Smart Energy GB move to Umbraco

Smart Energy GB is the not-for-profit, government-backed campaign helping everyone in Britain understand the importance of smart meters and their benefits to people and the environment. Their national campaign is reaching homes and small businesses across England, Scotland and Wales. Smart Energy GB’s digital presence is the key to ensuring everyone in Great Britain understands smart meters, the rollout and knows how they can get one, including those in vulnerable circumstances.

The Challenge 

Smart Energy GB came to ClerksWell with a task to find an open-source content management system that would replace their original CMS solution, which was over-engineered and too complicated for the campaign’s needs. Smart Energy GB chose us as their digital partner to not only advise them on the best platform to use, but deliver the web and content migration too.

Alongside the need to migrate to a new CMS, Smart Energy GB tasked us to enhance the website with the 3^rd party accessibility and translation tool ‘Recite Me’, which would ensure the campaign message can reach a large number of people with visual or hearing impairments.

An additional requirement from Smart Energy GB within the migration was to build the site to be WCAG compliant, which included optimising the press centre and resource centre for mobile access.

The Solution

We began working with Smart Energy GB to identify their requirements in order to best select a CMS that would fit their organisation. Umbraco 8 was chosen due to the fact it is an open-source, developer friendly and intuitive platform that allows developers and content editors to work harmoniously and flexibly.

Once Umbraco had been chosen as the CMS, we began defining some of the other requirements for the website such as improvement of UX, transformation of accessibility and optimisation of the resource and press centre for mobile access. We worked with Smart Energy GB to create UX designs to give them a visual representation of the layout of the web and how new features would slot in. The external creative and brand agency were able to work with us to develop the graphical elements of the website once the wireframes were in place.

Using Umbraco, we began the development of the new website with our expert team. To achieve Smart Energy GB’s core goal of inclusivity and accessibility, the 3^rd party tool, ‘Recite Me’, was integrated. This tool provides several functionalities, such as language translations, screen reading and colour contrast settings. With this, the Smart Energy GB website can be accessed by everyone, regardless of disability or impairment. Every step of our development process was also directed by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

The new fully functional website was deployed in line with Smart Energy GB’s fundamental requirements and enhanced user experience. 

The Results

Smart Energy GB are now many steps closer to achieving their goal to spread the importance of smart meters to everyone in Britain. Their choice to implement the new accessibility features puts Smart Energy GB ahead of many not-for-profit organisations and ensures their digital message reaches those who need it most. The migration to Umbraco 8 also ensures their content management team are able to work more efficiently, updating content without unnecessary complexities. 

The Outcome

The new Smart Energy GB website reflects their digital objectives and cements our great relationship with them.