The Transformation
By making responsive design a priority we were ensuring the identified audience, existing and desired, would be rewarded for their site engagement through intuitive navigation and ease of information discovery, accessible on all platforms.
Given our experience and expertise utilising the technology, we made the decision to craft the college’s tailored solution through Kentico. Due in part for its scalability where multiple contact users, responsive nature, security of information was concerned, but in particular it's user friendly interface and capability to incorporate e-commerce, event management, and on-board marketing. This also aligned with the tool set we understood was already utilised by their current partner organisations, including that of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland.
Risks & Challenges
While functionality was a major concern, we were aware that as an educational body with denominational partnerships the ethos and values of the college had to be foremost, conveyed through our graphical designer's appropriate use of imagery, language, look and feel.
While ensuring the functionality and future scalability the college was looking for, we also worked to mitigate any potential data loss by accommodating their legacy of Microsoft systems into the new custom solution. Assimilation of this legacy was of particular importance where alleviating resource pressures were concerned, and to allow ease of transition in scaling of future teaching innovations. Keeping those channels relevant and engaging for all users, while addressing a variable digital fluency among faculty members, necessitated the prioritisation of UX and clear-channel navigation; as well bringing the college up to sector pace against competition from new models of education in the UK and Ireland.
The Benefits
We recommended Kentico for its rich functionality, flexibility and ease of use, as well its organic platform integration when built on Microsoft technology (.NET). The benefit of the .NET system in this case being transparent with established upgrade paths as well as the ability for UTC to safe guard sustainability and accommodate future expansion and as the college continues to grow.
We presented our solution in a way that would allow UTC to increase the use of the website for existing and potential students, faculty members and other stakeholders. Thus becoming an interaction hub between the College and students.
Interested in Kentico? Looking for a robust Content Management System? If you’d like to discuss a custom CMS project or simply want to know more feel free to call us on 028 90 87 2222 or drop us an email below.