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| CASE STUDIES | December 2009 - January 2010 |
Flexible and agile web presence at the heart of The National Trust’s e-Engagement programme
THE NATIONAL TRUST is Europe’s biggest conservation organisation. People and places are at the heart of everything it does. The Trust looks after 300 historic houses and gardens, over 700 miles of coastline and 250,000 hectares of open countryside.
Challenges faced
The National Trust struggled with an image of being traditional and backward looking—and the web presence was only confirming that. A small web team struggled increasingly to meet the demands of the organisation. Technology-wise, the Trust was heavily dependent on external suppliers, and siloed developments by different departments led to a lack of integration and costly technical instability.
Project objectives
To tackle these challenges an e-Engagement approach was developed and the Trust chose VYRE to supply content management software and services.
The e-Engagement programme is about delivering a digital presence for the Trust to meet the current and predicted future digital engagement needs. This requires different content, a high level of interactivity, user involvement and a new approach to delivery of The National Trust’s websites. VYRE Unify also repurposes content for different channels such as other platforms including mobile phones, PDAs, print as well as multiple websites and micro sites.
The key project objectives were to provide a robust and long-term solution to:
- Enable The National Trust properties, regions, the Centre and its supporters to create, manage and publish content to the web and other digital channels.
- Provide a single, consistent and integrated interface to enable The National Trust and external users to manage their content.
- Empower the Digital Media Team to deliver new and exciting functionality quickly and effectively.
- Provide the opportunity to streamline and automate print production processes for various key National Trust publications.
VYRE solution
The National Trust tender process was led by the Digital Media Team and involved stakeholders from IT, commercial teams, the wider business—as well as external consultation from independent advisors. Proof of competence was assessed by a variety of means, including the live demonstration of use case scenarios.
VYRE was chosen as the final vendor due to its ability to fulfil the mandatory requirements set out by the Trust such as Web 2.0, digital asset management and print management in a single solution.
The Trust has already succeeded in building a digital media team of twenty people, implementing numerous tactical microsites to test ideas and technologies, and improving technology services through its new content management solution. Work continues on a website relaunch, managing content, personalisation and customisation.
In more detail the programme will provide:
- Engagement—engage with supporters in multiple ways, positioning the Trust as forward-looking, open and accountable.
- Technical—provide the foundation to join up disparate websites, extranets, intranet with integrated supporter data and seamless online experience.
- Staff capability and capacity—create a team with the right tools and skills to deliver the e-Engagement strategy.
- Financial—underpin existing online income, support online retention and self service functionality.
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| www.nationaltrust.org.uk | www.vyre.com |
