and social care • Level of complexity that has not previously been faced.

8. Section 4 How to progress the digital agenda • Patchy progress • Very few are able to demonstrate good practice holistically across all their activities • Composite picture from specific examples from different organisations

9. How to progress the digital agenda • Argyll & Bute Council • Bellshill Academy, North Lanarkshire • Birmingham City Council • Bournemouth Borough Council • Buckinghamshire County Council • Cambridgeshire County Council • Casllwchwr Primary School, City and County of Swansea • Cheshire East Council • Coventry City Council • Croydon Council • East Riding of Yorkshire Council • Future City/Glasgow • Hertfordshire County Council • Lambeth Council

10. How to progress the digital agenda • London Fire Brigade • Newham Council • Redbridge Council • Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council • Rushcliffe Borough Council • Shropshire Council • Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council • South Tyneside Council • Suffolk councils • Surrey County Council • Swale Borough Council • Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council • West London Alliance

11. How to progress the digital agenda Key principles • Customer experience • Engagement • Ways of working • Service re-design • Demand management Enabling principles 6. Leadership 7. Capability 8. Sharing 9. Agile working 10. Transparency 11.Usability 12. System selection 13. Take-up 14.Assisted digital 15. Performance Digital Insights

12. How to progress the digital agenda One example Online housing benefits System selection of easy-to-use third party software is often major bugbear, but web managers can take responsibility as at Rochdale and, working hard with a responsive supplier, can turn unpromising situation into flagship project.

13. Section 5 Key milestones on the digital journey • Corporate commitment to a digital future • Some key questions • Digital capability • Eight tangible milestones

14. Corporate commitment to digital future • Is there clear vision shared by senior managers? • Do effective leadership and governance arrangements exist? • Has clear set of priorities been agreed corporately and for each service? • Have goals been set for these priorities, based on usage data? • Has organisation implemented policy of redesigning services before putting them online? • Does it give usability of online services the highest priority? • Is there strong commitment to use digital tools (eg social media) by employees at all levels for purposes of citizen engagement? • Has it committed to a policy of transparency ? • Is there strong digital capability at heart of programme?

15. Strong digital capability • Very good website to support digital delivery for both desktop and mobile • In-house team with digital skills, expertise and ‘can-do’ attitude • Procurement rules to prevent software being obtained that is not fit-for-purpose • System for managing digital content on web and other digital platforms giving full editorial control to central web team • Pruning of web content (and content authors) in past 18 months • Tools and infrastructure in place to enable digital working • Corporate process for gathering and analysing data about demand for services • Well-researched plan for how online take-up will be increased • Supporting evidence-based plan for assisted digital services

16. This year’s headline Rapid growth in use of mobiles a major challenge for local government websites … suggests latest Socitm survey

17. Our review • Survey of 410 UK council websites (all E, S, W and a few from NI) • Main survey of 259 questions by team of 12 reviewers • Supplemented by specialist accessibility assessment by Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) • Also an extra survey on digital engagement by team • Use of third party data (egHitwise, Sitemorse and Local Direct)

18. How we assessed websites • № of customer journeys for top tasks (5 to 9, depending upon council type) • № of usability criteria – maximum of 4 (Navigation, search engine, A to Z and accessibility) • Overall reviewer rating – from 1 (poor) to 3 (very good) • Mobile assessment

19. Customer journey for top tasks • Report fly-tipping (from mobile device) • Renew library book (from mobile device) • Find out about football pitch (from mobile device) • Find out about roadworks in my area (from mobile device) • Report missed bin • Apply for primary school place • Find out about a planning decision • Apply for Council Tax Reduction • Apply for copy of birth certificate • Find out what's on for 'Under 5s' at libraries • Find out about care homes for elderly relative • Book an evening class • Register food business • Find out about my councillor

20. For each task • Ease of finding • (eg arrival from Google, use of search, • A to Z, information architecture and • landing pages) • Ease of completing • (step-by-step customer journey)

21. How successful is each task? Apply for copy of birth certificate 87% Apply for primary school place 75% Book an evening class 70% Find out what's on for 'Under 5s' at libraries 67% Register food business 64% Find out about my councillor 62% Report missed bin 57% Find out about a planning decision 51% Apply for Council Tax Reduction 49% Renew library book 48% Mob Find out about roadworks in my area 37% Mob Find out about care homes for elderly relative 33% Report fly-tipping 28% Mob Find out about football pitch 24% Mob

22. This year’s four star sites (England) • 25 (7%) 4 stars • 138 (39%) 3 stars • 119 (33%) 2 stars • 74 (21%) 1 star

23. This year’s four star sites (England) Adur & Worthing Kent CC Allerdale BC King's Lynn & West Norfolk BC Blaby DC (New) Leeds City (New) Bristol City Leicester City (New) Carlisle City Lichfield DC (New) Cumbria CC (New) Oxfordshire CC Dorset CC Preston City East Riding of Yorkshire Sandwell MBC (New) Eden DC South Oxfordshire DC Guildford BC Surrey CC Harborough DC (New) West Dorset DC (New) Haringey Wigan MBC (New) Hinckley & Bosworth BC

24. Mobile trends for council websites Usage Visitor satisfaction

25. The mobile experience • Only 31% passed our mobile assessment • One in three of last year’s four star sites failed • Performance on four mobile tasks half as good as the ten desktop tasks • Accessibility standard dropped from 45% to 26%, the most important factor being major drop in one mobile task • Website visitor satisfaction 36% lower on mobile device

26. Need for mobile improvement • First things first – think mobile • Don't assume mobile users are that different • Keep forms simple • Think carefully before building native apps • Remember other websites people might be using It’s vital to ensure that you are thinking about mobile optimisation in procurement process – and that means ensuring that your web team is at the table for that discussion One BC reviewer

27. Need for general improvement Get the basics right! Don’t bother with apps. Make sure you have a responsive website that works well on tablets and mobiles. Rationalise your content. Be aggressively focused on the user. Get a continuous improvement plan in place and test, test and test again with real people. Work with other councils to force suppliers to improve their products. Another BC reviewer

28. Where do we go from here? Trend in four star sites

29. Is a single local.gov.uk the answer? • Some good but limited examples of shared sites eg Dorset, Adur & Worthing, Allerdale & Carlisle • But this option a non-starter for several reasons, eg local needs, different priorities, major logistical problems etc

30. Scope for much more sharing

31. But needs to be more intelligently applied Too many disrupted customer journeys (example from East Anglian councils)

32. Some principles to apply • A digital asset to be shared must meet a clear need • A digital asset to be shared must be high quality • A new digital asset to be shared must be developed collaboratively • Procuringa digital asset, whether free or paid for, should be carried out carefully and systematically • Integratinga shared digital asset in the main site is as important as the asset itself

33. Managing third party suppliers: the biggest issue for council web teams? Far too many: • poor quality products from usability viewpoint • poorly integrated third party products and services Nine recommendations covering: • Procurement • Design • Support

34. http://wps.socitm.net

36. Learning from Better connected 2014Wed 14 May, London

37. Key messages fromBetter connected 2014Thank you Martin Greenwood