With Council budgets and resources being stretched thinner than ever before, Council leaders must learn how the internet can help them deliver better, more efficient service to their communities. Drawing on learnings from the most innovative and successful digital Cities in Australia, UK and US - Alex Gelbak (Director Innovation @ Seamless) will share the 5 keys to delivering a brilliant online service experience for your community.

1. 5 trends shaping
council websites in
2016

2. We’ve spent ten years helping Australian
cities deliver better digital services to their
communities

3. Need to find
image that
represents

4. 5

5. The days of desktop are numbered

6. Source: ACMA, June 2015
92%
of Australians
have access to
the internet

7. Source: ACMA, June 2015
70%
access the
Internet on a
mobile device

8. Source: ACMA, June 2015
20%
Access the internet
ONLY via their mobile
device

9. The elderly Disadvantaged

10. • Tablets lower the
hurdles of traditional
computing
• Tablets lower amount of
other features needed
• Easy of use of tablets
gives older users
confidence to do more
with their device

11. • Youth and financially
disadvantaged people
have limited budgets,
and many are therefore
choosing to bypass
PC’s in favour of mobile
phones, which become
their primary access
point to the internet

12. Visitors Mobile vs. PC
Source: City of Ryde, 2012 - 2015
Mobile
Desktop
80%
60%
40%
20%
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

13. • City of Tea Tree Gully
receives 70% visitors
from mobile & tablet
devices

14. • New website built
mobile first, focused
on large, thumb
friendly tiles

15. • Mobile visitors want to
complete their tasks
quickly, so a large
predictive search
makes it easy for them

16. • Pages are light-weight
for connection black-
spots and have high
contrast to
accommodate to
outdoor environment
elements

17. • Forms are location
aware to minimise
typing and increase
accuracy of data
collection. They can
also tap into the
mobile camera for
instant reporting.

18. • Content itself can also
be location aware, to
show people their
nearest parks, events,
road works, etc.

19. Build for mobile first

20. 4

21. Complexity is bad for
business

24. • Yarra Ranges Shire
put users at the centre
of its website, focusing
on top tasks
• Following launch most
visitors are now finding
content without using
the main menu

25. • Devonport followed
suite using
OpenCities, and has
seen an improvement
in residents being able
to self-service online

26. • City of Ryde takes
simplicity one step
further by hiding away
the nav menu in favour
of search and top
tasks

27. • Simply using the right
language can mean
the different between a
visitor completing their
task successfully
online or calling into
council

28. • When you can’t avoid
acronyms, do use a
glossary to help
residents understand

29. • Split long, complicated
topics into smaller,
more digestible
chunks of information

30. • By answering 2 – 3
simple questions, Tea
Tree Gully helps
residents access the
correct form

31. • Great Lakes has an
ageing population, so
on top of making its
site easy to use, text-
to-speech technology
can read out the
content on pages and
forms to visitors.

33. Source: U.S. Veterans Benefits Administration
Cost savings achieved thanks to reduced follow-up
of customers after simplification of language
$44,000,000

35. Australians are blind or vision impaired. A further
3.5 million Australia’s have a physical disability.
350,000
Source: Vision Australia

36. Design for users needs

37. 3

38. Residents WANT to self-
service

39. Internet usage by over 65’s
50%
68%
2012 NOW
Source: AMCA, July 2015

40. Internet usage by over 65’s
Source: AMCA, July 2015
PAYING BILLS, BANKING (55%)
TRANSACTING WITH GOVERNMENT (50%)
SOCIAL MEDIA (20%)

41. Sutherland Shire Case
study

42. • New website launched
in 2015, focused on
helping residents
complete tasks online

43. • 64 online forms were
created (including
council clean up
requests, leisure
centre memberships,
child care applications,
bin request forms and
event RSVPs)

44. Today eForms generate…
• 48% - Potholes & Roads
requests
• 38% - Blocked Drain
requests
• 36% - Graffiti requests
• 26% - Rubbish requests

45. Online requests submitted, going directly to
relevant officer/department for actioning
552,884+

46. eCertificates (Zoning, Rates, Outstanding
Notices) are issued through council’s website
10,000+

47. Build online services, not just
websites

48. 2

49. Residents feel
disempowered

50. Source: Western Australian Electoral Commission, 2015
Non-compulsory voting
• Voter turn-out is declining.
• Only 27.5% in recent WA elections.
• WA Electoral Commission called for
“online voting” to boost engagement.

51. Source: Local Government Satisfaction Survey, 2015
Compulsory voting
• “Community consultation and
engagement” satisfaction fell for first
time since 2012.
• Improvement: Road maintenance,
consultation and making decisions in
the community’s best interests.

52. Use of social media in Australia
Australians that use some form of social media at least once a day
18 - 29 79%
30 - 39 64%
40 - 49 49%
50 - 64 37%
65+ 17%
Source: Sensis Social Media Report 2015

53. Australians visit Facebook
every month
14m

54. • The availability of social media
means there’s a power flip
• Anyone has a voice that can
reverberate as far as a
community will carry it, with
spending a cent
• More than every before,
Councils need to engage early
and frequently with their
community

55. Case Study: City of Ryde

56. • By leveraging the
online channel, Ryde
was able to reach a
whole new segment of
the community and
engage in a more
meaningful way

57. • Rather than simply
consulting its
community around key
project, Ryde gives
residents full visibility
of all council projects,
from inception to
delivery

58. • A map-view helps
residents understand
what’s happening in
their area and
increases engagement
with locals

59. • From early stages
through to complete
projects, residents
have full visibility of
what their rates
contributes to

60. • By allowing residents
to submit private
feedback or publicly
comment on selected
projects, Ryde was
able to generate
healthy conversation
from a broad range of
stakeholders

61. • By sharing project
successes with its
community, Ryde
helps residents
genuinely feel involved
in their community

62. Create two-way
engagement

63. 1

64. How we do business has
changed

65. Use of government services & info online
Have you accessed central government information or transactional
services online within the past year?
46% Online and have used a government transaction online
8% Online and have accessed government information online
28% Online and have not used government information or transactions online
6% Offline and willing to get online
12% Offline and unwilling to get online
Source: Digital Landscape Research, Gov.UK 2012

66. of people are already using or willing
to use government services online
88%

67. Benefits for Users
What are your reasons for using government services online?
Source: Digital Landscape Research, Gov.UK 2012
Saves time
Clear and easy to use
I could do it outside office
hours
Less hassle than the phone
85%
62%
61%
55%

68. WALK-IN
TELEPHONE
ONLINE
Benefits for Government
Based on total channel cost of delivering exemplar services in UK
Councils
£0.15 £2.83 £8.62
Source: Potential for Channel Shift in Local Gov, SOCITM 2012

69. Case Study: Gov.UK

70. • Since 2012,
information and
services from more
than 300 separate
departments have
been moved to
Gov.UK

71. • So far, Gov.UK has
digitised 808 popular
and widely accessed
services!

72. • Gov.UK has made
data about the uptake
of its services publicly
available.

73. • Gov.UK is continually
evaluating and
building additional
services. Australian
Federal Government
has launched a Digital
Transformation Office
in the hopes of
mirroring Gov.UK’s
success

74. Most people over 65 prefer digital services, and those that
don’t have told us that they feel they are too hard to find, non
user-friendly and too complicated.
Source: Australian Digital Transformation Office, July 2015

75. What about Local Gov?
Municipal websites are the digital front door to a city -
a place for sharing information, conducting business,
and collecting feedback about what residents want
and need.

76. Council’s front-door
today

77. Summary
1. Start with mobile
2. Design for your users
3. Build online services
4. Engage your community
5. Create channel-shift

78. Resources & next steps:
• Happy to send you copy of slides
• Talk through any examples you saw today
• See how OpenCities can help your Council