Municipality of Beverwijk: valuable insight and grip on online landscape
Gemeente Beverwijk chose to work with Shift2 to map out their sub(websites). The municipality already felt the need to redesign their online landscape. Shift2's subsite service therefore came at just the right time.
Ed Pronk, advisor Public Services, KCC and Digiteam, is concerned, among other things, with digitizing the services of the municipality of Beverwijk. "We want to prevent the proliferation of (sub)websites. From the communication department we do not have a complete overview of all websites, which poses several challenges. Think of management, structured information, accessibility and AI. But also visually. We are currently working on a new corporate identity that we want to implement on all (sub)websites. We can only implement this if we have more control over the management ourselves.".
A surprising number of (sub)websites
Matthijs Mandjes, webmaster at Beverwijk Municipality, was involved in most of the content for this project. "From Shift2 we received a document with important meta data that we could measure our various websites against. This was a great impetus to categorize our websites." Matthijs quickly noticed that mapping the sub(websites) was quite a challenge. "When mapping our websites, we found that there were many more websites up and running than we had expected. They were websites with the Beverwijk name and our logo, but we weren't sure if they belonged to us or an outside organization."
Of the 15 websites that featured the Beverwijk name, 10 were ultimately owned by the municipality. Ed: "For these websites we took a critical look at the right to exist and looked directly at where it should be subdivided. For example, we chose to bring the websites around sustainability and for the cemetery completely under Shift2 soon."
Accessibility under the microscope
With the list provided, Shift2 could get to work on the research. Based on a number of important criteria we tested the websites of the municipality of Beverwijk. The report showed that a number of sub (websites) did not score well on accessibility. Matthijs: "Although it was not pleasant to hear that accessibility was lacking, this insight did give us the necessary information to take action." Ed: "We can now emphasize to colleagues that not all of our websites meet the web guidelines we are required by the municipality to meet. This is extremely valuable. From here we can start taking steps to improve this."
"Mapping your online landscape with Shift2 saves time for municipalities looking to map their websites."
A time saver for municipalities
The Municipality of Beverwijk had the desire to thoroughly map its (sub)websites, but was struggling with a lack of time and capacity to realize this itself. Thanks to the collaboration with Shift2, this project got off the ground after all. Ed explains, "Thanks to Shift2's expert support and their structured approach, we now have a clear overview of our online landscape. This clarity allows us to tackle our website management more effectively and provides insights into potential areas for improvement. Shift2's subsite service is a real time saver for municipalities who, like us, want to organize their digital landscape but lack the necessary internal resources."
Getting started with your online landscape?
At Shift2, we understand the complexities of managing websites within local governments. We'd love to help you map and optimize your online landscape. Here's how we do that:
- We first make sure we have a map of your organization's current online landscape. We analyze existing websites and identify opportunities for improvement;
- We provide overview of your online landscape and insight into key KPIs within performance;
- By using our consultants, we provide extra hands. We relieve you in the process and this saves time;
- Based on the analysis, we highlight specific areas for quality improvement. Think web management, laws and regulations, accessibility, etc. We provide practical solutions to take your online landscape to the next level.