The mark of property professionalism worldwide

Internet world29 April 2008

A CMS is not just for Christmas

How RICS balances speed to market with long-term IT strategy

Steve Howells and Tim Robinson

One of the World’s Largest Professional Associations

• 140,000 members• 146 countries• 160 specialisms

Alternatively - We’re in the Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Distribution, Publishing, Education, Training, Events, Arbitration, Quality Control, Standards Setting, Regulation, Policy Influence,

Information and Brand Management businesses

Challenge we faced in 2007• Complex organisation – “herding chickens”• Continue journey from Silo to Enterprise• Proliferation of different websites and technologies • Brand headaches – 41 URL’s

How do You Achieve Results• Define a strategic enterprise platform • “good for today and tomorrow”• Deliver it quickly – in stages• Win – Win

What does the CEO and the Board Need• Turn from tactics to strategy• Develop an overall digital strategy for RICS• Convergence of audience

A New Foundation

Our CMS checklist Fully-featured enterprise CMS Suitable for a number of different deployments Strong publishing tools for professional editors But also ease of use for non-expert end users Value for money Integrate with our existing IT environment Credible agile vendor

Our Choice =

Find a Pilot and Sponsor

Pilot project – upgrade an ageing portal

Lie of the land – April 07

• First ‘born digital’ RICS product• Nielsen and CILIP innovation awards in

2004 and 2005• FAST search well liked• Loyal user base

But…• Stagnation - looking elderly• Navigation tools off the pace• Walled garden – invisible to Google• Clunky in house processes

Result: 5 months from contract-launch

How we did it

• Leadership commitment to pilot

• Lots of up front discussion with the vendor

• Tight team

• Clear roles: project sponsor, expert user, project manager

• Agreed roadmap: phase 1

Immediate customer and business benefits

Immediate customer and

business benefits

• Navigation is clearly improved

• Faster trial-conversion time and increased up-selling

• Easier and cheaper to update

• Single sign on across RICS sites

• Improved Google PageRank

• Existing users like it

A platform for future development Single search concept search.rics.org

Thanks

Any questions?