Isle of Man Ship Registry Website
“We are delighted with the new website and so are our clients. We worked hard with PDMS as partners in this project to get a fresh website for the future, which will serve as the window to the Ship Registry and all the services we provide. Given how long the existing site had been up and running, its content was in dire need of refreshing. This gave us an opportunity to be very honest (brutal) in our approach to all that existed, and either cull it or redraft it entirely. This involved many team members and proved to be cathartic. The result is a fresh looking, intuitive site, which can be kept up to date and used on all platforms. It proved to be a real success at the recent Monaco Yacht Show where we used iPads to show clients everything we had to offer. It was great to work with PDMS on this project. As long standing partners, we understand each other.” – Dick Welsh, Director, Isle of Man Ship Registry.
Background
PDMS has been working closely with the Department of Economic Development and the Isle of Man Ship Registry on an important project to redesign and redevelop their website to provide a modern, fully responsive website, in line with the Government’s overall Digital Strategy.
As a world-leading registry the Isle of Man Ship Registry, provides services for all types and sizes of vessel from local leisure craft to international superyachts and tankers. They provide a unique and valuable range of services to their maritime clients around the globe and are always keen to leverage technology to ensure that their business operates as efficiently and competitively as possible in today’s dynamic maritime market.
PDMS have a longstanding relationship with the Ship Registry, having developed their enterprise software (MAVIS) that powers the Registry as well as having also built previous versions of their website available through the gov.im platform. Their previous website was becoming outdated and so needed revitalising: the new website not only provides existing and prospective clients with the Registry information they need but it is now a stepping stone for the strategic objective of the Registry to offer a wider range of online services in the near future.
The Solution
The website was built with the latest version of Umbraco, an open source content management system (CMS) which provides easy to use editing features and is built on Microsoft’s ASP / MVC technology which provides for modern services, including integrations with other systems in the future.
Meaningful client relationships are an important aspect of the Registry’s purpose. In line with this, it was essential to design and develop a website that was intuitive to navigate in order to enable clients, and potential clients, to find information and make contact with ease. PDMS worked closely with the Registry to help devise a logical information architecture and reliable navigation.
Internet research show that users are using smartphones more and more (some might even say we have become a ‘smartphone society’!) with the number of browser sessions on mobile devices now overtaking laptops and desktop PCs. In addition, a significant proportion of the Registry’s visitors are predicted to originate from remote areas or from vessels where internet access may be limited or connection speed may be slow.
For this reason it was important that the website was fully responsive meaning it has been optimised for mobile device usage in terms of both user experience and page loading speed.
The Outcome
https://www.iomshipregistry.com/
The new IOMSR website features eye-catching colours with a simple and refined layout. It includes:
Mobile friendly layout and one that is technically responsive to the device used to access it An updated, modern and intuitive content management capability with all key content being editable by the Registry Easier navigation Clearly defined paths for key IOMSR services, e.g. Registration & Certification
Our PDMS Design Manager, Jim Rawson quoted: “Our team of designers and web developers worked closely with Registry staff to understand their needs and deliver a modern, content-managed website which is an appropriate reflection of the organisation’s brand, values and aims and also gives content editors ‘hands-on’ access to the latest in web publishing technology.”
“Due to this successful collaboration the project was delivered on time and on budget and in the future the new website will become a gateway for additional IOMSR online services and communication channels.”