What’s next?

This post has lots of pictures in it, which makes it look quite long.  Just so you know.

We’re all big fans of the West Wing – especially the rapid-fire dispatching of problems and moving on to the next thing, indicated by the constant question ‘what’s next?’

We’ve got lots of exciting irons in the fire at the moment and the combination of our work to date (plus some to be unveiled soon), the new government and the market right now seems to be pointing us to a ‘what’s next?’ moment.

Photo from foxypar4 on Flickr
We believe in involving people with plans and big decisions, so we thought we’d share a bit of a statement of intent with you.  Here’s what we think is next for Delib…

The top line: we’ll change government from the inside-out by providing a series of online consultation, discussion and participation apps – cheap, simple, proven, ready-to-go tools that can be used to increase public participation straight away.

5 known parts of the plan

1. apps for known problems – we’ve been solving problems for public sector organisations around the world since 2001.  In that time, we’ve learnt that there are lots of people in the same situation – lots of organisations wanting to involve more people, wanting to take their consultation processes online, wanting to have quicker and easier ways to do some of the basics of public participation.  For all sorts of reasons, though, these problems often end up being solved from scratch each time.  It’s not efficient, not necessary and runs the risk of being ineffective.  We want to turn lots of these known problems  into non-problems by providing affordable, repeatable, proven-effective apps that people can pick up, use and worry about the bigger, more complicated problems that need their time.  Budget Simulator is a classic example of this.
   
2. consultancy/service for new problems – by the same token, we know that there will always be those problems that need a custom solution or the application of smart people’s time.  We will keep on helping out with this kind of project, helping design and build campaigns and systems that strengthen the connection between citizens and decision-making.  We’ll also keep looking for opportunities to do innovative, progressive stuff that can further both our knowledge and our apps.
3. easy to buy – sometimes, this stuff can seem awfully complicated.  The online participation field is a heady mix of academics, geeks, techies, politicos, civil servants, consultants, campaigners, entrepreneurs and who-knows-what-else. We want to make it stupidly easy to buy our apps and services: clear offerings, strong client profile, straightforward, hard-to-say-no-to pricing and obvious value.


Photo from Phillie Casablanca on Flickr

4. highly cost-effective – following on from that, we’re unequivocal about the cost-effectiveness of what we do, both knowing and proving the cost-effectiveness of how our methods stack up to lots of traditional methods and we’re committed to adding value and finding efficiencies in everything we do.  Money is tight pretty much everywhere in government, which is all the more reason to have effective public engagement but also all the more reason for us to be relentless in remaining cost-effective.
5. used around the world – we love having clients in America, New Zealand and Australia, as well as throughout the UK, and we want more.  The work we do has already proven to be applicable internationally – in fact, there’s a lot to be gained from enhancing offerings to reflect a varied, global spectrum of nuanced requirements, like making our Dialogue App both W3C AA and Section 508 accessibility compliant.  We’re convinced that our work is relevant to governments around the world; we want to help them take full advantage of that fact.

So, all that said, I guess watch this space – we’re going to do lots of this, and then some more.  We’re planning on going fast, too.  We think Delib is living in interesting times – and when we’re excited about a vision, we get pretty bullish, pretty adamant, pretty determined about it.  This is where we’re going next.  If you want to get involved, or have any feedback on this chat, we’d love you to talk to us.  You can leave a comment on this blog, say hello on Twitter, drop us an email, come and see us or give us a call on 0845 638 1848.

And then, what’s next?