Over recent years its been great to see innovative and engaging work from various authorities in the realms of consultation and engagement. In our contact with the many public sector organisations we speak to, we’ve encountered many good and many not-so-good self-built consultation systems.
At a time where cost-effectiveness needs to enter every aspect of how Government work, it can be challenging to demonstrate how purchasing a consultation system proves to be cost-saving.
Here’s just a few of the cost benefits of using a dedicated consultation system such as Citizen Space, rather than opting to develop a bespoke system in-house:
1. The capital outlay of building a system
Designing things properly takes time. Time spent in meetings costs money and it took Delib (along with our colleagues at the COI) a lot of meetings to produce Citizen Space.
Furthermore, if you want a system up and running within (at the very least) a few months, it pays to look at already-built solutions.
2. There’s a cost to getting left behind
Most good software suppliers will provide regular updates to constantly improve the system and keep it competitive within the market.
The cost of going back to the drawing-board on a regular basis means that an in-house solution will either end up costing far more to upkeep than you had anticipated, or it simply won’t be upgraded and fall behind.
The goal-posts have changed slightly from where they used to be – the duty to engage remains, but all work must now carry the low-cost flag.
Citizen Space is constantly being improved-upon to ensure our clients are at the forefront of engaging effectively.
If you’d like a free demo of our Citizen Space, built in collaboration with the UK Government, please get in touch.
