Relationships

I’ve been visiting Lincolnshire this week (the weather was lovely).  I was there to meet with the new faces that deal with the variety of online systems that we provide to the authority.  Our relationship with Lincolnshire spans quite a long way back as they were our second client and took a risk on bringing us in to provide bookings for a couple of services.   I’m glad to say that the risk they took was worth it (I hope,) and has resulted in us building what I believe to be a strong and robust relationship with them (and their partners Mouchel).

I always like talking about things like this as the relationship with Lincolnshire is exactly the sort of relationship we had hoped to achieve with our clients and partners when we set out to create Zipporah.   A relationship built on trust, knowledge and respect.  Trust from Lincolnshire in our capacity to guide them to the best solutions and our trust that the authority will always work with us to get the best results.  Knowledge from both sides, the authority being the expert in their service and us providing the expertise to advise how that service can be achieved.  Respect in ensuring that no party takes advantage of such a relationship and for a mutual goal of delivering online services to help citizens and staff get the best.

Not every relationship can work like this but in Zipporah we have strived to get as many of these relationships as possible.  Over the next month or two we will be revealing our new structure and strategy for the future and this will be set up to encourage such relationships, to strengthen those we have with current clients and to build these relationships with new clients.  Nothing is ever perfect but if we work together to achieve a mutual goal then things can be pretty good.

Zipporah Integrating with 3rd Party Systems

With more and more authorities throughout the UK looking to streamline their services, systems being able to effectively integrate with one another hold the key to providing essential savings in both time and money. Zipporah prides itself with its refreshing attitude towards integrations, always looking for ways to seamlessly combine with other systems, with the ultimate aim always being to help authorities achieve their target of boasting an efficient service.

Using a whole range of methods, including Web Services and XML, Zipporah has vast experience in integrating with a number of existing Council systems from back office finance, to front end payment engines, as well as any Customer Relationship Management systems that the council may use.

Zipporah's projects have gone live

Zipporah is pleased to report that a number projects have gone live this week, such as City of London’s sport campaign through to one of the most complex of projects we have been involved with, at Powys Council which brought together a number of our solutions such as courses, sports, tills and e-commerce to produce a fully integrated Leisure Management System that is second to none.

Our goal is to always deliver solutions on-time and that exceed client's expectations but without a good team to see projects through to live this might never happen. Just as we spoke recently about how frustrating a delay to a project going live can be for both the client and Zipporah, it is always balanced with the real sense excitement and pride the team at Zipporah feels when an implementation goes live.

So with a significant number of other projects currently undergoing user acceptance testing, we expect to make some further announcements very soon about the very exciting work we are producing with Hammersmith and Fulham, North Yorkshire and Hertsmere council to name but a few.

SOCITIM's research on the Implementation of the EU Services Directive in the UK

Recent news sent out in a SOCITM email stated that according to Better Connected For Business, Implementation of the EU Services Directive in the UK, of the 540 competent authorities surveyed, including 433 local authorities and 107 professional institutions and government agencies, only 26 websites (5%) were rated as very good, with another 99 (18%) considered satisfactory. 320 websites (59%) were rated as poor and with the remaining 94 websites (19%) reviewers could find no relevant information.

The EU Services Directive was intended to reduce the amount of government red tape for all new and existing businesses in a number of areas including the delivery of online applications for a wide range of licences including scaffolding, licenced venues, skips and petroleum storage.  The assessments looked at the ease of use for the forms as well as the details provided on websites etc.

A number of authorities have made use of Zipporah solutions and have delivered their services through our ecommerce product, allowing them to build their own forms for any range of licences and services.  These include London Borough of Croydon who came out of the review in a very positive light.  In addition to delivering on this area of service, many of our clients now use our system for everything from paying invoices online to buying school transport spaces.  With such a wide range of uses and with so many authorities performing poorly it may be a good time for you to look at ZIPI if you haven’t already.

Authorities across the UK launch their Summer Event Programmes with the help of Zipporah

Summer is once again upon us with many authorities across the UK launching their summer holiday event programmes via Zipporah’s events booking solution.  

The Zipporah system has been in use for sometime by a number of councils across the UK to handle their courses and events, including Chorley Borough Council to deliver its busy schedule of events within the Get Up and Go programme.

The most recent to go live earlier this month has been the much anticipated London Borough of Hillingdon “FIESTA” programme. This programme has a wide range of activities, for the sporty there are courses in sailing and Brazilian soccer skills whilst the creative can try their hand at fashion designing and photography.  For the budding performers there are courses in musical theatre and street dance and for those that fancy trying their hands at their chosen careers they could give motor mechanics or politics a go.  Whatever it is, there is something for everyone which can all be booked via the Hillingdon website driven by the Zipporah system.

Zipporah celebrates its 8th anniversary and looks forward to the Future

 Zipporah will be 8 years old in just over a month (9th July).  We have changed a lot in that time, moving from consulting to development to delivering both. It's had ups, downs, good days and bad but we have always strived hard to deliver the best to our clients.

OK, let's not pretend otherwise, the old adage about pleasing all of the people all of the time is true, but I think we've made a good effort of it and achieved a good overall average.  In some ways to an outsider we make this look easy.  It's always hard work though and every member of the team knows that.  Thinking of new ways to achieve "interesting" requests only for someone to realise quite how strange the request is, is quite disheartening at times and takes up time and ultimately money.

As directors it's a constant balance of dividing your time between getting involved in the day to day running of the business you lovingly crafted, wanting to keep meeting those early standards and, trying to keep on top of running a successful business, (oh yeah, I believe family and life balance is talked about by some....the fools!).  It's not easy and it's a testament to every team member that we achieve the goals we do every day, (and make it look easy if the strange demands we get are anything to go by).  We are about to expand and take things to another level. Bear with us as we change and if you don't get things as quickly as you are used to. These changes will make things even faster and "easier". By our birthday we will be ready for the next stage of growth.

How Zipporah's solutions support Councils

Cutting staff can actually affect a Council’s ability to drive through efficiency and save money.

As a supplier of solutions to help Councils streamline and engage more with its public via online channels we have noticed that the recent round of redundancies and policy changes have not helped certain projects reach their full potential.  

Continued upheaval and staff changes have resulted in a number of projects reaching something of a crossroads. When looking to deliver a solution the removal of key personnel at critical times in some cases, the lack of manpower or potential change of focus has caused significant delays to completing the project, resulting in the same time consuming and costly manual processes remaining in place for much longer than need be.

Our message will always be that our solutions will help increase revenues and save time and money but without the staff behind the scenes to help implement them, then these significant savings could be lost and potentially replaced with more cost.

Interesting Times

Zipporah is about to undergo quite a lot of change as we gear up to meet bigger challenges, deliver more and larger systems and tackle a worldwide enterprise. Quite a lot of change for a company that has grown organically in its short life, but there is no doubt the time is right for something bigger to happen.

We can't describe all of the changes that will be coming, (we haven't even worked them all out yet,) but it will be exciting to see.  Our team is stronger than ever so it's a good time to expand to support the organisation more by making the best use of our team and bring on more people.

Emma herself has interesting news which for those of you who know her, will no doubt hear about. It's a good time to be in Zipporah, and with Zipporah.

Powys Council Leisure Centre and Zipporah's Online Leisure Management System

In Powys there really is no excuse for not getting fit this summer because access to leisure services could never be simpler with Zipporah’s online Leisure Management Solution.

With minimal effort, through the use of Zipporah’s new Leisure Management System, Members and Non-members will have never-seen before access to wide range services being offered at the multiple Leisure Centre locations, allowing for the quick and easy booking of fitness classes, swimming all the way through to five-a-side football pitches in one easy transaction. Customers then have the opportunity to pay for any bookings they have made, either online or in person. In addition the user has the opportunity to add to their booking with the purchase of any extra equipment they may need to such as goggles or tennis balls.  

Offering full membership management helps to create a more streamlined and effective way of managing your leisure services, and almost certainly aids in the effort to incorporate more potential bookings through the use of the web. Powys County Council chose Zipporah’s solution after being impressed by how easy the system is to use by both staff and customers, in addition to its ability to handle their multiple Leisure Centre locations from a central point. There is now great excitement to the system go live on the council’s website in the coming months!

Being Different

Zipporah pride ourselves on trying to be different. We try to maintain a suitable level of flexibility and personal touch whilst making a successful large business, and in the main we achieve it, (although sometimes people see flexibility as a willingness to change things regardless - even for the worse - even we have to say no sometimes!).

When I left for Australia I couldn't be sure about many things. Would we still be different? What if we were too different? Surprisingly my worries were unfounded.  We were still different whilst our clients were very much the same.

Working with local government maintains a certain stability in doing business. The rules seem to be pretty universal, certain limits apply to purchases, value for money is becoming more and more vital as is return on investment and efficiency.  The ultimate wish to try and do good work for the citizens seems to be an international need which I think is a very good thing.  So, as I sit looking at a council office (so easy to spot in any culture,) in Italy while trying to holiday I wonder if maybe our message of savings and citizen access could be expanded even faster than I thought.

Leicester City Council and Zipporah solutions

Leicester City Council is expanding on its solution to include Room, Resource, Courses and Event Management.

Despite Leicester City already utilising Zipporah to provide a wide range of bookings within the Registration service, we still had to compete in an intensive tender process, with Zipporah coming out on top again, demonstrating that our solutions still lead the way for online bookings and streamlining back-office process.

Zipporah will now deliver a portal for the Continuing Professional Development of school-based staff; for the provision of training to the Council’s catering services and a meeting/diary scheduler for Children’s Services, which will ensure that the once time consuming process to find and book an appropriate room or course will now only take seconds instead.