Readers will have noticed a radical change to OpenGov's publishing platform recently. Following a review early in 2017, considerable planning and development resulted in the soft launch of the new OpenGov platform at opengovasia.com at the end of October 2017.
"This has been in the works for quite some time," OpenGov Managing Director and Editor in Chief Mohit Sagar pointed out. "Our passion for digital transformation includes ensuring that OpenGov itself is embracing change. While our previous platform served its purpose, OpenGov needed a modern platform to continue to meet our reader expectations."
Two major drivers in the new OpenGov approach to its digital platform overhaul are immediately noticeable: first, responsive pages radically improve accessibility to the website on mobile devices.
"Public servants are busier now more than ever, and it is imperative that our website can provide quality intelligence regarding public sector technology wherever they are, and on any device. Responsive pages dramatically improve their access to the website, improving readability," Mr. Sagar said. The new website takes advantage of better cloud infrastructure to serve up OpenGov articles more rapidly and effectively than ever before.
Second, event information and newsletter functionality needed improvement. "We think our events are among the best in the region, and so do our delegates and sponsors," said Mr. Sagar. "Unfortunately, our previous platform did not do them justice in my opinion. These are not just cosmetic changes – we've overhauled processes, not just the look and feel. While our events have been winning awards, our new platform can deliver information about our events to delegates and sponsors in a much more effective manner."
Search functionality improvements led to an unexpected result, Mr. Sagar noted. "Over the past years, we have built up a significant library of articles focused on trending public sector topics across Asia, ANZ and the world. We are noticing a significant interest in older articles by our readership, particularly around organisational change management in government." Improved search has resurfaced a gold mine of OpenGov content available to readers, particularly those from public sector experts who write exclusive articles for OpenGov.
With readership and website traffic having more than doubled in the past twelve months, Mr. Sagar adds that the OpenGov platform is only a tool. "If we did not have great content, having a great platform would not be enough. Technology is a tool, not the end purpose. We will be rolling out some exciting improvements to the new website in an iterative manner over the coming months, but our real focus will always be on quality content for our readers."
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