The FBI needs a much better website in order to become more effective
Image Credit: kalavinka
You wouldn’t think that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. military bases would really have a lot in common outside of the fact that they are both part of the U.S. Federal Government. However, that’s where you would be wrong. Both of these types of organizations represent a vast, sprawling operation that performs many functions and serves many customers. Their website has the ability to bring all of these activities together and make it easy tell people what is going on and to help them to find the information that they are looking for. However, in both cases, this simply is not happening…
The Problem With The FBI
The FBI is charged with defending the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats and to enforce the criminal laws of the United States. Clearly they have a great deal of work to do! In order to successfully accomplish their mission, the FBI relies on help from the public. In order to communicate with the public, their website plays a key role.
Although the FBI gets the most publicity from its efforts to combat crime, a major portion of its activities involve preventing crimes before they happen. Teaching citizens how to avoid becoming victims is a major FBI responsibility. Sadly, the current FBI website does a poor job of supporting the agency in performing these tasks.
The GSL Solutions' HillTop service has been created to help organizations like the FBI create a powerful and effective website. One of the significant areas where the current FBI website is not supporting the agency is when it comes to serving mobile users. Mobile devices accessing the site are detected and a reduced function version of the website is presented to users. What should be happening is what the HillTop service provides: a responsive web design that allows the main full-featured website to automatically adjust to match the size screen that it is being displayed on no matter if it is a part of a laptop, a tablet, or a cell phone. Clearly the FBI could be doing better.
The Problem With Military Bases
U.S. Military bases are large, complex organizations that serve the county, the local community, and the families of the service personnel who are stationed at the military base. With a customer base that is that large, the role that a military base’s website takes on becomes even more important.
There are a great number of military bases out there and so it’s always helpful to have an example when talking about them. McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida is a great example. This vast complex has the responsibility to provide support to the 6th Air Mobility Wing, U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, Marine Corps Forces Central Command, etc. What this means is that vendors, families, and government officials all need to get access to vast amounts of constantly changing information about the base. However, the current McDill Air Force Base website is simply not up to the task. It’s poorly laid out, hard to navigate, and not currently being kept up-to-date.
These problems can all be quickly and easily solved simply by using a service like GSL Solutions' HillTop service to collect all of the available information on what is currently happening on the base. HillTop is currently being used by over 60 U.S. Senators do this this very thing: collect information, process it, and then present it in a way that users can easily use. In the case of the McDill Air Force base, HillTop has the ability to allow each of the individual armed forces branches who are based at the base to build their own micro-site. This functionality would allow them to customize their message while still allowing their custom websites to be included in the larger McDill Air Force website.
What All Of This Means For You
Government agencies such as the FBI and support organizations such as the many different military bases all have a responsibility to their customers to do a good job of keeping them informed. This is currently not happening in either of these cases.
These government agencies need to understand that their customers will visit their websites using a wide variety of different devices. This means that they need to create a responsive website that can simultaneously support laptops, tablets, and cell phones. Additionally, any website that one of these organizations creates needs to be easy to navigate and it has to come with tools that make it easy to be updated so that staff will be to always keep it up-to-date.
GSL Solutions is a GSA certified vendor who is already doing business with both the U.S. Congress and the U.S. military. Our HillTop service provides large sprawling organizations such as the FBI and military bases with the tools that they need to easily collect information on all of the things that the organization is currently involved in. Once collected, the service then processes it and creates modern, responsive websites that make it easy for customers to interact with the organization. Right now the FBI and military bases are in desperate need of the type of functionality that a service like HillTop can provide. Hopefully both of these groups will decide to upgrade their websites soon!
- Dr. Jim Anderson HillTop – Political Web Sites That Get The Vote!™
Question For You: What do you think the most important function of the FBI’s website should be?
GSL Solutions' HillTop service provides politicians with a way to get voters more involved with the political process. HillTop has been designed by politicians, for politicians in order to provide easy-to-use tools that make updating a political website with current and topical information easy to do. The website becomes a powerful communication tool between the politician and the voters. More information can be found at: www.HillTopCMS.com.
Tags: FBI, military base, McDill Air Force base, responsive design, customers, clients, political web site, campaign, voters, reelected, issues