Hackney Council prepares to take more services online

Local authority uses OpenText s content management technology for future Web 2.0 capability

London - 2011-02-07 - Hackney Council is planning for a future where more basic services are delivered over the web, by investing in new technology that makes it easy for staff to create, access, manage and distribute content on websites, extranets and Intranets.

The Council has moved its main website hackney.gov.uk, as well as its subsidiary housing site hackneyhomes.org.uk, to OpenText s Web Content Management (formerly RedDot CMS) platform as part of a new initiative to raise the websites profiles and support better engagement with residents through Web 2.0 applications.

OpenText partners Clarity successfully managed the migration of web content, including the 5,000 pages of the main council site, to the new content management platform, and ensured that all previously-used functionalities were recreated in the new environment.

Clarity also provided design, configuration, test, installation, training and transition support services that enable Hackney to manage the new technology and to publish new websites with minimal disruption on the business.

Hackney Council s Web Content Manager, Michael Kirkland, said: The way that people engage with organisations is changing, and they increasingly expect to access information and services online. Our legacy web content management system simply couldn t support the functionalities we will need to move with the times and publish new information quickly online.

Moving to OpenText s web content management platform gives us the capability to support a wide variety of Web 2.0 functions, such as wikis, blogs and other user-generated content. We will be able to publish up-to-the-minute news and information consistently across our websites.

As well as providing the content management technology, Clarity is giving staff training so that the Council can manage the future migration of functionalities in-house.

Simon Lill, head of public sector projects at OpenText, said: Councils across the country are facing the biggest budget cuts of recent times, but not every efficiency saving has to mean reduced services. A significant proportion of councils costs are incurred through dealing with residents enquiries and keeping people informed of changes to local services.

With local authority budgets being slashed, councils are looking at how they can make budget savings without harming public services. Hackney Council understand how the web can be used effectively to provide services and also to engage better with residents, while also meeting their obligation to cut costs and maximise staff efficiency.

About OpenText

OpenText, a global ECM leader, helps organizations manage and gain the true value of their business content. OpenText brings two decades of expertise supporting 100 million users in 114 countries. Working with our customers and partners, we bring together leading Content Experts to help organizations capture and preserve corporate memory, increase brand equity, automate processes, mitigate risk, manage compliance and improve competitiveness. For more information, visit www.opentext.com/uk.

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opentext@spreckley.co.uk