Top 5 tips from #UKComm16

On Thursday, 29 September 2016, GovDelivery held its annual Public Sector Communications conference – #UKComm16.

The day was packed with great talks. You can view all the presentation slides, listen to the recordings and read about the speakers on the event page here.

In this post, I’ll share with you the top 5 thoughts I took away from the day.

1. You can’t have more than three priorities

People often talk about having so many priorities, they struggle to cope. Carrie Bishop shared if you have more than three, they are simply not priorities but a wish list.

2. We can spend time creating the wrong things

Every speaker stressed the importance of understanding user needs and only making changes to improve the customer experience. What was interesting was the awareness that often we try to fix the wrong problem rather than realising some things should not be fixed. This can result in getting the wrong things really efficient, rather than making a solution the user needs.

3. There is a lot more to the digital skills gap than infrastructure and learning

Rachel Neaman shared research done by Doteveryone that demonstrated areas with great connectivity and infrastructure can still have problems with digital. The digital exclusion challenge is not one isolated issue but a complex problem including many factors including a lack of skills, costs associated with getting online, broadband issues, and a lack of time or motivation. This mix results in 23% of adults in the UK not having access to the internet.

Surprised by these stats? #UKcomm16 pic.twitter.com/uw1eOdUO4E

— David Worsell (@dworsell) September 29, 2016

4. Stop looking at services in sections, there is only one customer journey

We often look at service redesign in sections reflecting parts of a process or internal team structures but the user journey often relies upon many services areas including customer services, communications, digital, IT and publishing. To improve the user journey and overall customer experience, the whole process needs to be looked at through the customer’s perspective and take into consideration every part of the journey.

5. There isn’t one approach that works

After eight talks and networking with various organisations, it was clear there is not a magic formula or guide for implementing changes to digital delivery.

Steps to start #digitaltransformation via @carriebish from @FutureGov #UKcomm16 pic.twitter.com/ERaoxFLQRG

— Joanna Goodwin (@JoannaGoodwin3) September 29, 2016

For more info about the 7th Annual GovDelivery Public Sector Communications Conference visit the web page.

Joanna Goodwin is Social Media Lead for the Office for National Statistics.