Case Study: Southampton City Council modernizes its services directory with Etch

Southampton City Council halves directory processing time with Etch

Southampton City Council faced the challenge of maintaining its outdated Southampton Information Directory (SID), which was difficult to use and led to stale data and declining user trust. The council needed a modern solution to improve the directory's functionality and integration. Etch was engaged to address these issues and build a new services directory.

Etch implemented a hybrid solution using the Scout directory project and the Umbraco CMS, connected by an OpenReferralUK-compliant API. This included integrations with Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission for automated data updates. The new directory, now seamlessly part of the main council website, significantly improved the user and admin experience. The council reported a halving of the average time to process submissions, increased engagement, and a return of trust in the data from both residents and service providers.

Southampton City Council