For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Lessons From Online Consultation In Australia

Organizations Worldwide Can Learn From Recent Experiments

by Steven Noble, November 6, 2009

Online consultation can range from the government's hosting an online discussion about policy issues to its co-authoring policy documents with its citizens. It's still a minority practice, but Australia has completed more than 100 online consultations . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Case Study: USA.gov Achieves Cloud Bursting Efficiency Using Terremark's Enterprise Cloud

by James Staten, September 25, 2009

USA.gov, one of the busiest US government Web sites, has achieved significant cost savings by embracing cloud computing. The US General Services Administration (GSA) has migrated all of the core resources of the USA.gov Web portal to Terremark's IaaS . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Australian eGovernment Should Embrace Gen Y

Australia's Savviest Digital Citizens Have The Lowest Level Of eGovernment Use

by Steven Noble, May 20, 2009

While Australians tend to use online channels when they contact the government, they use eGovernment services sporadically, with Gen Yers — normally a digitally engaged group — using them least of all. If the government can bridge the gap between this . . .

For Marketing Leadership Professionals

Match Word-Of-Mouth Marketing To How European Consumers Share Opinions

by Mary Beth Kemp, May 5, 2009

Most European consumers discuss interests and brands with friends and family and in an offline context. Only then do they open the conversation to both a larger group of contacts and online channels. Thus, encouraging word of mouth among the first level . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Design Persona Best Practices From Japan

Examining How Four Organizations Successfully Use Design Personas

by Jonathan Browne, September 16, 2008

Forrester decided to highlight four successful design persona initiatives within Japanese organizations that we found during our research. Hakubaku used personas to engage moms with its Web site. Fujitsu used personas to represent the children, teachers, . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Presidential Candidate Sites Fail Usability

Forrester Applied Its Web Site Review To Obama And McCain Sites

by Bruce D. Temkin, August 28, 2008

Forrester evaluated the usability of the Obama and McCain presidential campaign sites using an abridged version of its Web Site Review methodology. The results were not great: Both sites failed a majority of the criteria we evaluated. Interestingly, both . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: Queensland Police Service Executes GIS By The Book

by Elisse Gaynor, Sharyn Leaver, August 12, 2008

Faced with disparate policing systems, corresponding silos of data, and degraded data quality, Australia's Queensland Police Service (QPS) launched a large-scale police records management and analysis overhaul to revive its police operational, tactical, . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Demographic Profile

Politically Active Online Users, 2008

by Ina Mitskaviets, July 22, 2008

JupiterResearch's Online Behavior & Demographics reports provide analysis of key audience segments of the online population, with relevant data drawn from a variety of sources. This report examines the online behavior of politically active online . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

A US National ID Begins To Take Root

WHTI, EDL, And REAL ID

by Geoffrey Turner, July 21, 2008

In the aftermath of the Al Qaeda attacks on 9/11, the US government realized that the lack of effective identity credentials for use in domestic air travel was a contributing factor in the attacks' effectiveness. Several initiatives have since been launched . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Political Communication

Mobilizing Online Voters

by Barry Parr, February 25, 2008

The 2008 presidential primary season is now in full swing, and later in the year, the parties' chosen candidates will face off for the presidency. Online media are key elements in all the presidential campaigns, but everyone is still trying to understand . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

North American Technographics® Finance, Healthcare, Government, Automotive And Travel Benchmark Survey, Q4 2007

North American Consumer Technographics Technographics Survey, December 30, 2007

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Social Technographics® Profile of Voters

by Josh Bernoff, December 7, 2007

How should candidates use social technologies? We analyzed the Social Technographics® profile of voters and found that Democrats participate in social technologies more, especially backers of Barack Obama. Republicans are less active, except for Mitt . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Presidential Candidate Sites Fail On Privacy

Forrester Applied A Part Of Its Web Site Review To Six Candidate Sites

by Bruce D. Temkin, November 14, 2007

Presidential candidates use their Web sites to reach out to a wide range of constituents. But how effective are they at building trust during the interactions their supporters have with those sites? To help answer that question, we evaluated the sites . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Benchmark 2007: Minimal Progress In eGovernment Adoption

by Alan E. Webber, September 19, 2007

Citizens see government portals primarily as information sources, not as an interaction hub. US and Canadian governments at every level continue to fail to convince citizens of the advantages of online self-service. Early Adopters use eGovernment services . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Politics on the Net

Reaching Audiences That Matter

by Barry Parr, September 7, 2007

Presidential campaigns have already recognized the importance of the Web as a marketing and organizing tool in the run up to the 2008 primaries. However, more than a year remains before the election, and the changing online behavior of voters makes them . . .

Boomers Are The First To Tap Into Online Government

by Alan E. Webber, October 3, 2006

The technologically optimistic and adept of the Boomer generation are plugging into eGovernment and focusing their digital government endeavors primarily on state agency Web sites, according to a recent online Forrester survey. Among those users who have . . .

Canadians Prefer Phone And In-Person Channels For Critical Government Interactions

Canadian eGovernment Adoption Is Elusive

by Lewis Cardin, September 26, 2006

Canadian citizens are active users of eGovernment services, but getting them to use the Internet as their primary channel for government services is still in the future. Respondents do choose the Internet first for researching information regarding government . . .

Five Key Elements For Marketing eGovernment

by Alan E. Webber, September 19, 2006

Setting up useful Web sites for citizens is a good start, but government managers have to do more if the value of eGovernment is ever going to be realized: They also must market these sites to the public. The primary reason people are not using eGovernment . . .

eGovernment Adoption Levels: 2006

An Excerpt From "The State Of Consumers And Technology: Benchmark 2006"

by Alan E. Webber, September 6, 2006

Government portals as a source of information — not as a locus of interaction — remains the dominant theme among eGovernment users as significant exchanges still lag behind downloading of forms. Among users who have warmed up to digital government interactions, . . .

Australia's Apathetic eGovernment Users

Downloading Forms And Tourism Dominate Poor eGovernment Uptake

by Alan E. Webber, June 29, 2006

Australia ranks second in Forrester's Broadband Activity Index (BAI) behind a booming China. Disappointingly, Australians' tendency toward online services uptake is not reflected in their digital interactions with government. Forrester's Asia Pacific . . .

Canadian Government Web Site Visitors Need To See More Value From Online Transactions

Sites See Some Success With Content And Ease Of Use

by Lewis Cardin, June 20, 2006

When reviewing Web sites, Forrester's research finds that quality hinges on four major principles: value, navigation, presentation, and trust. Canadian federal government Web site developers are doing a good job at developing trust and creating a smooth . . .

Government Web Sites Are Popular With Canadian Citizens

Despite High Visitation Numbers, Few Conduct Online Transactions

by Lewis Cardin, June 20, 2006

Canadian citizens are active users of government Web sites. From federal to provincial to local sites, citizens use them for a wide range of activities. They actively research information about government benefits and services; however, Canadian citizens . . .

North America Exhibits Lackluster eGovernment Uptake

by Alan E. Webber, June 7, 2006

Government agencies are building eGovernment Web sites, but do online citizens visit and use them? Forrester's Consumer Technographics data shows important differences in what online citizens do on government Web sites — federal, provincial, state, and . . .

Citizens' Concerns For eGovernment Privacy And Security Run High

by Alan E. Webber, May 19, 2006

As eGovernment matures, North American citizens share increasingly large amounts of personal information with the government over the Web. However, these same citizens are wary about the government collecting their personal information and are even more . . .

eGovernment Buy-In Is A Marketing Must

Most Citizens Are Still Not Sold On eGovernment

by Alan E. Webber, April 3, 2006

Agencies are shifting more information and services to the Web channel. What do citizens think? According to Forrester's Consumer Technographics® data, only a minority of citizens say that eGovernment should be a top priority for government spending. . . .