Information efficiency

Do you want more from your website? Do you know how your users browse? Start managing your site usability and information. Read on...

Your information on the web

There are many issues to consider when establishing yourself on the Internet, and at Monaco IQ we can help with 3 of the most important ones:

  • Ensuring people find your site
  • Enabling people to find what they want on your site
  • Persuading people to return to your site

We often come across clients who have beautifully designed websites that can't be found by Google. If you aren't visible, you won't receive visitors, and all the hard work you put into your website design will be for nothing. You need to create and maintain a website with search engine optimisation (SEO) in mind.

Many website problems are caused by poorly organised information. If you've never watched someone trying to use your website, you might be amazed at how difficult and frustrating it can be. Visitors are searching for information, and if they can't find it they'll give up and go elsewhere. We help you by carrying out usability tests on your behalf. We'll sit with potential visitors and study how they browse. We'll review and analyse what you already have, and revitalise your Internet presence.

Alternatively, you can start from scratch and we'll help you build a user-friendly site that your current and prospective customers can easily find. We'll design your site so it's easy for you to maintain and update with new content that's interesting to your customers, suppliers and employees. If you want your site to project the best image possible for your business, we offer advice on tools, maintenance, and content.

Organizing and managing information

"We already have the answer... somewhere"

It's a familiar story. Someone asks you a question and you know you have the answer on a spreadsheet, or a PowerPoint, or a proposal you wrote some years ago. How can you be sure that your information can be found again and shared? Information is stored in databases, archives and libraries, but today we're increasingly using websites, social networks and wikis. It's now easy for just about anyone to file away information, and storage technology is so cheap you never have to delete anything. This makes it even more critical that you can organise and search your information effectively.

Documented information

Business information exists in all sorts of processes, procedures, and documents. It may be in Word documents, spreadsheets, slides, or any number of other formats. All this information is needed to help your business function and grow, and to provide products and services for your current and potential customers. But you don't know what information you're going to need until you have a reason for collecting it, and by then it may be too late.

The ability to review knowledge you've gained from previous projects and combine it with information from external sources allows you to act fast when you see opportunities. We work with clients to develop and maintain internal information systems that allow them to contact employees anywhere in the world, find examples of past projects, and network with other organisations. Using such a system, you're able to write and submit proposals within a few hours, before your prospective clients even realise they need the work doing.

With information at your fingertips, you can save time and successfully win new contracts. We'll audit your information needs, and advise you on the best way to organise and manage your information. If you want to build a new system or re-assess an existing one, we'll work with you to ensure you can easily find what you want, when you want it.

"Unwritten" information

Quite often, the information you need exists in someone's head and isn't written down anywhere. If you're to capture this "tacit knowledge", you need to enhance communication:

  • within your company
  • between you and your suppliers
  • between you and your clients

One organisation we know struggled for some time to improve internal communication. They spent money on an intranet so everyone could find information the organisation felt was important. Nonetheless, members still complained they didn't know what was going on, or they couldn't find the information they needed. We reviewed their system and found that the problem was not with the technology, but with the procedures. Only 2 or 3 members were allowed to contribute directly to the intranet and everyone else had to submit information through them. The result was a very slow, laborious procedure that no-one used. It was just quicker to go and ask a colleague for information. What a waste of effort to build a system that no-one uses!

Your employees' knowledge is a valuable asset, but is only useful if it can be shared. New tools such as wikis and social networks have fundamentally changed how we can communicate and share information with friends, colleagues and the rest of the world. We help you develop procedures and systems, and use technology effectively, so everyone is encouraged to contribute and share knowledge.

Contact us for more details. We can audit your website and information use, and offer advice on making improvements.