Improving experiences through innovative digital products

The National Trust is a UK conservation charity which protects historic places and green spaces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. They needed help improving digital experiences for their existing supporters, engaging new supporters with the cause, and showcasing their amazing conservation work, all while making life easier for a large, distributed team of editors.

What we did

Having provided technical consultancy and support services to the National Trust for over 4 years, we were asked to take over ongoing development and support of their new website, building a solid foundation from which the Trust could execute their digital strategy.

Following the successful launch of the new site, our role developed and expanded into providing innovation, strategic and creative services. Operating as an extension of the National Trust digital team, we’ve collaborated closely on a number of successful projects.

Ongoing, trusted technology partners

After a period of intense onboarding we helped the National Trust launch their new website on the WebCenter Sites 11g content management platform. We provided specialist skills and knowledge to ensure that the new platform would provide the basis for continuously improving digital experiences – both for users who need up-to-date, personalised content and for a team of hundreds of editors distributed throughout the UK.

Building immersive content experiences

The National Trust’s walking maps provide users with guided walks through some of the UK’s most scenic landscapes. We helped the Trust devise and deliver this content digitally, with detailed interactive maps, instructions and supplemental information on difficulty, animal/child friendliness and duration, in a way that was optimised for users who are out and about.

Delivering content for Welsh speakers

We helped the Trust harness the multilingual capabilities of their technology platform to deliver Welsh-language content related to attractions in Wales, and helped ensure that the process of publishing content in Welsh was straightforward for editors.

Developing proof-of-concept

One of the challenges facing the Trust in an era of multi-channel digital communications is providing seamless experiences for editorial users across the many different digital tools they work with. We created a proof-of-concept with the Trust to demonstrate that Oracle WebCenter Sites could be integrated with Adobe Campaign. The successful integration, something which has never been achieved before, is due to move into production imminently.

Hack Day

To attract new supporters and increase donations at properties, The National Trust wants to bring its cause and the amazing conservation work they do to the fore. To this end they need to explore how they can deepen people’s connection with the special places they preserve.

We helped the Trust harness the breadth and depth of experience from across their teams and partners by designing and facilitating a hack day with over 40 participants to generate and prototype ideas.

How it went

Our relationship with the Trust is constantly evolving. Having started as a pure technology partnership in which we provided expert content management consultancy, development and support services, we’d now consider ourselves a true digital partner, collaborating with the Trust on UX, content and creative, as well as bespoke build and innovation services.

A platform from which to build

Oracle WebCenter Sites has proven to be a versatile and scaleable platform on which the Trust can build better digital experiences for their huge user base. As Certified Implementation Specialists, we are the Trust’s ongoing WebCenter Sites partners and continue to provide expert consultancy and support.

Confidently navigating a changing digital landscape

We’re helping the Trust tap into the passion they share with their target audience for the great outdoors, and expand their digital offering through the innovation of new immersive, engaging digital experiences, including a potentially disruptive new commercial product due for release in 2017.

How this helps us on your project

We have the ability to evolve with and react to the changing needs of our clients and their users. As true digital partners we’re able to respond to expanding requirements for strategic, technological, creative, innovation and content services in an Agile way, helping organisations deliver digital excellence and positive change in a scale-able, sustainable way.