Accolades for GOSS customers in SOCITM report

Published 2nd April 2009

31 March 2009 - Local Authorities up and down the country, managing web content with GOSS iCM (intelligent Content Management), have been recognised in the latest report from SOCITM .

The eleventh annual survey covered 424 websites and set out to identify best practice, featuring local authority websites which are ‘useful, usable and used’. Of the 44 local authority clients that have implemented GOSS iCM, many received high accolades or special mentions and 14 were rated as Transactional (up by 4 from last year) . Transactional status indicates that a website is allowing citizens to interact with the Local Authority at a transactional level i.e. information is exchanged between both parties.

Torridge District Council was highly placed in the rankings for Web 2.0 features and usage. GOSS iCM allows Local Authorities to implement full citizen engagement and user generated content as well as making their website a single location to access a variety of services, this encourages users to re-visit the site regularly.

Gloucestershire County Council, listed as one of the top 20 local authority websites by market share of visits , was commended for its search facility, with comments on its ability to both find relevant information and present it well. Gloucestershire also received accolades for its ‘readable and useful’ help pages and was listed in the report as one of only 38 councils to have received the Internet Crystal Mark, the best known standard in the use of Plain English.

New Forest (recently shortlisted for a Hantsnet Award for website accessibility) was highlighted for its resilience and featured in a group of only 10 local authority sites which had no errors in 2008 or 2009. While Bexley was listed as one of 10 best performers in the customer feedback category with 47.9 per cent net satisfaction from users .

Chichester District Council was featured as an example of best practice in its use of an A-Z list . And My Nottingham, the recently re-launched Web 2.0 site for Nottingham City Council, featured as one of only six sites in the East Midlands which experiences ‘higher than expected website usage’.

GOSS supports its developers
In response to the Better Connected report and as part of an ongoing commitment to supporting the community of developers working with GOSS iCM, GOSS will be looking at some of the outcomes from the report at its next Developer Day. The Developer Day is a technical user group, where developers from clients’ IT departments come together to discuss all aspects relating to using the product. One of the drivers for the Developer Day is to understand, and work with clients, to help as many as possible achieve Transactional status in the next Better Connected report.
Rob McCarthy, Managing Director at GOSS interactive comments, “On a daily basis we see and hear about the innovative ways that local authorities are utilising our technology to create useful, usable and used websites. Numerous examples of best practice have been identified in this latest report; we are proud to be supporting these forward thinking organisations to help them gain the most benefit from GOSS iCM. The Developer Day and the wider Developer community is another example of how GOSS works in partnership with its clients to ensure they get the best out of GOSS iCM.”