Challenge
Southern California’s flourishing Catholic community has grown considerably from 1976, with just 44 parishes and 300,000 Catholics, to today. Currently the seventh largest diocese in the nation with more than 1.6 million members and nearly 20,000 students enrolled in its extensive educational system, it continues to influence, shape and support the many communities of Orange County.
Although the diocese has grown at a prolific rate, its decades-old digital infrastructure had not. Disconnected parishes and schools, disparate data processing systems, including internal systems and structures that could not keep up with the external growth seen in new worshippers and students, hobbled decision-making, security, and cost-efficiency. The diocese had a substantial base and no centralized digital infrastructure to serve and connect all people and communities equally. Ntooitive was able to show them a better way.
Approach
To address these issues, the diocese needed to overhaul, digitize and modernize a sprawling digital platform through a ‘modular’ architecture designed with sustainability in mind. It involved co-partnering with the communications team to develop a much-needed new and improved website, including an integrated search function, multilingual translation and advanced directory. An omnichannel methodology was utilized to bring disparate data into one central hub, leading to the development of a Power BI platform to help ecclesial and administrative leaders make more informed decisions faster, optimize processes and predict trends.
Results
- Support its strategic plan in union with its mission and the vision/priorities of the Ordinary.
- Monitor website activity from one, centralized environment.
- Identify monetary trends from parish to parish.
- Isolate financial and attendance reports by location, school, and parish.
- Leverage search terminology to result or recommend exactly what prospective church members are searching for.
- Streamline efficiencies and time spent aggregating data.
- Access contact information based on pre-ordained security measures.
The diocese team has bridged legacy systems with the systems of the future and is better positioned to support its strategic plan in union with its mission and vision/priorities of the Ordinary. These solutions allow the diocese to be a more nimble and technically advanced organization.
- 1.3 million Catholics
- 57 parishes
- 35 schools
- 5 Catholic centers
- Load time has decreased from an average of five seconds to under four seconds. At its worst, load time was nine seconds.
- Average time on the site has increased from 1 minute 30 seconds to 2 minutes and the percentage of visitors leaving the site has dropped from 75% to 60%.
- Pages per session have increased from 1.7 to 2.7 and continue to increase.
- Marked increase in traffic, engagement, and quality of visitors.