Digital UK has harnessed the flexibility of MySource Matrix CMS to communicate a large amount of complex information, effectively and consistently.
Download the Digital UK Case Study (pdf)
The Organisation
Independent and Impartial
Digital UK is the independent, not-for-profit organisation leading the switchover to digital television in the UK. Its objective is to provide impartial information to the public and organisations to help them prepare for the switchover.
The company was set up by public broadcasters at the request of the UK Government, and works closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, as well as regulator Ofcom. Digital UK is owned by the UK's public service broadcasters, which include BBC, ITV, Channel 4, five, S4C and Teletext, as well as multiplex operators SDN and Arqiva.
The Challenge
Promotion of Complex Information
The digital switchover is the biggest challenge in UK broadcasting history since the introduction of colour television. It is a complex project, which continuously presents new challenges.
Emma Piper, Senior Web Executive at Digital UK, explained that the organisation's ambition is to deliver a website that helps guide the UK consumer: "Switchover will complete in 2012. In the beginning, the priority was to let people know that switchover was coming. The emphasis has now shifted to practical help. Our objective is to increase understanding and guide consumers through the physical process of converting their household TV sets to digital. Our ambition is to ensure no one is left behind."
She continued: "For some consumers, switchover is a daunting process and for some, the process of switching to digital can be complicated. The Digital UK website sets out to provide consumers with the information and tools they need to switch to digital."
With these challenges in mind, Digital UK sought a CMS that was flexible enough to support the promotion of complex technical information as well as enabling easy amends to content.
The Solution
Consistency Across Multiple Sites
Digital UK selected Squiz via Grand Union, its web agency. Squiz has implemented multiple microsites on one installation of its CMS MySource Matrix, as well as delivering other hard-hitting functionality.
In addition to the Digital UK consumer site there are four separate microsites that target specific stakeholders or industry sectors: The local government site caters for local councils and authorities, to help them guide their residents through the switchover; property managers and housing authorities to help guide landlords, residents associations and tenants; and a retailer site to support retailers to deliver switchover information in-store. Finally, the transmitter network site has been designed specifically for engineers and aerial installers.
On these microsites, Emma explained that: "The retailers microsite was one of our most complex builds which involved bringing different systems together onto MySource Matrix. We are currently working on the older microsites, such as the transmitter network site and local government site, to bring them in line with the current look and feel of the consumer website which was relaunched in November 2008. This is easy to do with MySource Matrix because of its modular capabilities. The idea is to have a consistency of brand across the main and microsites whilst still giving each a degree of individuality.
Emma continued: "The transmitter site has been a challenge because it relies on delivering complex, technical information from across 68 transmitter group projects. Getting it to work smoothly was difficult but now we feel like we've got a good solution."
As part of this, Squiz developed custom functionality to enable Digital UK to upload Planned Engineering Works schedules directly into the system. These are automatically converted into user friendly pages for the public saving the team lots of time and effort.
More recently, Digital UK has improved site search by integrating the Funnelback Internet search tool, provided and implemented by Squiz, with the third-party knowledge database used by the Digital UK contact centre agents. This means that all the organisation's FAQs, help content, maps, leaflets and other publications are accessible through the website, making 'help' given by the website and the call centre consistent.
On this, Emma commented: "We didn't have a combined site search so consumers didn't know how to access this information. It was apparent that we needed a solution that could combine it all – we launched Funnelback following a seminar at Squiz and it is much better than our previous search engine."
Funnelback has meant that what would have been an expensive and lengthy integration project has been implemented more easily. Funnelback is a transparent layer over the top of the database, rather than being intertwined, so it can search the complete set of data. Squiz set up the solution in around a month and at a fraction of the cost, with the added benefit of keeping the two systems separate for easier future maintenance.
The Result
Flexibility and Control
Emma has stated that: "The digital switchover programme is so unique, with new challenges arising on a regular basis. We need to be able to react quickly in order to keep up with consumer demand. To offer that level of control, our system had to be very flexible. MySource Matrix is perfect for that.
"MySource Matrix offers a high level of flexibility and control compared to the system we used previously. It has also reduced our reliance on our web agency, which means we can do more things, faster. Although it's a double-edged sword because it's increasing our appetite for what we want to do and deliver for the consumer. An example of this, is we now want to deliver a 'manual re-tune tool'".
The new re-tune tool will be a tailor-made functionality that Squiz will develop for Digital UK. As the project continues, the organisation can call on Squiz as and when they need support or further development.
Emma concluded: "The relationship we have with Squiz is very collaborative. I think we've both learnt more about the abilities and value of Matrix as we've progressed, so it's been quite exciting from both sides. Our customers are telling us they're happy with the work we're doing. They're finding the system much more intuitive than before, and the look and feel more engaging. We're very pleased with the outcome so far."
