Considerations for modernizing goverment websites
It’s no secret that government-run websites have been stretched to their technology limits for many years. These sites are often maintained with limited IT budgets, outdated security protocols, and legacy network systems impacting public user experiences.
These websites often feature layers of non-integrated technology with broken links, poor navigational features, and slow-to-load content. This less-than-positive user experience has created a digital divide between what the government sites deliver and what the public utilizing these sites expects.
So, how can the government bridge this digital divide between public expectation and the reality of legacy systems and limited IT budgets? Could the answer be as simple as finding and utilizing a content management system (CMS) that fits their unique needs?
Defining a measured approach to meet government website requirements
Organizations like yours have distinct and sometimes competing needs that must be addressed thoughtfully. How those needs are approached is often weighed against the reality of government staffers who are caught between maintaining legacy websites and meeting citizen demands, all with limited IT budgets. Your organization needs real digital flexibility.
To put the need for digital resources into perspective, there are more than 2 billion visits to federal-run websites each month, ranging from tracking USPS shipped packages to researching financial aid, according to analytics.usa.gov. These visits represent more than 80 billion hours of interactions with the public, with more than half of them occurring on mobile devices.
These visits aren’t always positive experiences for citizens who are used to handling many of life’s tasks online, from asking their doctor a confidential medical question to submitting an application for a passport renewal. Our world is more digital than ever, yet a recent White House report noted that:
About $140 billion
in potential government benefits goes unclaimed each year due to complicated or outdated processes.
45% of websites
have not been designed to work on mobile devices.
Only 2% of government forms are digitized.
60% of websites
are not fully usable by those who use assistive technologies.
We all have a basic expectation of digital accessibility when it comes to interacting with the government. Yet, what are the true drivers compelling agencies to make a change?
This ebook is designed to help you take the next step.
The task will take a measured approach
Government agencies know their websites serve a single core function: providing the public direct access to the services they offer.
Though it may be a lofty idea, they know everyone expects a smooth and seamless experience, just like commercial sites. Which, unfortunately for many government sites, isn’t the reality.
Now that we fully understand the issues at hand, what does it really mean to modernize a federal website? The 21st Century IDEA Act outlined eight principles for public-facing websites and services. Meanwhile, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) added further guidance with M-23-22, Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience, which summarizes statutory requirements, clarifies policy requirements, and expands best practices for agency websites and digital services.
Much of the challenge agencies face comes from their existing CMS. Many of these systems were adopted years ago and have failed to keep up with technological advancements.
Without this core foundation, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to incorporate the design elements and user capabilities that move public perception and experience. The longer it takes for these systems to catch up with the times, the more technical debt agencies accrue, and the more difficult it can be to catch up with a content and delivery backlog.
Security is paramount
From individual bad actors to rogue nation states, public agencies have a collective target on their backs and can’t afford to let their guard down when it comes to security and mitigating risk.
Foundationally, organizations must choose a CMS tailored to the security needs of the government, particularly high-risk agencies, including compliance with federal and state mandates concerning security and training.
Can a CMS help reduce risk? The answer is yes.
A purpose-built content management system addresses security comprehensively, from network and host-based firewalls to vulnerability management and granular permissions. By meeting standards for reliability and continuity of service, federal agencies are exposed to less risk.
For those agencies and organizations at the federal level, consider selecting a FedRAMP-authorized CMS platform:
- To protect people, data and systems
- For government staffers to easily and safely use
- To improve public perception that strong security and ease of use can go hand-in-hand
WordPress VIP is the only WordPress platform to achieve FedRAMP Authority to Operate (ATO) and other required certifications for government use.
Accessibility is an imperative for all
According to a Deloitte survey, 70% of federal organizations felt they lagged behind private sector websites in terms of digital capabilities.
To meet regulations and accessibility compliance, US Government agencies have historically been limited to inflexible legacy content management solutions, slowing their ability to create and deliver digital experiences with speed and agility across web, mobile, and other channels.
Today, that dynamic has flipped. Many private and public sector organizations view accessibility requirements as best practices and the heart of a user-centric content approach.
What we know
Nearly one-quarter of all visitors to government websites exclusively do so via mobile devices, particularly visitors from lower-income households, making it essential that government websites function as well on mobile devices as they do on a desktop.
At WordPress VIP, we believe the web should be usable by everyone. Our goal is for all of our products, features, and services to adhere to the WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines and, by extension, Section 508 requirements.
Ease of use is key
Government staffers are often left to use outdated or non-intuitive content tools, burdening IT with training and support. Streamline the process by choosing easy-to-use publishing tools that don’t require IT help.
We improved ease of creating content, content repurposing, flexibility, and performance by moving to WordPress VIP.
Aviva Pinchas, Head of Growth, Parabol
Because we need almost no back-end development resources in-house, today we have a smaller development team. We can focus on what matters, which is producing content and generating value.
Ricardo Schulz, CIO, Grupo Abril
Using WordPress VIP means that my team can focus on being creative and innovative, rather than spending time worrying about architecture.
Ryan Pugatch, Hachette Book Group
We’ve joked that nobody loves their CMS, but right now, we love our CMS.
Lora Dennis, NBCUniversal
We’ve probably employed 300 people in the last three years and a large percentage of those have actually used WordPress before. It’s an easier system to use.
Joel Davies, Head of Operations, News UK
Ease of use translates into real business value when it leads to decreased training time and faster, higher-quality content.
WordPress VIP democratizes publishing by making it easy for non-technical marketers to create and launch new content without asking for technical assistance.
Build an intuitive experience
Today, many government organizations see an opportunity to redefine their reputation with a digital-first customer experience strategy.
Trends
• Intuitive URLs: These specialized addresses contain contextual clues that help a user navigate a website more easily
• Personal experiences:This strategy features unique content, offers, and messaging that is relevant to each user’s individual needs and interests
• Data visualization: A graphic representation of targeted data using charts, graphs, and maps—all to better understand trends and patterns
• Microinteractions:These small elements respond to visitors’ actions with animations or visual or audio cues, such as playing a celebratory horn sound when a form is submitted
• Purposeful minimalism:Strategically stripping a website of excess features to deliver a clear and concise message to users
• Voice search optimization:Augmenting a website to appear at the top of results when users are using voice assistants, or conducting a verbal search
• Dark mode:Using a purposeful color treatment of dark gray or black background with white text/ icons that helps reduce eye strain for users
• Responsive/mobile-centric design: A design strategy that offers flexible grids and layouts to respond to each user’s screen size, platform, and orientation
Digital experiences are ultimately fueled by emotion. How do you want your visitors to feel?
A good CMS can make a difference in your ability to communicate with citizens and for them to find the information they need in a timely manner. Now that sounds like a great experience!
Unmatched service and support
In the public sector, IT teams often need access to specialized technical expertise to help them run their CMS securely and at scale. Technical expertise reduces risk. However, many WordPress hosters on government procurement lists tend to have weak service and support, with limited or no connection to core WordPress development.
By contrast, WordPress VIP are experts at running a CMS at scale and for high-risk industries—no company on the planet has more experience or experts running WordPress at scale for the government. Working with our expert team means less time worrying about custom code, managing server infrastructure, and choosing plugins and integrations.
Our support experts have seen and handled it all. WordPress VIP offers:
- 24/7 support and ticket system to reach our global support engineering team
- Cloud platform support
- VIP platform performance debugging
- DDoS investigation (continuous monitoring of web traffic for suspicious activity to prevent distributed denial-of-service attacks)
- WordPress upgrades
- Gutenberg Block Editor
- User management
Tools for Dev-Ops efficiency
Hiring developer talent is a challenge in every industry, but there’s an opportunity to reduce development costs and roadblocks by adopting a CMS with a massive talent pool. Scores of WordPress developers and hundreds of local WordPress groups provide access to a vast, experienced, and affordable talent pool.
WordPress VIP can also make your development team more productive, with a slate of features that enhance the developer experience and help them deliver better code faster.
Proven in practice
Choose an enterprise platform used by powerful media sites and large government agencies.
Open source CMSes are rapidly growing in adoption within the federal government, which is looking for more flexibility, ease of adaptability, feature management, and increased creative control—in short, better building blocks for a customer-responsive website.
- Nasa
- Department of State
- Department of Veterans Administration
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York
- Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
- The White House
CMS drives proven ROI results
Intuitive content creation tools enable everyone to create web content faster, with lower effort, and with little to no IT support needed—helping drive down operational costs.
According to a Forrester Research Total Economic Impact Study, organizations that adopt WordPress VIP see:
- 415% total return on investment over three years based on lower maintenance costs and other factors
- 45% percent less expensive development
- 35% lower total maintenance costs
- $3.48 million in total impact over three years for any given enterprise
Be the next VIP
Could a measured CMS approach improve your digital experience?
Answering six questions can tell you if it’s time for a new CMS.
- Are there unnecessary steps in your content creation process?
- Is it easy for creators to bring life to your vision, or do you wait days for simple website updates?
- How much time are your developers spending on basic maintenance?
- How strong is your site performance?
- How easy is it to publish your content across multiple platforms?
- Are you paying for anything in your enterprise content platform you don’t need?
To learn more, sign up for a demo.
About WordPress VIP
The best companies run the web with WordPress VIP.
WordPress VIP combines the ease and flexibility of WordPress—the CMS that runs 43 percent of the web—with unmatched scalability and security for the enterprise. WordPress VIP is the only WordPress platform with FedRAMP ATO. Government agencies can take advantage of the flexibility, power, and ease of use of WordPress. Our solution is certified for use in the federal government and proven to meet the security needs of governments of every level.
With WordPress VIP, brands can scale their web presence, enable their teams to produce more web content and use data to continuously improve content performance, eliminating wasted effort while maximizing ROI.
