Client
Auckland Emergency Management
Services
User Research
Design
Web Development
Digital Strategy
Hosting
Umbraco CMS
Visit
Effect has partnered with Auckland Emergency Management to design, build, and continually improve with a focus on accessibility, resilience, and ease of publishing for a large, diverse, and time-poor content team.
Auckland Emergency Management supports the largest and most populous region in New Zealand, home to around 30 percent of the country's population. Its website needs to do two jobs exceptionally well: support day-to-day readiness and education, and switch gears quickly to become a high-performing public information channel during an emergency response, at a scale unlike anywhere else in the country.
Cyclone Vaianu put our digital infrastructure to the test. In April, new users surged 575% and engaged sessions jumped nearly 600% with the single biggest day driven entirely by people seeking information and safety guidance during an emergency response.
Emergency management websites have to be calm and informative in peacetime, and fast, flexible, and resilient in crisis. For Auckland, this comes with an added layer of scale and complexity. AEM needed a site that could remain available and performant under significant demand during major events, given the scale of the population it serves.
The site also needed to be accessible to Auckland's highly diverse population, including those who do not speak English as a first language and people using assistive technology, while working reliably for people with limited or no internet connectivity during an emergency. At the same time, it had to be simple for a busy content team to manage and update through the CMS.
Beyond accessibility and usability, the site needed to bring together live, trusted data feeds, including weather alerts, road closures, and civil defence centres, into one place for the public, and pull in relevant regional news without duplicating effort for content authors.
Our approach
Effect has worked with AEM as a long-term partner rather than a one-off delivery, starting with the original 2019 build and continuing through an upgrade to Umbraco 17 and ongoing improvements since. This has meant the site has evolved alongside AEM's operational needs and Auckland's growth, rather than being treated as a static product.
Need a digital solution to prepare your organisation for an emergency?
We can help your people and organisation prepare their digital space for an emergency through tested and proven emergency management solutions.
Learn more about our servicesOur Auckland integration
Effect delivered a real-time integration with Our Auckland, automatically bringing in topical and relevant news articles about the Auckland region without authors needing to re-add or duplicate content.
High availability and scalability
Effect delivered a hosting and infrastructure approach built for high availability and scalability, so the site remains available and can handle the surge in demand from around 30 percent of New Zealand's population during major events.
Accessibility
Effect built the site to WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards, so it works well for people using screen readers, keyboard navigation, and other assistive technology. Content is written and structured in plain language, which matters for a site people may be relying on under stress during an emergency.
Response mode
Effect delivered a response mode for the site, allowing AEM to switch the website into a dedicated emergency configuration during an event, prioritising the most critical information for the public when it matters most.
Results
Auckland Emergency Management now has an online platform that supports reliable public information during major events, even at the scale of Auckland's population, with multilingual access for one of New Zealand's most diverse regions through translations that update automatically. The platform maintains access to key information for users with limited or no connectivity and has been built to WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards, so it works for people using assistive technology. It empowers the content team to publish quickly and easily without needing deep technical skills, brings together a single source of live, trusted information through the integrated dashboard, and can switch into a dedicated response mode during an event, prioritising critical public information when it matters most. The platform has grown and evolved with AEM since 2019, and was most recently upgraded to Umbraco 17.
Our other work in this sector
Not sure if your organisations website is prepared for an emergency?
Talk to us about how we can help.
Talk to our team today