Driving Innovation in NFCC’s Digital Transformation

It’s been a couple of months since we launched NFCC’s new website which brought together the two main NFCC websites to create a single hub for everything NFCC – everything from the latest news to guidance and products, now all under one, tidy roof.

More than 3000 people have registered for accounts on the new website, and those include both members and partners. We are grateful to everyone who got in there early and let us know about any issues, which gave us an opportunity to test the website’s responsiveness and the added efficiency the new system brings. Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the things you, the users, raised, and what we’ve done to address them: 

• Search functionality: We’ve improved the search functionality significantly, meaning you can search the whole catalogue of NFCC news, products, and guidance, and your results will be displayed in an organised and logical way. 
• Colours for scenarios: We’ve reintroduced the colours for Scenarios after feedback that it made them much easier to follow. 
• Downloading pages: We’ve introduced the ability to download any page for easier access when you don’t have wifi or mobile data. You need to be logged in to do this. You can still bookmark any page on the website for easy reference, and these bookmarks will show in your account.  
• General bug fixes and content corrections: We’re grateful to everyone who has taken the time to report broken page links (404 errors) and general bugs, which we’re pleased to have been able to fix quickly and easily.  

Many of you have already started to use your account to help you navigate the new website and bookmark the content you’re most interested in. If you haven’t already done so, please do update the personal details in your account. This not only allows us to tailor our communications so that you receive information according to your interests, but it also enables us to build a clearer picture of our membership. Moving forward, we will be able to consult with you more efficiently and develop products, services and guidance that is even more reflective of FRS needs and capacity.

Looking ahead

This new website isn’t the end of NFCC’s digital transformation. In fact, Nick Ross, our Chair of Trustees recently pointed out that when it comes to digital innovation and change, it isn’t a singular transformation, it’s an ongoing evolution. To that end – or rather, to that continued evolution – we are looking ahead to the next priorities. Over the next financial year, we are looking to:  

• Improve the functionality of the Strategic Gap Analysis and the National Organisational Learning tools: We’re already working with those who will be using these tools to understand how we can best meet their needs. The development and delivery of these tools is a top priority as we head into the next stage of our work.  
• Develop a member management system that facilitates better engagement: Collecting user information from our website means we already have the foundation for the development of our member management system. This system means that we can reach you more efficiently and with a more co-ordinated strategy across NFCC.  
• Begin to develop online communities for collaboration and knowledge sharing: Currently, many of our members use Meta Workplace to collaborate. We want to use the new NFCC website and accounts to create a hub for collaboration and knowledge sharing across the sector, meaning you only need to go to one place to learn, share, participate, and contribute. 
• Centralised area for collection of information: Every element of our innovation and improvement is driving toward ensuring that we have a centralised location for the collection of information. This will tell us how our resources are being used and allows us to collect your feedback in a more streamlined way, so that we can ensure everything we produce is backed by data and relevant for our members and partners.   

We’ll also continue to develop the website, ensuring that it stays relevant and up-to-date, and continues to develop into an efficient hub for you to access all things NFCC. This will involve significant collaboration across NFCC workstreams, taking into account their priorities and ideas as we develop.