To rise above the noise, Sharron Robbie, the new marketing manager of GOSS – the Enterprise Content Management company, argues that you need to implement a system that can help you to manage the different channels of communications and the increasing volumes of content, information and data (which IT executives say will rise by up to 20-30% over the next two years, writes Infoconomy in ‘Storage painpoints highlighted’).

James McNab, Head of Corporate Affairs at Opera Telecom also believes that mobile marketing will become more important than email, although it remains an important personalised marketing communications tool, particularly in the business-to-business (B2B) sector. Even so mobiles out number Personal Computers (PCs) by a factor of 10:1, and with 2006 just around the corner it is interesting to note that on January 1st 2005 over 133 million text messages were sent to colleagues, friends and loved ones. Ten months later and the Mobile Data Association reports that there are 89 million and rising texts being sent.

McNab also says that 94% of text messages are read, and 75% of these are read instantly. In comparison the average email open rate is between 3-10%. One of the key advantages that mobiles have over PCs is the fact that most people carry them in their pockets, no matter where they are and go. Other than a Pocket PC, a BlackBerry device, or any other similar technology platform, you’re less likely to – due their size and weight – always have your laptop with you, let alone your work or home PC.

Gartner also predicts that mobile phones sales will equate to 1 billion units by 2009. There is also expected to be a 16% increase in handset sales by the end of 2005 with a forecasted 779 million handsets being bought. The gradual uptake of 3G mobiles, the mobile broadband technology, also means that there will be more types and potentially richer, higher quality types of content formats available, including voice data (e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol – VOIP – and standard mobile calls), other types of audio, video, mobile TV and text available. This could also lead to more data being sent and received in greater file sizes, which could cause mayhem from a data storage perspective and it could prove costly if mismanaged.

Enable your Employees

Beyond the mobile phone market, which is predominantly focused on the business-to-consumer sector, particularly where gadgets and gimmicks are concerned; there are some business advantages to be gained from 3G technologies like WiFi. Ilkka Kivimäki, CEO of Wicom, for example, wrote in 3i’s iSight magazine in February 2005: “The rapid progress of Wi-Fi is enabling organisations to take mobility beyond specific mission critical areas of the business and potentially into the hands of every employee. 3G promises a faster, richer experience that will enhance existing wireless applications and provide the additional bandwidth to drive widespread use of mobile technologies.”

With this in mind, and with there now being 3 million subscribers to the Blackberry service too, according to a report in Information Age in June 2005, there will be more and more opportunities for businesses to change their working practices, and adopt remote working methods more often. Kivimäki believes that employees will increasingly demand access to a wider range of applications too, particularly as the changes and benefits of remote working technologies, including the proliferation of home-based broadband, is providing them with the opportunity to work beyond the confines of the traditional workplace, creating new working cultures and practices.

The Push for Integration

The greater the number of applications available has led the market to push for the greater integration of these technologies. By making the management of such data a little more convergent means that managing it should become that much simpler. Search engines, like Google – which is very much a media company in its own right, are also part of the equation, helping to drive the world’s 972,828,001 Internet users to websites (source: http://www.internetworldstats.com), fixed and mobile portals in order to find the information they need. Thus this explains the continual growth and development of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) techniques, yet Google isn’t a solution that enables you to manage the various types of data and information.

On top of this, let’s not forget the data that resides on the many corporate databases around the UK and the globe. All of this amounts to a terrific amount of data that must be managed appropriately, using the right solution for your business. What is emerging is a trend of consolidation towards Enterprise Content Management (ECM). “ECM is a broad term that means many different things to many different people. Typically ECM implies the acquisition and management of both structured and unstructured content that is dispersed across a number of different repositories, often described as "information silos". ECM technologies typically are capable of managing structured content, unstructured content, email, images, raw print data, and other digital assets…” (Source: www.cylogy.com/library/glossary.html).

The question though is: which one is right for my business? Many out there have learnt the lesson from the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) crisis that you can’t simply expect a solution to do everything for you without changing the way you work, and it doesn’t always come with a Plug n’ Play capability. It may not always be the right solution for you, even though most CRM systems are very much integrated with a wide range of other technology platforms.

Even today, reports Silicon.com, the public sector’s CRM projects are failing to meet their expectations. In 2003 CRMGuru.com said that the failures in the financial sector were also down to the following factors: CRM “is a very data intensive, complex business; the traditional financial services business model is product-centric as opposed to customer-centric; as large organizations, CRM typically requires significant investments for financial services companies; and the early movers in the industry undoubtedly took on greater risks entering this new arena.”

Integration on the Increase

Enterprise Content Management is very much where everything is heading, and it has been increasingly the case in recent years. So it is now possible to deliver the same information and marketing message across a multitude of different channels. This has led to the steady rise of integrated marketing communications, or what IBM calls Open Planning. The integration of information communication technologies is also increasing the demand for access to a wider range of applications, even in the B2C markets.

So there’s a lot of noise out there, making it harder for companies to be heard. There’s so much noise that, for example, Britain has become the ‘top data swapper’ according to BBC News Online’s article, published on 30th September 2004. The report reveals that 55 gigabits per second of data or more are regularly passing through the non-profit London Information Exchange (LINX), which connects as a the UK’s 150 or so Internet companies through its servers in London’s Docklands. The statistics include data that passed through the exchange to other private peering systems.

Companies therefore need to develop a ‘passion for information management’ in terms of data storage, information management and content generally. To be successful, to gain efficiencies and operational effectiveness, they must also have a clear understanding of how email, mobile, web, wireless and broadband technologies can facilitate the management of data and the delivery of appropriately targeted content. It should also be remembered that content management as become an integral component of CRM systems.

The Rise of Content Management

These technologies and the importance of managing documents, records, data, content, information are therefore on the increase, particularly as it has now become a business to imperative to comply with legislation like Basel II and (where a company is working with an American firm or subsidiary) the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The prerequisite to achieve compliance has given content management ‘Elevated status’, so Information Age claimed in July 2005. There is also an increasingly requirement to be able to store, search and retrieve the data of unstructured digital content, including digital images.

With Enterprise Content Management solutions forecast to continue to boom (a trend that is partly driven by the increasing integration of information communications technology), and with 18% of European IT managers expected to buy ECM systems, it could be possible to manage all of this in an integrated fashion through an ECM system. With compliance in mind, ECMs should also enable companies to better manage unstructured data such as emails and web content. More importantly, if companies implement such a system, they are thus less likely to find themselves down the same route a Morgan Stanley. The firm was fined heavily regarding a situation involving its unstructured data.

ECM accounted for only 9% of the total market in 2003, reports InfoTrends in Information Age’s August 2005 edition. This forecast though for 2008 is much, much higher as it should rise to 32%, and 60% growth is hosted services is expected within the same period. Another report in the magazine’s ‘The Effective IT 2006 Report’, The ECM Imperative’ believes that the market will be worth $3.8 billion, and around 70-80% of the Fortune 5000 companies will be buying their solutions from a single vendor.

That’s Great, But How Do You Rise Above the Noise?

Companies need to implement a solution that delivers a return on investment that enables compliance to legislation, which helps you to manage information, content and data through the many channels. It must be a solution that is right for your business, and it also should be one with a proven track record. It also comes down to having the right procedures, processes and methods of prioritisation in place. Being innovative can also mean that you will be heard above the noise.

Written and researched by Graham Jarvis, Editor and Media Services Consultant, Media-Insert.co.uk. 19th December 2005

Editor’s Notes

About GOSS

GOSS provides managed services and intelligent and enterprise-wide content management solutions. GOSS solutions are based on a sound understanding of your requirements and the technology we use to meet your customers’ needs. Learn more about GOSS Brand Values at http://www.gossinteractive.com/index.cfm?articleid=678. To contact GOSS for further information, please call +44 (0) 1752 517 350 or email Sharron Robbie (sharron.robbie@gossinteractive.com) at GOSS.

How often do people actually contact their local council? Most of the time, the answer is likely to be only when they feel they need to. North Cornwall District Council (NCDC) says that it wants to be more citizen-centric by encouraging citizens to register their details on the council’s website, in order to receive information about the topics and services that interest them. Such information and services can then be communicated through a variety of channels, including email and SMS, amongst others, by using both an integrated content management solution (CMS) and customer relationship management (CRM) system.

David Witts – the council’s head of ICT says, “Online consultations on subjects that interest the citizen will become commonplace and if it is easier to request a service via an online form. This method of communication will become very popular, and hence it will increase interaction via the website. Basically, if local government provides an improved level of consistent service through the implementation of a CMS that benefits the citizen, then they are going to use it. Therein lies the challenge ahead!”

When questioned about whether councils are truly becoming citizen-centric, he replies: “I would say that they definitely are. As the Government increases the pressure to improve and streamline services, firstly through e-Government and now the Gershon Efficiency agenda, it is challenging councils to see how they can transact their business in more modern, efficient and effective ways. The obvious outcome is to transform the business, with the focus on the customer.  Now instead of the citizen having to speak to many different departments about their issues, one call or one visit to the website satisfies their requirements (or it will do soon).”

E-Democracy and Sharing Ambitions

Cornwall, in the shape of http://www.cornishkey.com, shares the same ambitions as those behind the http://www.dorsetforyou.com project. The portal will develop, Witts discloses, over the course of 2006. The plan is for this portal to become the focal point for citizens when they transact with local authorities in this south-western county. As with Dorset’s own site, it will deliver a joined up A to Z of all of the 7 local councils’ services, providing an integrated facility for advertising and public sector job applications.

With the different services and departments now maintaining their own content, their teams have taken over the accountability and responsibility for keeping it up to date and accurate, this therefore includes managing the quality levels of service delivery online. This means that the public, it is claimed, have more visibility of what their council does through the information provided on its website. However, to increase the uptake and to strengthen accountability, there needs to be some good marketing behind the project in order to encourage more online interactions and consultations.

Witts believes that this could entice more people to get involved with local e-democracy, and to a degree this will depend on the quality of the interaction that they can have through the use of online polls, forums, and consultations. The Government would also like to see people vote online, and this is one of the main drivers behind the vision for e-government. Yet will this ever happen? Recent pilot projects, he says, dictate that this could be a while yet before it becomes a reality.

Targets and the March Uphill

There are many councils out there who’ve found the challenge of meeting the Government’s targets an uphill struggle. Witts believes this is because the focus is heavily upon the implementation of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), “So where councils have not developed a strong relationship between ICT and the corporate business, they are struggling to gain adoption of the e-Government vision that it is more about business transformation to a citizen-centric future, than just a set of ICT-led projects.”

The Government’s targets can, however, be met through the use of websites such as the one used by North Cornwall District Council, by providing improved access to, and information about local authorities’ services.

The CMS, provided by GOSS – an Enterprise Content Management firm, has enabled the council to shift responsibility for the maintenance of the website content from the ICT service over to those providing and managing a particular council service area.

Legislation is an important consideration for all Council and Government bodies. NCDC’s website, like many other councils’ sites, enables it to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOI). Witts says that this was the only way in which it could comply with the legislation, subsequently, all public documentation is now available online for the public to peruse.

NCDC: Managing Red Tape and Change

North Cornwall District Council is currently implementing the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework from the Office of Government Commerce, which according to Witts defines a particular change management process that NCDC intends to adopt. Witts says that the local authority also uses the Prince2 methodology for project and programme management.

Thankfully, he claims, the council has quite a few people who actually enjoy change and who help to drive it forward. Staff can be, in some organisations, reticent to change, so on the face of it this seems quite a refreshing and encouraging approach. This, he thinks, will facilitate the ambition to continually improve the delivery of information and Council services for the benefit of each citizen.

Red tape is accepted as a business norm, and the council considers this as being part of the change management programme. It isn’t seen as a problem at all, and the aim remains to encourage people to communicate with their council by registering online, which will also mean that their should be a reduction in the same information being sent out more than once.

Public Lessons from the Private Sector

At the end of the day Witts maintains it is about the following:

• It’s all about providing the right service;
• At the right time;
• And at the right cost to the right person.

By encouraging online registrations the council should be able to better target its services, while gaining a better understanding of what its citizens need. This will also enhance the creation of efficiencies and the effectiveness of NCDC’s service delivery. Lessons, here, can be learnt from the private sector, based upon its own collective experiences of what does and does not really work well.

Witts therefore feels that the public sector should not be afraid to ask the private sector some ‘killer questions’ like: “How do we make this work and pay for itself from efficiency improvement?”

The Next Steps in e-Government

Most of the finance for e-Government projects has resulted in a number of large-scale implementations of infrastructure, such as the various ICT projects. The aim has been focused on providing the appropriate levels of functionality to improve and deliver the real benefits of e-Government, and mainly this entails the quality of service delivery to the customer – the citizen.

The following are just some of the systems that have been implemented:

• Customer (citizen) Relationship Management (CRM);
• Content Management (CMS);
• Electronic Document and Records Management (EDRMS).

The next challenge therefore involves changing the perception of citizens to what the council offers, and the means in which the information and services are delivered. Witts therefore forecasts an increase in the number of local contact and call centres. This is considered to be a more joined up approach to local Government.

Whether you see yourself as a citizen, as a local taxpayer, a constituent or a customer of the council, the aim is to make the way the council works more focused upon you. The focal point, he claims, will then become the council as an outlet for service delivery rather than on the service itself. He also sees self-service via the web becoming more commonplace, and the CPA process will become the key, CPA is the incorporated indicator for measuring a council’s performance against Government criteria.

As with the Dorsetforyou project, and seemingly its Cornish equivalent, Witts believes that the trends will be more towards working in partnership with other councils and third party organisations. This in itself could increase the efficiency gains, and make access to local information and service easier for the citizen. Witts says that the previous investment in the e-Government infrastructure should ease this along. So the question, “Who delivers the service?” will become less important.

So customer-centricity or citizen-centricity will be the core cultural change that everyone should see as a result of e-Government. However, when was the last time your Council sent you a questionnaire and asked you what you wanted to see beyond the fences of the party political agenda? Yet there is some significant evidence to demonstrate that people do want to use the web as a means of gaining access to Council information and services.

So online polls, questionnaires and forums would thus be a very effective marketing tool to realise this noble aim. This will be enhanced by offering the customer – the citizen – the choice of how he or she would prefer to be communicated with. Hopefully, it will also revive local democracy too, through the stimulation of greater local Government transparency and accountability.

By Graham Jarvis
Editor and Media Services Consultant

Email: editor@cimtech.org
Blog: http://www.media-insert.co.uk

About GOSS Interactive

GOSS provides managed services and intelligent and enterprise-wide content management solutions. GOSS solutions are based on a sound understanding of your requirements and the technology we use to meet your customers’ needs. Learn more about GOSS Brand Values at http://www.gossinteractive.com/index.cfm?articleid=678.

To contact GOSS for further information, please call +44 (0) 1752 517 350 or email
Sharron.Robbie@gossinteractive.com

An article by Kablenet.com, published by ZDNet.co.uk News on 2nd March 2005, shows that Exeter is among the top 20 Councils with transactional websites when it comes to e-accessibility. The findings looked at the Society of IT Managers’ Better Connected 2005 report, which analysed 468 local authority websites.

The findings warned that many local authorities might not be able to meet the Government’s ‘priority targets’ for online services, with online accessibility proving to be the top concern of most of the local authorities involved with the study. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), describes the 2005 targets as aiming to enhance the quality and availability of local e-services. These cover such areas as education, democratic renewal and community information.

The report’s author, Martin Greenwood – SOCITM Insight programme manager, commented: “’Councils need to collect more evidence about usage and potential usage of web sites in their areas, and match this with dedication to getting the quality of the product right at a more detailed level than before in order to make self-service a truly attractive option that works in practice and will be repeated. Finally, Councils should become more proactive and more sophisticated in marketing what is on offer to those target groups who might be interested.’

Meeting Targets With .Net

Exeter City Council has responded to the challenge through the development and launch this May of its new website, based on GOSS’ Intelligent Content Management (iCM) and CITIZEN solution, which is now used by 16% of the local authorities in England and Wales. Accessibility was one of the major concerns of the City Council, particularly as they wanted to offer a wide range of services across multiple platforms. CITIZEN meets these requirements.

Paul Evans, Exeter’s Head of IT, expects to meet all of the priority outcomes and targets. He believes that “ICM has been instrumental in making this possible, especially when it comes to website developments and the provision of online services. It provides a solid .Net technology-based foundation, which will enable us to develop customer-focused applications and realise the next stage in our customer contact strategy.”

What Attracted Exeter to The GOSS Solution?

He also comments: “Although a number of other solutions in the market were considered, several other Devon authorities had previously purchased the GOSS system and we had received favourable reports about it from them. This made for a compelling case for a purchase as far as we were concerned. It now means that we are part of an established user-base within the South West and can share development ideas.”

“We are a Microsoft site both in terms of development and technical infrastructure, so choosing a product that followed our development path was the natural choice. This now enables us to develop the product and capitalise on its potential.”

Evans therefore recommends that this should be one of the prerequisites for anyone seeking a CMS solution, and this should incorporate an analysis of not just the available technologies but also the resources that an authority has at hand.

A key part of this is the question of whether a council can undertake its own development and support of the system. He also recommends that:

• You purchase an CMS that is exentisible and customisable to meet your business needs as they evolve;
• You choose a product that is in use by others with a similar business to your own, and which has a proven track record of reliability and functionality

Exeter is also starting to steer its website towards delivering more and more online self-service, and 3 months ago it began to be used as an information resource for its customer services centre. The “underlying technology will also soon be used to run our corporate intranet”, Evans adds. With Government targets in mind, Exeter wishes to provide 24/7 access to online transactional services for the benefit of its citizens. It also aspires to become the regional capital of the South West, and iCM is expected to help the council to achieve this.

So What Are the Benefits of iCM?

“We believe that the move to iCM has improved our site in a number of ways and this has provided multiple benefits”, he says. The benefits are:

• The search function is more intuitive and effective, and produces better search results than our previous system. He also believes that it increases the likelihood of return visits;
• A reduction of dead-links, providing a better user experience which increases the potential for return visits;
• Exeter is also beginning to develop some of its own functionality within the system, which should lead to more interactivity and a more compelling website for users to visit;
• Improved Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is forthcoming through integration with the Council’s CRM self-service portal, enabling 24/7 transactions;
• With this the site will become key to our Customer Service and Access strategy.

He believes that people are attracted to “proven solutions which have a clearly defined cost of ownership and roadmap.”

By Graham Jarvis,
Editor and Media Services Consultant

Email: editor@cimtech.org
Mobile: +44 (0)776 682 3644

Editor’s Notes

About GOSS Interactive

GOSS provides managed services and intelligent and enterprise-wide content management solutions. GOSS solutions are based on a sound understanding of your requirements and the technology we use to meet your customers’ needs. Learn more about GOSS Brand Values at http://www.gossinteractive.com/index.cfm?articleid=678.

To contact GOSS for further information, please call +44 (0) 1752 517 350 or email Sharron Robbie (sharron.robbie@gossinteractive.com) at GOSS.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just go to one web portal, without needing to know which level of local government provides which services, and be able to find what you want within a few clicks of a mouse? If this sounds simple and useful, then you should perhaps take a look at the ‘Dorsetforyou.com’ project; the only integrated, multi-authority portal of its kind. Where all of the other local authority web portals act much like mini-search engines, directing the site’s visitors to content on other local Government websites, Dorset’s portal provides all of the local information from all of the local bodies on one website.

In its first month, following its launch in mid-April 2005, the website traffic statistics showed that there were 75,000 unique users, 142,000 visits, and page views are reported to have exceeded the combined statistics of the original four, individual Councils’ websites. The Councils’ targets sought 50,000 unique users, 100,000 visits and 2 million page views. So the effectiveness of having one portal is demonstrable. In September 2005 alone 100,000 people visited the portal, which uses JSP on top of a Linux platform.

The portal was created after a research study revealed that people were unsure about which tier of local government (whether county, district, borough, town or parish) provided which service. “This meant they often have to visit several different websites to find the information they need, which could be a lengthy and confusing process. The portal should therefore improve customer satisfaction, greater efficiencies through economies of scale, and create joint procurement opportunities given that there is one website with four partners, rather than four individual website”, says John Rider-Dobson – Dorset for You Partnership Manager.

The portal therefore enables Christchurch Borough Council, Dorset County Council, East Dorset District Council, North Dorset District Council and West Dorset District Council to provide one point of access to local information and transactional services in one place, and it creates an intuitive step and example of the benefits of integrated local Government. Rider-Dobson believes that the site is further enhanced by its use of plain English, a useable website design, quality content, and “some good transactional functionality.”

The following are determined as the target audience for the portal:

• Residents;
• Businesses;
• Visitors;
• Staff and councillors;
• And external partners, such as parish councils and suppliers

One of its major objectives is to provide access to Council services on a 24/7 basis to rural communities in the Dorset area. The portal’s concept and potential benefits attracted the attention of the national press. The Guardian newspaper went as far in February 2005 to call the project “a giant leap forward in e-Government.”

The most powerful and useful features of the portal are considered to be online job applications (of which 100,000 have been received), access to planning applications review service, and the Dorset-wide contact process. This means that around 350 departments across seven Councils can be contacted through the portal.

The Savings Add Up

Warwickshire County Council has undertaken its own research into the impact in this area; their study suggests that the increased traffic is translated into non-cashable efficiencies. The study identifies that 55% of those using such a portal would have otherwise contacted their local authorities through other communication channels, that is if the website were not available to them. It is estimated that 5 minutes could be saved per site visitor, and that if you take a staff cost of £10 per hour, then the annual saving is around £230,907. This includes 504,000 extra visits than the norm, multiplied by 0.0833 times 10.

Rider-Dobson explains: “This figure does not include additional savings gained by customers downloading their own information, rather than requesting it to be posted to them (e.g. staff time, printing and posting costs). We currently don’t have any accurate information about this, but non-cashable efficiencies in year one of the Dorsetforyou project will be around half a million pounds.”

Taking away the costs, the Dorsetforyou project has made a total annual saving of around £201,000. A number of other related solutions and services, including support, were also purchased; such as search and taxonomy, and website monitoring tools in order to comply with the Government’s e-GIF standards. If each partner had procured everything individually, then this would have cost each local authority four times as much as the total cost of the project put together.

Incidentally the project’s media officer, Sarah Johnstone, says that the portal has achieved high SiteMorse accessibility scores for A and AA compliance, and that the portal is also expecting AA Royal National Institute of Blind (RNIB) accreditation. The RNIB helped Dorsetforyou to tidy up some aspects of the site, and any current or potential improvements are constantly monitored.

Successful Partnership: Its Most Powerful Element

To ensure the success of such a project you need the right partners in place. Each partner must be able to compromise and fully participate in the project for the public’s benefit. This is why the partnership between GOSS – the enterprise and intelligent content management solutions company which provides the CMS upon which the portal is supported – and Software AG has helped to make the project so successful. While learning more about each others products, the two companies have also applied this learning and their increased knowledge of Dorsetforyou to assist with the development of key services.

The potential savings, the evidential site statistics, the development of a simplified and customer-centric process for the delivery of information and area-wide services, and the potential for greater collaborative opportunities between the Councils also show how invaluable a portal like dorsetforyou.com could be to other Councils around the UK. What has also been unusual is that the portal uses a .com domain name rather than the traditional.gov.uk suffix. This is also described as being part of the portal’s success story.

By Graham Jarvis
Editor and Media-Services Consultant

———————————
About GOSS Interactive

GOSS provides managed services and intelligent and enterprise-wide content management solutions. GOSS’ solutions are based on a sound understanding of your requirements and the technology we use to meet your customers’ needs. Learn more about GOSS Brand Values at http://www.gossinteractive.com/index.cfm?articleid=678.

To contact GOSS for further information, please call +44 (0)1752 517 350 or email Sharron.Robbie@gossinteractive.com

Ferry companies have found it hard to compete against low cost airlines and Eurostar, in addition to this the rise in the cost of fuel has proved to be problematic for the industry too. Shopping trips to the continent have also dropped following the demise of duty free shopping. “Between 1998 and 2004 passenger demand on major UK ferry routes fell by 12% to drop from nearly 50 million passengers to below 44 million passengers; IRN Research says in a press release entitled, “UK Ferry Market Trends – Where next?”

P&O as a result of the downturn has had to cut its fleet from 31 to 23 ships and closed four of its thirteen routes. Hot on its heels was Brittany Ferries who, according to BBC News last year, was considering buying two of P&Os ships, with the company also planning to take over and run services to Le Havre and Cherbourg.

Brittany Ferries has also faced its own commercial issues, but it seems that they have not been quite as serious as P&O’s in comparison. This is why Brittany Ferries have been in a stronger position to take over some of its major competitor’s routes, and buy some of its ships. P&O forecasts that the restructuring programme should enable them to achieve profits of £50m by 2006.

In spite of the number of challenges that have faced the industry, it seems to have weathered well and even the impact of the low-cost airlines is expected to wane. Even so, if you  research the news that is available on the web, you might think that the industry is still going through a very stormy and gloomy phase. However, there is sunshine beyond the storm and technology now plays a major role in this return on investment story.

Sunshine Beyond The Storm

So there are some success stories out there, including Brittany Ferries effective use of the Internet for online bookings, which is demonstrated by ComputerWeekly’s article of 15th September 2005, ‘Online holiday booking boom lifts e-business prospects.’ Forrester Research even estimates that half of all travel-related bookings are researched on the web, and that consumers are twice as likely to book online as they were  in 2004.

ComputerWeekly  claims that Brittany Ferries’ results  go to show that e-business did survive the dot-com collapse of five years ago, and that it very much presents a viable business opportunity. Travel agent First Choice says that 85% of its customers completed their bookings online, and Active Hotels saw a 450% growth in online reservations. However, it also warns that consumers can be turned off by poor web design.

Since it launched its website five years ago Brittany Ferries’ online booking system, has created some phenomenal results. Brittany ferries state that it has only really taken off in the last 12-18 months. Its website produces 40% of all direct business and its own online bookings have now grown by almost 100%.

The Growth Factors

The growth in web-based transactions shows that consumers are beginning to trust the Internet as a research, buying and selling tool. Previously customers would conduct their research online and then either make their reservations at a bricks and mortar outlet, or by telephone.

A whole host of travel companies, including those in the ferry industry, are also offering more and more competitive discounts online. Why? There are number of efficiencies that can be attained. Brittany Ferries, for example, states that they spend 50% less on their website than on a traditional offline booking and reservations office. That aside, the company has achieved a turnover of around £25m over the last five years.

In a recent interview Brittany Ferries’ sales and web team (Steve James – Sales Development Manager, Matthew Randle – E-commerce Executive and James Monteith – the firm’s webmaster) discussed why they think their company has been so successful online. They revealed that the results were achieved by:

• The firm’s more aggressive offline marketing drive to push customers towards its website as opposed to contacting its reservations centres;
• Offering an online booking discount, which it intends to increase this year;
• Launching a sleeker website in December 2004, which included improved functionality, usability and increasing the amount of available content (the site is said to have grown overnight from a relatively small one to one of 2,000 pages packed with information about its complete holiday range, information about its routes, information about its fleet and the ports from which it operates);
• Improving its organic listings on search engines (due to the above) and by optimising its keywords to improve its rankings;
• Creating an integrated online and offline marketing plan;
• The involvement of Goss Interactive which hosts its website;
• Goss helping the ferry company with the creation of an XML schema to facilitate the online booking of holidays and to sophisticate its ferry-booking engine.

Brittany Ferries’ team also states: “The combination of offline marketing driving traffic, an online marketing plan, and a new site design has increased site traffic so dramatically that we have had to double our server capacity to cope with the demand.”

“A website is a business’ shop window so it’s essential to have an online presence. Ensuring that our site has excellent content and functionality, reinforces our primary brand values that we push in our general marketing activity, and our website gives us the canvas to develop and flesh-out other areas of our brand.”

They claim that the results are very much in line with the rest of the industry, and there’s an increasing trend to drive customers towards the Internet. The firm is aiming to attain ‘airline-type’ levels of online transactions (ticket sales etc.), which conform to around 90% of all bookings.

ROI Starts With The Right Technology Platform

When Brittany Ferries first thought about using a content management system (CMS), content management was still in its infancy. The company looked at the potential of an Open Source system, but decided that it would not allow for sufficient integration with its online booking engine. They claim that the support that they would need and the technical assistance is not readily available with Open Source alternatives to a proprietary system.

Goss Interactive, on the other hand, has solutions that are more akin with the company’s business requirements and needs. GOSS are considered to be flexible, enabling a high degree of customisation. Brittany ferries also required a CMS that had the capability to manage three website in French, Spanish and German, and grow with its needs. Six years ago, when they were planning to launch and develop a website, Brittany Ferries was not  aware of any other content management companies. A benefit to Brittany ferries was that Goss were  locally based in addition to being the market-leaders at the time.

The Brittany Ferries sales and web team also provided some useful tips for anyone looking to buy and implement a CMS and a content management solutions provider. They believe that the most important question to ask is: ““Do you have an infrastructure to support, develop and maintain ?”

“For example, you’ll need staff or agencies to plan, implement and maintain the sites’ hosting and design, you’ll need webmasters, marketers and support staff with relevant training.  Another crucial issue is whether you have enough content to get the most out of an Enterprise Content Management system. If your website only requires a dozen pages, you might as well build the site by hand.”

You should also ask why you need a CMS (whether an Enterprise Content Management system of an Intelligent Content Management system) in the first place. Success will come from mixing technical and commercial skills and acumen. The key is your ability to be flexible.

They also advise companies:

· To choose a provider that can develop its content management solution in an independently, completely separate from your own needs, so that you can benefit from any improvements;
· To choose a solution that scaleable as it needs to handle the way in which your business grows;
· To choose a solution that is customisable, one which allows you to custom build and tweak the CMS – including the templates;
· To select a provider that can fully support the CMS (provide hosting, server expertise, and bespoke solutions that enhance both the technical and aesthetics of your website);
· To work with a provider that fully understands and appreciates your business needs.

This is where they think GOSS fulfils all of Brittany Ferries requirements: “Goss have an excellent product in ICM 6…and considering the extent to which Goss are involved with out website and booking engines, the turnaround time is excellent: they have the resources, the expertise, and vision to provide solutions to suit our ever changing requirements.”

“The danger with content managed sites is that there is a danger that every page on your site looks the same. Our biggest challenge in terms of developing our requirements from ICM 6 is to provide a custom-made feel to every page/ section of our site.”

Brittany Ferries’ Future Plans

There is a constant evolutionary process in place to maintain the success and quality of the website. The next incarnation is expected to be launched at the end of 2006 or early in 2007.  A FlashMX booking-platform is being developed. Although some commentators still have reservations about Flash, the team claims that it will provide them with a level of functionality that an HTML system simply can’t do. It will though follow the firm’s strict business rules and it will have to cope with content covering the 20 regions of France and Spain and the company’s 12 different product ranges.

Goss  will be working collaboratively with Steve James and his team to ensure that the new version of the website will hopefully demonstrate as much return on investment as the website has done  over the last five years. It is vital that they get it right, that the new version attracts more customers, and encourages them to book their holidays more frequently online. Part of this strategy will not just be the functionality, looks, and feel factors of the site itself, but it will also be reliant on a coherent offline marketing strategy, in which any cost-savings are reflected in the provision of attractive online booking discounts.

By Graham Jarvis MA
Editor and Media Services Consultant

Blog: http://www.media-insert.co.uk
Email: editor@cimtech.org

26th September 2005.

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Editor’s Notes:

About Brittany Ferries

Since its formation, in 1972, largely in order to transport cauliflowers and artichokes from Roscoff to Plymouth, Brittany Ferries has grown into the leading maritime carrier on the Western and Central Channel.

When Great Britain joined the Common Market, the local farming co-operatives joined with the North Finistère Chamber of Commerce to form Brittany Ferries. It was recognised at the time that the UK represented a huge market for both the strong Breton farming community and Brittany as a tourist destination. In other words, Brittany Ferries could ship fresh produce north and bring tourists south.

Thirty years later the French farming co-operatives remain majority shareholders. Indeed, the split between the various categories – pension funds, banks, individuals and so on – has changed remarkably little since day one, as has another feature of Brittany Ferries’ ownership – the French State has no financial stake.

In 1978, less than 10 years after it had started, this fast-developing ferry company took the brave step of starting services to Santander in Northern Spain, at the same time entering the Irish market with the Cork-Roscoff route. Both have grown steadily and continue to do so today.

As Brittany Ferries has matured, so has its significance to tourism in Western France and Northern Spain, with its influence reaching far beyond simply Brittany and Normandy. Not only is it a ferry operator, but it acts as a tour operator as well, supplying a vast range of self-drive holidays throughout France, Spain and, to a lesser extent, Portugal.

Today, Brittany Ferries operates one of the most modern fleets on the Channel, with 8 ships and over 2,500 employees. It accounts for over 50% of the traffic on the Western Channel, carrying in excess of 2.6 million passengers, 780,000 cars and 170,000 lorries a year.
For more information, please visit: http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk or contact Steve James at Steve.James@brittanyferries.com.

About Goss Interactive

At GOSS we drive the concept of ‘Intelligent Business’. From solution development and managed services, to our highly praised training and support methods, GOSS solutions are based on a sound understanding of your requirements and the technology we use to meet your customers’ needs.
In order to achieve your objectives, GOSS is committed to continuous research, development and innovation for many business solution environments. For example we have pioneered successful integration of content management and on-line transaction solutions with existing technology assets where others have failed.

What places GOSS at a clear advantage over our competitors is our training and support, which our clients have identified as a key benefit. Customised to your needs, our training curriculum and support services are flexible to your changing requirements.

Increasingly organisations are faced with new regulations and GOSS ensures compliance is pivotal with standards such as W3C, DDA, FOIA, DPA, Basel II, and Sarbanes Oxley. As these are introduced and changed, we develop solution frameworks to meet them as a matter of standard practice. We also realise that it is necessary for your company and its individuals to be fully conversant with and able to meet the varying standards of compliance, GOSS can ensure our solutions address all of these issues.

In comparison to other companies our core technology operates across all major platforms and provides flexible integration with both existing systems and external organisations without compromising security. This emphasises why GOSS is at the forefront of our industry and why we as a result of our continuing success prove to be the popular choice for content management and on-line transaction solutions.

GOSS realises that with the integration of our solutions clients need the option for a ‘beginning to end’ managed service for their mission critical systems. This is provided in the form of our state of the art Data Centre. The facility operates under a secure environment, with demanding Service Level Agreements providing clients with the assurance that their essential business activities will not be interrupted.

GOSS BRAND VALUES

• Knowledge: Continually developing the skills and expertise of our team, whilst listening to our clients in order to understand their needs and requirements. Combining the power of knowledge and effecting a strong partnership principle.
• Intelligence: Business Intelligence and Logic – Intelligent use of knowledge and commonsense to proactively assess client requirements and jointly develop (with our clients) solutions that are efficient and deliver real returns.
• Precision & Clarity: We take a methodical and logical approach to providing clear and simple solutions for each individual business challenge.
• Innovation: Our solutions are continually evolving through R&D. Adding value, future-proofing and exceeding client expectations.
• Integrity & Sustainability: We develop and maintain relationships with our clients and partners that are open, professional, flexible and supportive.
• Dynamic culture: We are an energetic, competitive and client focused team. We will continue to be exciting and inspiring to work with.

To contact Goss for further information, please call 01752 517 350 or email info@gossinteractive.com. Please also visit Goss Interactive’s website at http://www.gossinteractive.com.

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