News
The SDS blog
We provide support and guidance, external challenge, sharing good practice, industry knowledge and practical insights as well as being a valuable resource for councils on the next stage of their digital journey.
Testing forms for usability and accessibility
Both Waverley Borough Council and Tandridge District Council required some user testing on their waste forms. Whilst the more common usability testing was carried out, checking for functionality and looking at the technical aspects, SDS also user tested for digital...
Read More
Giving digital accessibility a boost
Many of our partner organisations have been working hard to create a culture of accessibility throughout their organisations. Sevenoaks, Central Bedfordshire and Tonbridge and Malling have all asked us to help with this by delivering several virtual, live and interactive...
Read More
Introduction to Agile
SDS have been delivering live and interactive training courses to Project Managers across Ashford Borough Council introducing them to agile ways of working.
Read More
East Sussex Building Control Process Review
SDS have reviewed the East Sussex Building Control Partnership’s business processes, to explore ways to enhance customer experience and improve efficiency.
Read More
The importance of user testing when redesigning your website
Waverley Borough Council approached Smarter Digital Services (SDS) to assist them with conducting user testing on their new website.
Read More
Redesigning your website to get visitors to their goal
When Southern Building Control Partnership (SBCP) decided to build a new website, they took advantage of a variety of services offered by Smarter Digital Services, to create and build a website that would cater for their customers’ needs and allow...
Read More
Development of the Kent Homechoice Homelessness Triage Tool
Kent Homechoice commissioned SDS to develop a new and updated version of the Kent Homechoice Homelessness Triage Tool.
Read More
Accessible online documents e-learning course
SDS have developed an e-learning course on how to create accessible Word and PDF documents for online publication.
Read More
Customer Insight Training
SDS recently delivered two live and interactive courses on user research and customer journey mapping for Wealden District Council staff via MS Teams.
Read More
Sending effective text messages
SDS outline ways to tailor your text messages to make them more effective.
Read More
Voice in Local Government-Smart Speaker Uses
Our Voice Discovery Research explores the current uses of smart speakers and the potential benefits of using smart speakers to access council services.
Read More
Text Messaging in Local Government
SDS has compiled a list of useful applications for SMS notifications in local government.
Read More
Learn how GDS is monitoring accessibility compliance
Website accessibility regulations came into force on 23 September 2018. This means that public sector bodies have a legal obligation to meet accessibility requirements for their websites.
Read More
Bitesize Training Videos Now Available
We have been busy converting our workshops and training sessions into bitesize videos. These videos are freely available to all our partners and can be tailored to meet your specific training needs.
Read More
Digital Led Recovery from COVID-19
Three local authorities share with us some of their digital responses to COVID-19 followed by a discussion of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Read More
Top 5 Benefits of GOV.UK Pay
We have researched the key market leaders in payment solutions and found that GOV.UK pay meets many of the user needs we have identified.
Read More
Voice in local government – outlining the market
SDS are exploring the viability of voice technology within local government. The first phase of the project focused on discovery research, outlining current market trends, uses and demographics.
Read More
Book and Pay Project – Facilitating Workshops Virtually
SDS have completed a book and pay project on behalf on the London Borough of Bexley. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, SDS used a new online tool to enable the team to facilitate process capture workshops virtually. Using this tool,...
Read More
Mastering Online Documents Webinar
Here is a quick summary of the recent public webinar we delivered on mastering online documents.
Read More
Simplifying IVR routing and scripting
Ashford Borough Council commissioned SDS to work on their existing IVR system to ensure that users were getting the best experience from the service provided.
Read More