The Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region is rethinking its digital strategy

In 2015, the Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes regions merged to form a single region, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. From a digital perspective, the teams started with a blank slate, aiming to shape a web ecosystem to serve the citizens. They sought an innovative and technical partner to bring fresh ideas, creative energy, and expertise: Onepoint was selected. Since 2017, the teams from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region and Onepoint, along with WSB agency teams, have worked together to develop a coherent web strategy, covering editorial, technical, and graphic aspects.

A Robust and Harmonized Web Ecosystem, Focused on Users and Future Services

The Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region decided to build its web ecosystem around several portals. The first, the institutional portal, allows the Region to communicate about its competencies, strategies, actions, and news. Five other sites, which are structured around this institutional portal, include:

• Youth
• Businesses
• Transportation
• Territories
• The Aid Guide portal

The latter is one of the cornerstones of this ecosystem, as it consolidates all the public aid offered by the region. Two other sites are under development: Employment and Culture. The Culture portal aims to showcase the initiatives available to cultural stakeholders and highlight their actions within the Aquitaine territory.

“We wanted to create a coherent and harmonized user journey. Making information accessible to users, no matter their entry point. But also, to multiply our online visibility and reputation,” says Bertrand Hubert, Head of the Multimedia Web Unit and E-Marketing at the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region. To implement this web ecosystem, the Region called on Onepoint’s expertise. The approach was structured around four key pillars: the quality of information and web writing, SEO, ergonomics and user experience (UX), and technical reliability (infrastructure and development quality).

A Large-Scale Project for Onepoint

Onepoint implemented everything necessary to address the Region’s challenges. This began with setting up an architecture to consolidate functional and technical needs. To ensure the cross-platform sharing of content, Onepoint relied on PHP Drupal technology. “Onepoint’s Web division was designed as a ‘reference project’, maintained at the latest version of the CMS Drupal. It contains all the PHP Drupal modules used in web development in general. Onepoint developed intuitive modules and interfaces, easy to access and use, suitable for any type of resolution (5 breakpoints),” explains Souhail Hamdi, Project Manager at Onepoint.

From this collaboration, a unique search engine and a virtual assistant, the Noa chatbot, were also created and launched in July 2020. Available 24/7, this chatbot allows users to search for information across the entire web ecosystem, explore the services offered by the Region, and directly contact the relevant service(s), report transportation issues, and more.

The Noa chatbot provides real-time responses to users’ questions, enabling them to access information more quickly and enhancing their browsing experience. Like the entire web ecosystem of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, it is part of a continuous improvement methodology. Through ongoing interaction with users, Noa “learns” daily and improves the relevance and quality of its responses.

Onepoint and Nouvelle-Aquitaine Worked with a Joint Methodology

Throughout the creation of the web ecosystem, Onepoint and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region collaborated closely. Together, they developed the most recent modules using an agile approach. The integration and distribution strategy implemented by Onepoint was made possible through collaborative work with the Region’s teams. This approach successfully addressed the expectations of the communication and territorial marketing department.

“This co-design process ensured that the established goals and challenges were maintained, starting with the technical and graphic coherence of the web ecosystem, centered around a strong digital identity,” summarizes Bertrand Hubert, Head of the Multimedia Web Unit and E-Marketing at the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region. “This collaboration also enabled faster and more efficient access to information, notably through SEO, cross-content, and unified search, all implemented by Onepoint. These elements were designed in a cross-functional manner to facilitate the retrieval of relevant information from any portal, covering both internal and external topics. The success of this project is partly due to the responsiveness of Onepoint’s teams and the quality of their services.”

Eco-design: A Pillar in the Development of the Web Ecosystem

For several years, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region has placed the energy transformation of the territory at the heart of its priorities. This commitment is shared by Onepoint, which advocates for more responsible digital practices.

Eco-design involves creating interfaces and architectures that are environmentally friendly, aiming to minimize their environmental impact right from the design phase.

This approach was a key element in the development of the ecosystem. It was championed by two representatives from each team, and numerous actions were implemented to apply the 115 best practices of eco-design. For example, we minimized the site’s weight and, consequently, its carbon footprint by reducing the number and size of photos, and opting for assisted input and a mobile-first approach.

A Lasting Collaboration Between the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region and Onepoint

As part of the redesign of its web ecosystem, a startup was formed within the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region. It was organized around two key areas: one technical and the other focused on editorial content production. Throughout the project, these teams collaborated closely with those from Onepoint. “At the beginning, we had to let go and trust Onepoint’s expertise,” recalls Bertrand Hubert. “But we never regretted it. We never felt like just a client waiting for a project to be delivered. This experience was truly a shared effort.” A sentiment echoed by Souhail Hamdi: “This collaboration was very constructive. It felt like being part of the same team with the same goal.” Everyone challenged each other, improving their technical skills. A mutual exchange of expertise and know-how, resulting in success.

By 2020, the design of the web park was completed, and the results were impressive. The number of visitors increased by 25% compared to the previous ecosystems of the three former regions: between 30,000 and 50,000 users visit the various portals daily. A great achievement and the beginning of a long collaboration for the teams of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Onepoint. Recently, other internal services within the Region have entrusted Onepoint with major projects, including the maintenance and evolution of the portals for the Regional and European Economic, Social, and Environmental Councils (CESER). 2021 promises to be another year rich in innovation and new projects for Onepoint.