Local Authority Chiefs Think Global, Act Local with Limehouse

SOLACE, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, has announced the theme for its 2007 conference as ‘Thinking Global, Acting Local’, and is challenging local government to take its rightful place on the international stage. As a leading provider of consultation and document creation software to the public sector, Limehouse Software is uniquely placed to spearhead the evolution of local authority strategy to global levels while maintaining delivery to the people who matter: the residents. ucreate and uengage is a web-based integrated collaboration and publishing solution with robust document creation facilities, customisable shared workspaces and one-click publishing to multiple channels, including print-ready PDF, XML and AAA rated HTML. Providing an invaluable resource for document creation where input is needed from multiple authors, internally and externally across geographies and time zones, ucreate allows multiple users to edit documents simultaneously with full version control. It is capable of publishing hundreds of pages of content to full design specification in less than three seconds, to print or web. This completely eliminates the need for the expensive and time-consuming process of multiple versions and revisions associated with a traditional design agency approach. Its web 2.0-style online meeting and messaging applications provide real-time messaging and chat functionality for easy communication throughout the collaboration process. ucreate provides a simple, cost-effective and powerful solution for producing complex, branded and professional documents and content-rich microsites with minimum time and effort.

As part of this transition to the world stage, Limehouse Software is announcing the new Version 3.0 of its unique document creation, publishing and consultation software suite designed for the public sector. The system dramatically streamlines the collaboration and development process of key policies, combining multi-channel publishing capabilities and management of key citizens’ involvement through an end-to-end consultation process. This full-service package features integrated facilities for collaboration, consultation and publishing and represents the first time that these have all been unified in one solution.

Limehouse Software’s CEO, Giles Welch, explains the power of the new package: “We have developed this new version as a comprehensive solution to many of the problems faced by local authorities in the 21^st Century. Our consultation capabilities are allowing councils on two continents to engage more effectively with their stakeholders, while our publishing solutions are radically reducing the time it takes for them to feed back to constituents. Underpinning all of this is a set of Web 2.0-style communications facilities including chat and messaging to support the collaboration process from start to finish.”

Version 3.0 of Limehouse Software upgrades the existing functionality of Limehouse’s original Collaborate, Publish and Consultation package by making it fully browser based and providing the software as a hosted service in the increasingly popular Software as a Service (SaaS) model.  This allows more flexible working practices and eliminates the traditional need for internal server bandwidth and IT support. The system features two fully-integrated products: ucreate and uengage.

Both ucreate and uengage are available as stand-alone products or as a complete software solution with a unified dashboard. Version 3.0 is an entirely web-based solution, provided as a hosted service in the increasingly popular Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Access to the system is through an internet browser from anywhere, facilitating collaboration from contributors in different departments and organisations as well as enabling flexible working. All data and software is hosted by Limehouse, eliminating the additional IT costs for installation, hardware and maintenance, which are intrinsic to many existing software systems. This unique system is being used by a wide range of public and private sector organisations to reduce the costs of collaboration, creation, consultation, and publication of documents and content by up to 40%.

With over 250 customers already using Limehouse Software, the launch of version 3.0 of the suite is expected to allow the company to demonstrate the benefits of integrated consultation and document production to a far wider audience. Giles Welch, explains: “This new system, built in close collaboration with existing customers, will fuel Limehouse in expanding on our wide base of highly satisfied clients. Through enabling our clients to work in a more collaborative way, both internally and with external stakeholders, our software is enabling organisations to increase their productivity, raise the standard of their communications and gain real cost savings.”

uengage, Limehouse’s industry-first enterprise consultation system, provides an end-to-end system for managing stakeholder relations. It enables organisations to manage the entire consultation lifecycle in a single system, consult with all relevant stakeholders through the widest variety of response mechanisms, and analyse and manage the results through complete back-office functionality. uengage provides a secure platform for organisations to engage with shareholders in strategic decision making, EGMS and passing special resolutions, with all responses fully managed for complete transparency and compliance with information regulations. The system integrates with CRM systems and has built-in member management facilities enabling organisations to easily segment their audience when required. Additionally, uengage has powerful back-end reporting functionality to analyse responses.