Transforming the way senior

management perceive digital

Susan Farrell

Head of Web & Mobile Services

UCL

Founded in 1826

Ranked in the top five in the world

25,000 students from 140 countries

Over 9000 staff

10 faculties

London, Australia, Qatar and Kazakhstan

Challenge 1 – Thinking

of the user journey

Challenge 2- One

organisation or many?

Central

Faculties

Departments

Hobbyists

UCL Web Publishing Model

Challenge 3 –

Thousands of content

editors

ucl.ac.uk/laws

ucl.ac.uk/medical-sciences bartlett.ucl.ac.uk

ucl.ac.uk/shs

engineering.ucl.ac.uk/

ucl.ac.uk/populationhealth-sciences

ucl.ac.uk/brain-sciences

ucl.ac.uk/maps-faculty

ucl.ac.uk/lifesciences-faculty

ucl.ac.uk/ah

Challenge 4 – No URL

structure

UCL Unique URLS

999,981

Of those …

744,027 <5 page views in 2013

uses Silva -

the centrally-

supported

CMS

40% of ucl.ac.uk ...

includes over 700 sites

involves over

3000 editors

The rest of ucl.ac.uk ...

uses

Challenge 5 –

Heterogeneous technology

Challenge 6 - Funding

Web & Mobile Services Team Structure

Head of Web &

Mobile Services

Senior Web Architect

Web Content &

User Experience

Manager

Web Development

Manager

Web Developer

Media

Development &

Support Officer

Web Content and

Service Officer Mobile Development

& Support Officer Web Developer Web Developer

Without governance the strategy will be

just another document; one containing

some interesting – even visionary –

ideas, but one that will languish in

obscurity because it has no teeth.

Quote from web governance proposal

Strategic view

User and expert

view

Community engagement

Web Services Strategy

Group

User and Advisory Groups

External

users

Technology &

Standardisation

CMS User Group Developer network Web and mobile

WebNet

Meeting 3x a year

Overseeing

development and

implementation of

web and mobile

strategies

Providing user

and expert view

for development

and

implementation of

web and mobile

strategies and

projects

Building a web community with shared standards and

values. Engendering ownership of, and commitment to, a

world class UCL website

Staff Students

Information Services Governance Group

Digital

communications

Governance structure

As the users’ experience of UCL’s web

presence reinforces and shapes their

perceptions of UCL as an institution, the

total presence will consistently reflect the

excellence and distinctiveness of UCL

Vision for web

• User research and testing

• Content audits, reviews and modelling

• Information architecture

• Web and interface design

• Web and CMS development

• CMS support and training

• Search Engine Optimisation advice

• Google Analytics advice

Digital agency services:

Please!

We understand how UCL operates so we can

instantly understand your requirements

We provide a centrally-managed CMS with

free website hosting

We provide free training on the CMS

Our free support does not end when the

website is launched

We have a development roadmap so you can

take advantage of features developed for

UCL

Our prices are very competitive and are

considerably less than commercial agencies.

Why use our service?

The web is not strategic!

=

Digital is any technology

that connects people

and machines to each other

and with information

(Howard King)

Websites

Social media

Mobile apps

E-newsletters

Research profiles

Research publications

Digital includes:

Library applications

Student record system

Application systems

VLE

The environment is now the customer,

not the organisation.

It used to be that customers lived in a

world of organisations.

Now organisations live in a world

of customers

(Gerry McGovern)

As the users’ experience of UCL’s web

presence reinforces and shapes their

perceptions of UCL as an institution, the

total presence will consistently reflect the

excellence and distinctiveness of UCL

Vision for web

Two main drivers

• Giving our students the best support,

facilities and opportunities

• Delivering excellent systems and

processes in support of UCL’s vision

• Communicating and engaging effectively

with the world

UCL 2034 strategic enablers

• A decline in engagement

• Students express their criticisms

• Decline in reputation

• Falling behind competitors

• Poor staff recruitment and

retention

• Improve customer engagement

• Improve customer satisfaction

• Reach more international students

• Create new USPs

• Impress with digital workplace

Threats Opportunities

Get evidence

UCL’s web presence gives the

‘impression of a disconnected

organisation’

… when comparing UCL’s web presence

with that of leading competitors, it is

clear that ‘competitors are doing

significantly more with their web

presence’

Extract from Precedent report

If there is one thing that can get

senior management to change today

it is the increasing dissatisfaction

and disloyalty of their customers

(Gerry McGovern)

Student experience

If you want to change your organisation’s

digital direction, you cannot wait until you

are given permission

(Paul Boag)