As an organisation we do not usually talk about projects that we are working on behind the scenes. However, following on from a meeting that I had with a handful of members last week, I appreciate that these projects may be of interest to people outside the organisation as well.
In the coming weeks we are starting the process of redeveloping our main website, iod.com as we recognise that the development of the site is fundamental to our future online communications. Our primary aim for the project is to provide greater benefits to our members so that they can easily access all of the information, services and products that make up their membership. In addition to this we aim to send a stronger message about the quality and stature behind the IoD brand.
We recognise that our website is behind the pace as it stands at the moment, and are hopeful that this will enable us to catch up but it will take time, probably about a year to complete.
Will the new web site have an online booking facility for events? (the current one does not work)
I do hope you decide to use http://drupal.org. It’s Free/Libre Open Source Software you can build a community site with and keep growing.
The Economist, Examiner.com and The White House all use and contribute back to Drupal, would be great to see the IoD there too!
Well done! I was just recently talking to other IoD members on our meeting how much the site needs update. I’m glad to hear it’s going to happen. If we could be of any help just let me know :)
Excellent news Miles.
Thank you for sharing news of this initiative with us.
You will, no doubt be canvassing the views of the member users and advocates of the website.
May I be pre-emptive on 2 topics though.
1) This is an excellent opportunity for the IoD to embrace best practice in terms of #Engagement #Community and #Conversations. Especially if we want to attract more young talent into the membership.
The concept of ‘Tribes’ has moved well beyond wacky paperback material into mainstream engagement criteria. We need to engage members in a variety of interest areas within the IoD.com site. Check out sites like http://www.cipd.co.uk/ for an example.
2) The site must have a better cart system for A)Making multiple bookings for events and B) Updating bookings.
This is a good news story. Let’s get the members engaged positively!
As a long standing and computer literate member of the IOD I would once again strongly suggest that the IOD – or those who are working on the “new” web site – consider building in the facility to allocate e-mail addresses to members based upon the iod.com addresss. I have suggested this at least twice before but was met with a total lack of interest.
There are serious benefits for the IOD – members would be less likely to leave if they knew that so doing would also deny them such a prestigeous mail address.
I already have such an address myself based upon my membership of another institute so I am well aware of the benefits to all.
The cost of implementing such a service would aslo be limited and it is my opinion that the benefits would far outweigh any cost.
I am happy to advise further if such is of interest.
At last we may get a site that enables easy event booking on line. I can’t count the number of times I have tried to book multiple events only to give up part way through the process.
That is excellent news and its about time the IoD had a digital facelift.
Have you selected an agency to work with yet or is there a tender process underway?
We would love to work with you and possibly implement an Open Source CMS such as SilverStripe.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss anything further.
Best of luck.
Members will want to engage with others of like mind/location/interest/sector… This means ensuring that they/we can identify and be in touch with those who interest them; and thus a review of member profiles seems essential.This will ultimately also help IOD to tailor messages for interest groups.
I agree with the views expressed about being able to book multiple events at the same time. The exisitng arrangement is dire. Worse, it used to be possible to book multiple events, so somebody made it worse!!
Does it go without saying that it will an exemplar of accessibility? That will need building into any contract.
Great to see that there will be a new site. Is there an intention to portray the IoD as innovative – inherently it is – within it’s membership are some of the leading thinkers in the country but the institue itself does not come across as a cauldron of invention. I look forward to seeing how this evolves.
I just hope you are not using Grand Union, the people who have just produced a new website for Waitrose. It is a total disaster. The volume of complaints and criticism from online customers is enormous.They appear to have made no attempt to test the site on real customers. I’m sure the IOD will not make this fundamental mistake.
Miles, as others have said, thanks for setting this in train. There are many simple functional and aesthetic improvements that no doubt the team already have in hand. I hope they will include doing something to improve members’ “personalised IoD Home Page”, which at present does not live up to its billing. And given its energy, where is the link to the IoD LinkedIn forum?
More significantly, and re other discussions, the website is (or should be, for many) the main channel for the relationship between a member and the IoD. It should enable that relationship to be two-way, participative and added-value – the question is, what relationship with its members does the IoD want, and vice versa. Through its website the IoD could/should be showing UK plc an example of innovation and best practice in CRM, leading as it should in all areas of its business.
Regards
This is great news and will be a great improvement on the current website. I hope very much that the new site will provide the ability for the regions to create “micro-sites” related to projects they are working. For example, as ELO for Surrey I would like to create a site where our members could go to find out about various educational related initiatives so that they might become more actively engaged.
This is great news! More needs to be made of the regional offices for me. Online booking is also an absolute must and within the pages it would be great to have a “print page” option so that only the content of the page is printed… just a few of many recommendations that we would make if briefed with this amazing opportunity! I note one comment left regards Drupal – an excellent opensource software but we find the user interfaces on the backend content management system are not very intuitive or friendly. We at Elan use Joomla! again opensource and with large active development community but a much friendlier build and user experience all round. Search engine friendly build is also crucial. Good luck with the site and happy to make further recommendations of course, please contact me.
Miles, Thanks for sharing this with the members and my apologies at being so slow to respond.
In the comments above there are a number of useful suggestions/advice and it would good to have feedback on whether these ideas will be taken up and if not, why not. The membership contains a wealth of talent and expertise and I am sure most members would be willing to share their knowledge if they were asked to do so.
Many thanks to all of you who have posted thoughts and suggestions for the new iod.com.
Since we announced our redevelopment plans, we have received many questions regarding site deliverables. We recognise that it is of interest to many of you and appreciate the importance of working openly. It is difficult to answer many of the questions at this stage in the project though, as we are still in the initial discovery phase and have not committed to site functionality as yet. We will keep you informed and intend to share news when we can.
A common question that has been asked is whether we plan to enhance our current event booking system. We are aware that there is a lot of room for improvement in this area and have agreed to prioritise this functionality within the project and launch it ahead of the rest of the new site. Work is already underway and we will update you when we are nearer completion.
It is too early to confirm what technical solution will be chosen, as the decision will be based on requirements drawn from the discovery phase. All new functionality will be agreed following this period of research, which involves speaking with IoD employees, members and users of iod.com. These discussions form the navigational structure of the site, which, in turn, defines the functional and technical solution. The discovery phase should be completed by mid June, when we can give you a full update on expectations of the new site.